Stunted Babies?

[White Rose]

I have two baby bearded dragons I've had since late November. I've been really suspicious to the fact that they did seem to grow slower. I never thought too much of it though. But I did a bit of research, and found 5 month old beardies are supposed to be up to 10 inches long, both are only 6 inches. They shed normal, eat great, and the one is very energetic. My other thread talks about the other one but back on topic. They live in a 40 gallon together, eat greens everyday, and eat 10 small roaches each. I just increased the roaches to 15 to see if that helps. Bathed every 2-3 days. They aren't my first beardies but first babies. I have an Adult who will be 2 in March and an approximately 8 month old, both nice and fat and the younger growing rapidly. Am I doing something wrong? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Hdrydr31]

There could be a number of reasons.. We need more information on your set up.. First to get this out of the way they are solitary creatures and they should be separated as in time if they haven't already 1 will be the dominate and will take the best basking spot a 40g is the min for 1 adult dragon.
This is likely the issue with their growth.

 

[White Rose]

Well the one is injured on the head (Already stated this on another thread on this site) and tends to stay away from the very top of the basking spot. Walks fine but not as much as the other one, because he is blind. I'm around them nearly all the time, the one sometimes gets on top of the other for the basking area but that's usually when the baby is just fed and it's very rare (Probably 1 in every 40 feeding). I put him there so he digests properly. They never sleep in the same area, I check on everyone before bed. I planned to separate in the future, once they both grew to an appropriate size. The setup is like any other. Basking is around 90-120, it tends to spike. There's kind of a mini basking area, stack able rocks with a 100 watt siting over it, goes around 70. Cool area 40-50, also spikes. They have a shallow water/salad dish. I have paper towel lining the bottom for better pick up of stool. Fake plant mounted on the log, energetic one tends to sleep there or rocks. The injured one is usually floor or log near basking.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Well the one is injured on the head (Already stated this on another thread on this site) and tends to stay away from the very top of the basking spot. Walks fine but not as much as the other one, because he is blind. I'm around them nearly all the time, the one sometimes gets on top of the other for the basking area but that's usually when the baby is just fed and it's very rare (Probably 1 in every 40 feeding). I put him there so he digests properly. They never sleep in the same area, I check on everyone before bed. I planned to separate in the future, once they both grew to an appropriate size. The setup is like any other. Basking is around 90-120, it tends to spike. There's kind of a mini basking area, stack able rocks with a 100 watt siting over it, goes around 70. Cool area 40-50, also spikes. They have a shallow water/salad dish. I have paper towel lining the bottom for better pick up of stool. Fake plant mounted on the log, energetic one tends to sleep there or rocks. The injured one is usually floor or log near basking.

wow that's a big spike 110 would be the highest. Cool area shouldn't get below 65F if it does then get a CHE to bring it up as 40-50 is way too cold.

 

[White Rose]

Honestly, It's a rough estimate on the cool side. Probably totally under estimating it. I had a thermometer in there while my Adult was in it but It's being used to monitor my roaches colony temps. And then I bought another tank so I could swap them so yeah. It's probably more like that, I'm currently looking to get another tank, was gonna be mainly for my 8 month though. He's also very energetic and likes to run but he's in my smaller set up temporarily. Need a job before that really happens though, plus all my medical bills for just myself. My recent ER visit didn't help that. But the tank I'm looking at is 100 gallon, would that be good for them? I could also use some good mesh I just bought at the store to separate them? Just give me some thoughts here on what to do. My main question is whether or not being stunted can be helped and what I can do to help them grow. Whether it's feeding or housing, I just want them to be healthy.

 

[PatsyB]

What kind of lights are you using for them?

 

[White Rose]

I use Exo Terra SolarGlo for all my reptiles, my almost 2 year old has always had this type of bulb since I've had him.

 

[PatsyB]

My guess is going to be because you have two in a tank together fighting for UVB in a small area of the tank. They aren't social animals and shouldn't be housed together, fighting and dominance issues can happen at the drop of a dime. Even seemingly happy to be together dragons can turn on each other in a heart beat.

A tube style UVB will give more coverage in the tank instead of it being concentrated into one area.