Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys new to the board. I have two bearded dragons, a water dragon, a uromastyx, bullfrogs, cuban tree frogs, and a bunch of other frogs, oh and a slobbering bulldog. Any ways my bearded dragon is not growing, he eats crickets, mealworms, a mixture of greens and get vitamin supplements. any ideas why he or she would not be growing. he is alone in a tank about the size of a 29 gallon tank but i am now setting up a 55 gal tank for him. Is it possible to house a bearded dragon with a uromastyx? Thank you in advance for any advice

Unfortunately we would need a little more info from you in order to try and help you figure out whats going on...

what are the temps? (basking spot, ambient, and cool)
do you have a UVB light? If so, how old is it and how close can ur BD get to it?
How old is he? How long have you had him? How big is he (inches and grams)?
Roughly how much does he eat daily?
Does he get a straight calcium powder as well, or just a multivitimin?

Here are a few things I can suggest:

Whenever anyone says that have a reptile that is eating but not growing, i immediately think parasites. Parasites will cause them to not grow, no matter how much they are eating. Get a fresh(24hrs or newer) fecal sample and drop it off at a reptile vet nearby, they will read the fecal and let you know if there are any parasites. If there are, a few rounds of dewormer should get him cleaned out. After the dewormer is done do another fecal to make sure all parasites were eliminated.

If he doesn't have a UVB light, or doesn't get a calcium only (RepCal, Jurrasical etc) supplement on his food from time to time then that could effect his growth too.

If he is chronically stressed for some reason (in a high traffic area, can see animals that are stressing him, being harrassed by the dog, being handled too much) that may also lead to his being stunted.

Your first move should be to get a fecal done, this will set you in the right direction. Fecals should be done routinely anyways (at least once a year) for all reptiles.

As far as housing a beardie with a uro, i wouldn't. Mixing any species is a bad idea for a number of reasons...stress is a big one. Also, beardies may carry certain pathogens that are harmless to them but harmfull to uros...or vice versa. Aggression is also a conern whenever you house any animals together.

Start with making sure your husbandry is correct...proper temps, humidity, substrate and food and by getting a fecal checked. If your husbandry is good and the fecal is negative then a full check up by a vet may be needed to figure out what is going on. Sometimes parasites dont show up on fecals even if they are present, so the vet may choose to deworm your beardie anyways.

keep up posted! and welcome to the forum

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