Tiny Beardie Advice Please

Hi,

We've just taken on an 8 month old beardie who seems perfectly healthy in every way except for the fact that she is no bigger than a 3/4 week old hatchling!!

She's come from a decent breeder so has not been denied proper care and the rest of her clutch mates are a normal size - we're just wondering if anyone has encountered this before and could give us any info?

Obviously she won't be bred from, she has a forever pet home here, we're just unsure of what the future holds for her, whether she's likely to have health complications in the future and whether she's likely to have a shorter lifespan due to her size??

She's also the feistiest little thing I've ever come across, all of our previous beardies have been laid back and actively sought our company, this little girl gapes and lunges before I've even got her viv open, it'd be quite intimidating if she wasn't such a teeny thing!

Out of curiosity, which breeder?

In the instances in which I have heard about undersized beardies, it is due to a husbandry issue. Do you know if the breeder provided her with a UV source? Were they feeding her a varied, balanced diet?

The aggression could also be due to poor husbandry.

If I were you, I would contact the breeder and ask some questions.

She came from a breeder here in the UK, she had UV, basking spot and a varied diet just the same as her siblings who all grew normally and went to new homes... though she has never eaten veggies even here, I offer fresh every day, but she doesn't touch them!

The breeder hung onto her until she was 8 months old to see how she developed and re-homed her to me when it was apparent she was never going to grow knowing I would give her a forever home, she's been here a few weeks now and although she's calming down temperament wise, she's not grown at all, she still fits easily into one hand just as a hatchling would!!

We've also had her checked over by our vet who says apart from her size, she appears to be perfectly healthy but as he'd never come across such a small adult beardie before he couldn't offer much advice other than to say that she is unlikely to have the same life expectancy as a normal beardie!

Hmm, that's very interesting. I suppose, since she's healthy, that it must be some kind of genetic dwarfism. Not eating salads at that age is pretty normal, so that can't have caused it... Very interesting.