Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We bought a bearded Dragon about 5 months ago from a pet store and we think he is now 6 mounths old. However he is only 6 inches long. He just does not seem to be growing. At first he was not eating more than about 4 meal worms every other day. Now he is eating about 15 crikets a day plus veggies. The cloest pet store is about 45 min away so we only buy him crikets once every two weeks. Thus he is eating mostly meal or wax worms currently. Are we doing something wrong? Should we change his diet? He does seem healthy and in good spirts and is energetic. Could something else be wrong??

How hot is the basking spot? (needs to be 110-115 degrees at the surface), what kind of lighting are you using? UVB??
Are you dusting your crickets/veggies with calcium and vitamins regularly?

Have you seen a vet?? Had Fecals taken to check for internal parasites??

What's your substrate? How big is your tank?

You should avoid mealworms due to their thick hard exoskeleton (it's hard to digest and can create problems)

Tell us about your setup.
Every little detail can help.

>>How hot is the basking spot? (needs to be 110-115 degrees at the surface), what kind of lighting are you using? UVB??
>>Are you dusting your crickets/veggies with calcium and vitamins regularly?
>>
>>Have you seen a vet?? Had Fecals taken to check for internal parasites??
>>
>>What's your substrate? How big is your tank?
>>
>>You should avoid mealworms due to their thick hard exoskeleton (it's hard to digest and can create problems)
>>
>>Tell us about your setup.
>>Every little detail can help.

FYI, you can order crix online or even silkworms. You can also get him on pellets to replaced the insects. It's extremely important you give him the right source of protein which would be the insects or pellets. It sounds like he isn't getting that. I bet if just a few things were changed you could actually watch him grow before your very eyes !
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Rob

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say pellets will work w/o insects. According to my vet, animal protein is neccessary and can't be replaced by pellets or other things. Pellets may be great, but, I wouldn't feed them and greens alone.
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Zeo)
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos (Vienna, Chomps)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever (Rocky, 11 y.o.)

I think there's a few here that have done very well with pellets and salad alone. If you look down a little ways you'll see a post about this very thing. I think at first they weren't as accepted but have been proving to be pretty good substitutes for insects.
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Rob