Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i know runts are somewhat common in bearded dragons.. do to inbreeding, silbling dominace, or poor husbandry.. but do any of you have a very small water dragon that stopped growing. i am asking because i have a sexually mature 3 year old male water dragon that beside the yellow underarms, comb and pink/orange chin is very small in stature and is a whopping 13 inches stl. i have owned 5 cwds in the past ten years and just recently lost my first and oldest to liver disease at the age of 12. The runt is currently housed in a 4x2x4 tank with a 5 gallon pool with filter... heat is 80 on the "cold" side and 90-95 on the hot end.. humidity is around 70 plus... he is parasite free, no MBD, had a respitory infection as a baby and mouth rot as well and is a very very picky eater.. sometimes refusing to eat.. which in turn i force feed bug/vitamin slurries.. been to the vet and have spent quite a bit of money.. he is on the upside and is putting on weight.. but i am at a loss as to what is wrong with him.. i figure he will always be this small and forgive me for this.. but just realized a couple of days ago that it really had been three years since he was purchased.. because he looks like a baby????

do you think it could be some sort of birth defect or a nuerological disorder.. maybe something other than parasites, viral or bacterial...that i could discuss with the vet..

btw: all of my other water dragons are of normal size, housed in large cages given uvb and calcium, and are in great health...

any ideas will be greatly appreciated

alissa

when i bought him about the mouth rot.. but i have treated that before and it was in the early stages..only after the intial vet check did i find out about the respitory infections.. boy oh boy if i knew what i was in for with this guy..

thanks again..

i will try and post pics of him so you can see what i mean about him being so small.. he has a huge head and hands.. but his torso or tail never grew any bigger

Stress from being sick can definetly stunt growth. Another possiblity is that his microflora was killed off in the process of treating him. Waterdragon like iguanas will eat feces from adult to establish the microflora in their gut. This micro flora aids in digestion. When the microflora culture is damaged by medication or never properly established, stunted growth and poor eating habits can be observed. Also affected animals appear to lick at the ground more often. Yogurt if often feed to help replace some of the microflora, also there are several suppliments design specifically for this purpose.Calcium or D3 imbalances could also be an issue.

thanks i will bring that up when i take him to another ver for a second opinion.. i have often thought that myself..but my usual vet doesn't think that is the case.. thanks again

alissa

well, even if we're wrong, a bacterial suppliment can only do him good, so there's no harm in trying it.

i have a female that was wild caught . i ve had her for over a year. she would never eat and was anorexic. i took her to the vet but was parasite free. i gave her parazap, pro bac , jump start , anything to get her to eat. nothing worked . i just did the most i could do and hope she is happier than the sh&^ty
store i got her from ( my first wd, ) then one day , she just started eating like a pig . just keeps eating . now she grew sideways but still no growth length wise . i think shes about 3 yrs old but she has not grown an inch in over a year . the same length as the first day i got her . my male is younger and twice as big ( cb) but she kicks his butt all over the place. shes had a rough life im sure . childhood trauma, and lack of nutrition i think stunted her growth , but she is pretty fat now . ...btw she also laid a clutch of eggs about 2 mons ago. i think yours will be alright..