Hatchlings

[Justus85]

I went to petco to pick up some treats for Rex and saw that they'd gotten in a new batch of beardies. And I kid you not these things were soo tiny it looked like they'd just come out of the egg! They were barely any bigger than that recent pick of cryptic's clutch! Now am I crazy or aren't you supposed to wait till the 2 month mark to sell a beardie?

 

[beardielover17]

Big chain stores don't care about things of that sort. It's all about making money and the breeders of these dragons mass breed them and pretty much sell them out of the egg. It's all about cutting costs and making money to them.

 

[crypticdragons]

Big chain stores like that often get babies in at only a week old. I have seen babies a petsmart whose umbilical chord slit had not fully healed yet.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Ditto

 

[hanfon]

I was in a petstore here in QLD and they have some beardies whose bodies were no longer than my finger and about as thin. She said they were born in Dec 2009 so about 8 mnths old! Pluto is 10mnths and is about 38cm ...? About half had no heat lamps and the ones that did, had lights so far up from any reachable basking spot it was crazy. They had a wee bit of rocket in a bowl and they were sooo black and sad looking ... Is there anything you can actually do to help MAKE the store improve their conditions for the poor things? :-[

 

[staylor]

Pet stores are just bad places. I try to avoid looking at the reptiles now b/c it makes me so mad and sad all at once. I have tried to tell the stores and they don't want to listen. I know they don't care but it makes me sleep better at night to know I at least tried.

 

[beardielover17]

I was in a petstore here in QLD and they have some beardies whose bodies were no longer than my finger and about as thin. She said they were born in Dec 2009 so about 8 mnths old! Pluto is 10mnths and is about 38cm ...? About half had no heat lamps and the ones that did, had lights so far up from any reachable basking spot it was crazy. They had a wee bit of rocket in a bowl and they were sooo black and sad looking ... Is there anything you can actually do to help MAKE the store improve their conditions for the poor things? :-[

I think I've read that there are local ASPCA type people you can report things like that to. Isn't QLD one of the few places that allow animals to be sold in pet stores? I remember reading something like that somewhere on an Aussie forum but I'm not sure.

 

[crypticdragons]

I was in a petstore here in QLD and they have some beardies whose bodies were no longer than my finger and about as thin. She said they were born in Dec 2009 so about 8 mnths old! Pluto is 10mnths and is about 38cm ...? About half had no heat lamps and the ones that did, had lights so far up from any reachable basking spot it was crazy. They had a wee bit of rocket in a bowl and they were sooo black and sad looking ... Is there anything you can actually do to help MAKE the store improve their conditions for the poor things? :-[

You will have to contact francis (Redinkaus) but I am fairly certain there is an organization in Oz that pet stores have to answer to and are "audited" by for the purposes of checking the care of their animals.

 

[Red Ink AUS]

I was in a petstore here in QLD and they have some beardies whose bodies were no longer than my finger and about as thin. She said they were born in Dec 2009 so about 8 mnths old! Pluto is 10mnths and is about 38cm ...? About half had no heat lamps and the ones that did, had lights so far up from any reachable basking spot it was crazy. They had a wee bit of rocket in a bowl and they were sooo black and sad looking ... Is there anything you can actually do to help MAKE the store improve their conditions for the poor things? :-[

First point of call would be QLD Npws mate, check with them and their standards of compliance for commercial reptile husbandry requirements if there is a difference to "private". Each state is different mate. Anyway heres a head start for you.

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/register/p00061aa.pdf

Check out the minimum standards they have set for Pagona sp. (don't know if this is enforced though) a bit over the top if you ask me......

Minimum standards:
• Cage dimensions:
– Minimum cage sizes vary according to species and the number of lizards kept. The following enclosure dimensions and substrates are suitable for two to three adult dragon lizards of the respective species:
o water dragon, Physignathus lesueri: 200cm by 200cm by 80cm, must contain water at all times, the larger cage space the better for these active, social lizards;
o bearded dragons, Pogona spp.: 100cm by 150cm by 80cm, perching sites, groundcover, plus an open area for feeding; and
o smaller arid and semi-arid species, Ctenophorus spp., Tympanocryptis spp.: 60cm by 50cm by 50cm, well-drained cages with sandy deep substrate, low perching sites (stones, logs) and low groundcover.

 

[Red Ink AUS]

Here's the one for commercial license

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/register/p01389aa.pdf