How To Help A Bearded Dragon Lose Weight
Can you overfeed a bearded dragon? Definitely yes. Bearded dragons are just like any other pet, some owners dote on them so much with extra food and treat that they soon wind up with an overweight bearded dragon.
This article intends to cover every aspect of this scenario, including what healthy dragon weight is, how to tell if your bearded dragon is fat, how to distinguish a fat bearded dragon from a pregnant one and, most helpful of all, tips and guidelines for helping you slim an obese bearded dragon down to a healthy weight.
A baby bearded dragon enters this world weighing no more than a single ounce and will eventually develop to weigh between 9 and 24 ounces [255 and 680 grams]; some outlier records have reached as much as 1 3/4 pounds [794 grams].
Is My Bearded Dragon Fat Or Skinny? (5 Weight Loss Tips)
While bearded dragons exhibit quite a bit of variation in their individual weights, partly due to their total body length, bearded dragon size at 1 year of age tends to fall between 10.5 to 14 ounces [300 to 400 grams].
If the weight of a dragon exceeds 30 ounces [850 grams], chances are high that you have reached a problematic level of dragon weight gain; even bearded dragon weight exceeding 27 ounces [765 grams] is likely to be a health issue for any dragon less than 22″ to 24″ long.
You will never meet a fat bearded dragon in the wild. Juveniles will consume a single, decent-sized insect for their entire day to offset the energy used to catch it.
How Big Do Bearded Dragons Get? (size & Growth Charts)
Bearded dragons know how to self-regulate their diet; wild adult males can get by just fine on nothing but plants, using the energy generated to travel their personal territory.
Captive dragons, by contrast, are given all the food they could eat at once, sometimes multiple instances each day. When you combine this excess of food with the “solved” problem of them not needing to move much if at all, the end result is a fatty bearded dragon.
Some people call bearded dragons lazy, but that behavior is simply their instinctual understanding that energy should only be spent when it is called for; a doting owner means the dragon does not need to do much to get food.
Bearded Dragon Shedding
As this article has already pointed out, there are many variables that go into a dragon’s development. In order to give a better understanding of these animals’ development, here is a chart made by the owner of multiple dragons.
Researching this sort of information, most owners are more concerned with length instead of weight; this may play into how prominent obesity is among pet dragons.
While this is a good question to ask, the ease of confirming one or the other is not. Malnutrition is easy to gauge with a few bits of information.
Caring For Your Pet Bearded Dragon
It is important to remember that bearded dragons, like most other reptiles, undergo a metabolic process called brumation; brumation tends to burn a lot of energy and is perfectly normal. Gauging if your bearded dragon has become obese is mostly some guesswork from assessing the following pieces of information and evidence.
If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, chances are likely that you have an obese dragon in your care. Notably, a dragon’s first reservoir of body fat is located at the base of its tail; a fatty tail means a fatty dragon.
While there is some overlap between a pregnant bearded dragon and an overweight one, there are two tells that indicate your bearded dragon is carrying eggs, even if those eggs are infertile.
Rescue Morph Help?
An overweight dragon can suffer from a variety of health problems beyond the obvious reduced lifespan. Some of the more notable problems to consider are the chances of weakened limbs, organ problems, especially within the liver, and dystocia in gravid females.
One of the most important things to consider when working slimming any reptile is their slower metabolisms; progress will be slow-going. With that said, there are several things you can do to trim your dragon down to a healthy weight.
The most obvious solution to changing a dragon’s diet is to reduce how much it eats. While every dragon’s age, sex and biological activity influence what it will eat and the quantity of that food, it is important to show some flexibility in reducing portion sizes.
Bearded Dragon Behavior And Diseases
Brumation is analogous to hibernation and practiced by reptiles when food is scarce and the temperature is appropriate. Brumation causes the dragon’s activity level to plummet, sustaining itself off stored fats. While this is great for shedding fat, it is not a good idea to induce brumation with young dragons; doing so can risk stunting their development. Always check with your vet before inducing brumation conditions; you wouldn’t want your dragon to brumate if it he picked up an unnoticed parasite or was too young.
