HELP! Need advice!

[Sagittarius_Gem12]

My son is a 1rst time owner of a bearded dragon, Ira (our beardie) is about 7months old now and he has not grown basically his belly got a little fat and his tail is longer. When we got him the first 3months his appetite seemed poor he seems to be eatting more but still not much. He's fed baby bearded food, I mince fresh carrots, celery, apples and grapes for him he LOVES strawberries and dried peas didnt seem to care for the live crickets. Not sure why he is not growing need advice?

 

[Janelle]

You said he didn't seem to care for the crickets. Are you still offering live food daily?

 

[Sagittarius_Gem12]

Yes, we offer him mealworms and fresh fruit and vegetables mostly. His appetite has went up slightly to wear he will eat 75% of his dish of food, before he only would eat 15-20% and his tank temp is about 100° he has bathing water, shade ect. I know I was told he grows with his environment but hes stayed the same size so hes still on the same starter tank we brought home with. I just got a bigger tank hoping that's the problem but if hes already 7months and tiny I'm not sure if he will grow full size now if we waited to long.

 

[PatsyB]

Under my comment is a link to general care for your dragons. First of all you're not feeding him nutritious foods. They need healthy leafy greens such as collards, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens. Celery offers nothing but water. Fruits should only be offered very occasionally as a treat. Carrots are high in vitamin A and can cause problems. Dried processed bearded dragon food isn't good either because of all the preservatives in them. There is also a link to a good nutrition chart in the general information thread. Bugs should also be live so they can hunt and get exercise. Mealworms are a bad feeder because they have a hard exoskeleton that makes them hard to digest. Dubia, crickets, BSFL, silkworms, hornworms as treats are all good feeders. Superworms can be feed occasionally, you don't want to feed too many because they are high in fat, wax worms are also high in fat.

The temp should be higher, 107 degrees is best. Measure your temps with a digital thermometer or better yet an infrared temp gun. UVB lighting should be a tube style bulb (T5 bulbs are the best) spanning 1/2-2/3 of the tank. My guess, if you got a starter tank is that you are using either a coil bulb or a compact fluorescent both of which doesn't provide enough UVB for a growing dragon. Also make sure that you have him on a light cycle. Lights should come on for 12 hours a day and then the tank should be completely dark at night. If the tank is colder than 65 degrees at night you should be using a ceramic heat emitter, not a colored heat bulb. They need complete darkness and a period of coolness at night.

Temps, UVB and diet all factor into the appetite and growth of the dragon.

 

[Jorge Morales]

Yeah i would just say feed more leafy greens and make sure temp is pretty hot (90-100 or more if you could keep a close eye). If it's at normal health there's no reason why it shouldn't take live food unless it's too big.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Ditto everything Patsy said.. Your dragon needs much more than what you are providing him in order to grow.. If you could please post a picture of your set up and we can help you problem solve anything else.. But food, heat source, UVB source are your top reasons for health issues.
do look at the links below several of our comments as we have put together TONS of info on how to care for and what they need.. the food link is what all of us go by..