Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got my baby BD two weeks ago when he was 3 weeks old.I have been worried that maybe I wasn't feeding him enough so today I went back to the breeders to see how his clutch mates are growing and guess what?? mine is twice the size of his clutch mates!! he was the biggest of the clutch but not that much bigger.The breeder has been feeding crix and silkies, I have been feeding roaches and crix.I wonder if the different growth rate has to do with diet or maybe mine just takes after his dad,who is over 2 pounds.

My breeder seems to have problems getting her dragons to grow good,alot of them are quite small and I don't understand why,she feeds them all good food,has proper light/heating and nice big cages.I think I give more calcium/vitamines too,could that have anything to do with it?
Some of her 8 month BD are barely bigger then her Rankins.

could be the amount of food she is feeding. Roaches are very good feeders as well. Is she making sure the babies are well hydrated? Are her babies in separate tanks or several to a tank? Competition certainly can make a difference on how much a dragon eats.
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PHLdyPayne

She keeps her babies 15 to a tank,but most of them sell before they reach 3 weeks old. Even her adults are kinda small but she raises most of them 2-3 per tank.

Depending on the size of her tank, 15 is actually alot. Too much risk of tail/toe nips. ALot of breeders recommend only 5 per cage and even then, there is risk of tail and toe nips. It is deffinitely alot harder to make sure all are eating well with that many in a tank. IN truth 3 weeks old is too young to sell baby bearded dragons, they should be at least 6 weeks old and 10" long, to ensure they are well established and past the 'fragile' stage. At three weeks and less than 6", they can go down hill fast, if moving stressed them out too much and/or they get alot of parasites.
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PHLdyPayne