While changing your dragon’s diet to incorporate healthier fare is a fine step, upping its daily energy expenditure is just as important.
If your poor dragon has progress beyond overweight and is properly obese, it would be a good idea to prevent the chances of fatty liver disease. To this end, either milk thistle or serrapeptase are recommended solutions; the former is an herb and the latter is an enzyme.
How To Care For Your Bearded Dragon
What’s even better is that you can give these substances to a dragon that is less-than-obese as a preventative measure. Notably, the dosage for these substances in a bearded lizard are exceptionally small (15-25 mg/kg) so the practical amount is to use nothing more than a pinch, just as if you were using salt in a cooking recipe, on either a daily basis or every other day.
No matter how much you love and care for your dragon, it is never a good idea to go without consulting a vet for at least once a year for a up.
A proper veterinarian can even highlight things to watch out for with your dragon and let you know when it is a good time to be mindful of egg-laying or if your dragon is developing at a normal rate.
Emeraid Gives Bearded Dragon With Mysterious Gi Illness Time To Recover
[fusion_separator top_margin=20 bottom_margin=][/fusion_separator] Exopetsguide is the trusted web portal that provides real-life advice, training tips and practical informative guides for exotic pets lovers. [fusion_separator top_margin=-20 bottom_margin=][/fusion_separator]Normal Bearded Dragon BehaviorSigns of A Healthy Bearded DragonAbnormal Bearded Dragon BehaviorBearded Dragon Malnutrition SignsBearded Dragon Mites & ParasitesBearded Dragon DiseasesSigns of Discomfort in Your Bearded Dragon
Healthy bearded dragons will go through a few cycles each year where he or she may seem ill, but in reality they are perfectly healthy. Please consider the following stages if you suspect your beardie is ill.
Brumation is a naturally occurring hibernation cycle that bearded dragons go through. Bearded dragons will go through a brumation stage in the winter or fall in response to the change in lighting or temperatures. Some bearded dragon owners will try to force or prevent brumation by manually adjusting the temperatures and lighting of their dragons cage, however it is recommended to let your bearded dragon do what comes naturally.
Is My Bearded Dragon Healthy?
Each bearded dragon is different during the brumation period. Some dragons will take very long naps off and on for the entire cycle, while other dragons will sleep without waking for the entire cycle. The brumation period also varies based on the dragon. Some bearded dragons don't go through brumation at all, others will only have a brumation period for a week, and some will be in brumation for several months.
During the brumation cycle your bearded dragon will become less active and will sleep for much longer periods of time. Your bearded dragon may also have a decreased appetite or stop eating all together. This is natural and your bearded dragon should not lose any weight even without eating for the duration of the brumation period if he/she is healthy. Normally bearded dragons will only lose weight during brumation if they have parasites, so it's generally a good idea to have your dragon tested for parasites when you suspect they are about to enter a brumation cycle. Some owners will weigh their dragon before and during the brumation period to make sure they do not lose weight, but this is unnecessary unless you suspect your beardie has parasites.
Some owners will turn the lights off during brumation and will stop feeding their bearded dragon until the brumation cycle ends. However, since every bearded dragon is different it's recommended to keep the cage lights on for the same cycle throughout the brumation period and to continue feeding the bearded dragon. Many bearded dragons will wake up occasionally during the brumation period and will eat and/or bask in their basking light. To do this, simply keep a bit of fresh food in their cage and monitor if it's been eaten or not.
Beardie Loses Weight During Brumation
Many owners will wake their bearded dragon for bathing and to make sure they eat. However, doing this can cause the brumation cycle to increase. For example, waking your bearded dragon every week can extend a 2 month brumation cycle to 3+ months as opposed to leaving your beardie undisturbed.
Bearded dragons are reptiles and so they will shed their skin. Baby and juvenile bearded dragons
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