# Bearded dragon runt?



## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

My dragon boy is nearly 2 he was the runt of the litter his parents were quite big but he is no where near fully grown could it be because he is a runt or is there an underlying issue? He is about half the size he should be and his male but his beard doesn't even look fully formed, he seems to have stopped developing but why? He is healthy and looked after I'm so confused any help or suggestions will be great


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## blabble182 (Dec 26, 2010)

hi there i could possibly clear this up with two simple questions, A what is the overall length of your beardie from nose to tail tip and B can you get us a photo of him from a birds eye view? the beard not being fully formed, stunted size etc could indicate rankins dna in the bloodline of one of the beardies easy to tell from a photo and a length measurement


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

I'm not sure what his full length will be because his tail was missing a bit when I got him. (I got him for free because the owner was going to kill him she thought she couldn't sell him, and me loving animals I took him on willingly) his length is 28cm I have taken some photos and uploaded them to this link Hopefully someone can shed light on the situation or advise as both his parents was not rankins dragons so could this be a genetically throwback? I have made a photobucket account the link is Pictures by alysha633 - Photobucket
Thanks for any help


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## NicoleW (Dec 17, 2011)

Aww he's beautiful!

My beardie is 6 months old and is 31cm from head to tail.

He does look lovely and chunky though, can tell he hasn't got that baby face


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

Thank you do much  yea he doesn't have a baby face but he also doesn't have a full beardie beard???? Strange I don't understand why his so small


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

Thank you so much  ****


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## blabble182 (Dec 26, 2010)

right from the looks of the pictures he is lacking the prominent features of a full beard and has the same head structure as a vittikins dragon, although his size is at the top end of the scale for vittikins. from my experience i would say he is not 100% bearded dragon. this could be that one of the parents had rankins genes whilst not neccesarily displaying the features...this can be cause my beardie x vittikins breeding producing very beardie like babies which can grow to normal beardie size yet still carry the "dwarf gene" as its nicknamed. in stunted beardies i have never seen one to not develop a beard where as any with rankins/vittikins in the bloodline are likely to display this lack of beard..

hope this helps


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

Thank you so much I never thought for a second he wasn't 100% bearded dragon I thought maybe I did something wrong but this sorta puts my mind at ease I guess I'll wait a few months and check his size again seeing as I want a bigger cage for him (3ft)


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## blabble182 (Dec 26, 2010)

at 2 he wont grow any longer. a 36" x 18 x 15 viv should be fine for him on his own. just beware when you move him across and look for signs of stress...neither of my two will go in a 3ft tank for some reason. they dont eat properly and both prefer their two foot vivs. they seems to like the smaller space for some reason prob feels more secure for them


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

He is already in a 2ft cage but it seems to small tbh  he can move but it seems cluttered. His a little tyrant he constantly digs and causes mess and problems like kicking everything in his cage over  bless him the cage doesn't seem wide enough of tall enough, his fine but when the heat bulb is so low I have to use a cage to protect him and because of that it takes up space


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## Michaela93 (Jun 16, 2009)

blabble182 said:


> right from the looks of the pictures he is lacking the prominent features of a full beard and has the same head structure as a vittikins dragon, although his size is at the top end of the scale for vittikins. from my experience i would say he is not 100% bearded dragon.


I agree with this, he definitely looks like a vittikins, especially with those markings and head structure.

So don't worry, he looks like a very healthy boy :2thumb:


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## Debbie1962 (Dec 5, 2008)

Whatever he is he looks healthy and happy so I wouldn't worry about it anymore. He will not grow any bigger at his age now.

I'm sure he would appreciate a bigger viv.


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## alysha633 (Jul 6, 2010)

Yes hopefully he does appreciate it


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