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female growing too slow?

M

mojobean

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I have a female (Hooch) that i bought for Thanksgiving 2013. She was 7 1/2" when I got her, and was born August 21, 2013. She is now11 1/2", but still so incredibly small compared to the male (Earl) i bought january 22nd at 4" who is now about 18".
she eats well enough, and has gotten a little bigger ever so slowly, i'm just worried she will not reach a size that its safe to breed at.
Do females grow slower or should i be worried about anything?
She is healthy, and the sweetest thing. She loves to explore and is no less active than the 2 males i have. Earl matched her size early April and hasn't stopped growing.
 
Is the female housed by herself?

A few quick thoughts about maintaining a healthy dragon.
Good light, uva, uvb bulb changed frequently. heat and plenty of calcium dusted feeders.clean cages, no poop building up in cage, cleanliness is very important.

If a dragon is growing slow a fecal exam is a must.
 
she is housed by herself. hot side/basking 100-110,uva&uvb, cool side 70-75 at night 75-85 during day. she had a fecal in february and was on panacur. (i think that was the name of it… the milky white stuff)
all three had to take it.
i disinfect their cages every other week fully, and spot clean/disinfect in between.
paper substrate. she always poops in the same spot. calcium dusted dubia and mini super worms as she is so small. silkworms as often as i can. no crickets.
extreme spectrum of salad/greens goodness (she eats better than i do when it comes to salads)
I've been reading all the housing input on these forums for the better part of 1-1/2yrs, since i got my first beardie Mr. Y, so i'm fairly certain I've got that pretty squared away?
she didn't used to like water, but loves it now (after months of baths). loves sitting in the sunshine with me and any day that is at least 75 with full sun i take her outside.
i had thought maybe she was part rankins but i really don't think so.
OR… that like most of the critters that i seem to do really well with.. she is a runt.
maybe i'll schedule a vet visit just in case.. but i really don't think they are going to tell me anything different since last time.
 
What type of UVB are you using? That makes a HUGE difference. How often do you change out the UVB?

Depending on who you bought her from she could have genetics that are causing her to be a runt.

Also if she's still that tiny, she will never be safe to breed. She is almost a year and barely the size of a 5 month old. So I wouldn't hold out hope for breeding her.
 
reptisun 10.0, the long tube version and i change them every 6 months since i don't have a way to measure uvb. mercury bulbs will not fit in my cages.
I got her from Atomic Lizard Ranch in AZ.
I figured she might never be safe to breed, but i was still hoping. Thats alright..

Runts have always been great for me.. we seem to get along extraordinarily well.
If I wish to breed later, I shall just find a more appropriate female.
 
i will take her to the vet, but i think she is just a wee one and will remain small, like me. ;) this is a pic of her when i got her (November 2013)
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and here are a couple from March 2014 where she is with Mr.Y who is going on about 2yrs if his PO gave me good info
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She gained an inch!

She has gained an inch in the past few weeks and is in full shed…!!!! Eating like a horse, and more active than usual. I started turning on her infrared heat bulb for a few hours each day and maybe it kicked her temps up just right? She also has some "new friends" located within view across the room (3 little rankins dragons) and they wave to each other occasionally. I have hope for her gaining in size yet!
 
last week she reached 13"! She is eating like a horse, like there is no tomorrow. Just how many super worms/roaches should i let her eat before cutting her off for the day?
 
Glad she's doing better! I tend to leave a couple extra dubias in the viv overnight. When the lights come on in the morning they start wandering about and my dragon goes hunting! Some dragons just like to be challenged I guess! You could also try phoenix/calci worms, a bit expensive but were a big help in getting mine to at least try his greens. Good luck!
 
she eats whatever i put in there.. recently i'm low on larger supers.. so i'll give her double on the 1" - 1-1/2" smaller ones.. usually about 25-30, then she will stand there over her dish staring at me till i look at her, then she will look at her dish and look back at me quickly. She will stare at me till i give her second helping. She will wipe out all her greens. Her bowl for those is ALWAYS cleaned out. No matter how much I put in there. She eats every last reptiworm, super, or dubia i give her. on rare occasion she will leave a few and finish them off with her greens in the morning. She has taken to digging in the sand section of her cage (about 18" x 18" in a plexiglass short box). It isn't more than 2" deep. She is very methodical about everything. she has ONE spot she poops in, no where else ever, just THAT spot. sleeps in only one spot. eats in only one spot. will flip her dish over if i have not filled it by a certain time, this varies between dishes. if she did not get fresh greens before i go to work and there are a few day old drier bits in the dish.. she turns it upside down. If she has not gotten bugs by 5pm she will flip her bug dish. (this rarely happens but it is quite the statement when it does). at 7pm she is up in her bed behind the plants. I have not measured her length recently.. but she is fat. One of my males tried to grab her to mate once.. and she did not seem like she was going to fight it so I separated them immediately… she is not ready for that (or maybe WE aren't ;) ) Will females produce eggs even if they have not mated? Her belly is so huge i'm starting to think i need to give her a box of stuff to dig in and lay eggs or something?
 
Sound like she's doing alright! At least she only flips over her dish... If I give mine the wrong kind of greens (he's picky) he looks at me and back at the greens a couple times, then heads on over and does his business on top of them! She can lay eggs without mating, they just won't be fertile. You should set her up with a dig spot if she wants to dig, could be she's looking for a place to lay.
 
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