Every owner wants to give the best care and life to their bearded dragons. But sometimes, your bearded dragon might start eating too much and become overweight.
Keeping your bearded dragon’s weight in a healthy range is very important for its health and general well being. In this post, we will discuss how overweight bearded dragons look like and being overweight affects their health.
Then, we will discuss how to make your overweight bearded dragon lose weight. We will also cover confusing overweight dragon for a pregnant dragon, healthy bearded dragon size and weight.
Some owners love their bearded dragons that much, that they let them eat more than they need to. This is understandable, but there are quite a lot of overweight bearded dragons nowadays.
Growth chart for an average bearded dragon:
0 months – 3.5-4 inches long and around 1/10 ounce (2-3 grams)
1 month – around 5 inches
2 months – around 5-8 inches
3 months – 9-11 inches
4 months – 9-13 inches
5 months – 12-16 inches
6 months – 12-18 inches
7 months – 14-18 inches
8 months – 14-20 inches
9 months – around the same, maximum of around 20 inches
10-12 months – 17-22 inches
12-24 months- maximum size is reached at around 18-24 months, which is around 19-24 inches long
What is a healthy bearded dragon weight range?
Every bearded dragon is different, and their weights also differ. Males and females can have different weight, gravid bearded dragon will weigh more than usual. Also, brumating dragons can lose some weight for few months and so on. Every bearded dragon grows at its own pace and gains weight at a different rate.
Bearded dragons are born at 2-3 grams, around 0.1 ounces, and reach around 250-700 grams in weight. 250 grams is a minimum weight for a healthy adult bearded dragon, and 700-850 grams is a big bearded dragon.
By the age of 6 months, average bearded dragons weigh around 100-120 grams. Weight varies a lot among bearded dragons, and some bearded dragons reach a mature weight of 300-400+ grams at 10-12 months old.
If your bearded dragon is above 900 grams, that is when you can suspect that it is overweight/fat. Even over 800 grams can be too much if your bearded dragon is not full 22-24 inches.
How does being overweight affect bearded dragon’s health?
Being overweight means that your bearded dragon will carry more weight. As a result, the bones and joints will be weakened. Your bearded dragon is also more likely to move around less, become lazy and make gasping noises.
What is more, there is a higher risk of a fatty liver. Female overweight bearded dragons might develop issues with hormones and eggs, which can also lead to egg-binding. The fat might be released in the system and might cause organ dysfunction.
Confusing an overweight bearded dragon with a pregnant or full/constipated bearded dragon
Sometimes you might think that your bearded dragon is fat after it has eaten. But the truth is, bearded dragon’s belly gets big, bloated and round after eating, and this should pass.
It should pass fully after your bearded dragon has pooped. If it doesn’t, your bearded dragon could have an impaction, or constipation. What is more, your bearded dragon could be egg-bound (if she was gravid), have tumor or retained fluid. If you suspect any serious issue, see a vet.
You might also confuse a gravid (pregnant) bearded dragon for a fat dragon. Your bearded dragon might be gravid if she is over a year old, looks restless, doesn’t move much, is scratching the tank.
She might also poop less or more and gains weight even though the diet has been the same. Read our breeding guide if you suspect that your bearded dragon might be gravid.
How can you tell if a bearded dragon is overweight?
As we have mentioned, start worrying if your bearded dragon reaches over 850-900 grams. Even 800 grams and over can be too much for a bearded dragon that is shorter than 22-24 inches long.
And even while some bearded dragons are fine at over 600 grams, some start developing complications. Be your own judge and start worrying if you notice any changes in the behavior, such as movements and energy levels. Does your bearded dragon eat enough greens?
You should weigh your bearded dragon weekly since it’s born or from the moment you get it. You can use kitchen scales or jewelry scales such as these, that weigh to the nearest 0.1 grams. Document weekly/monthly weight gain or loss to make any decisions.
What does an overweight bearded dragon look like?
A bearded dragon that is overweight will have a large round belly, and it will be visible from the top. The tail will be very thick, especially at the base. The head around the jawline will be visibly large and distended. You won’t be able to easily see its hip bones or back bone.
How to make your overweight bearded dragon lose weight?
Step number 1: Make sure that your bearded dragon is not eating too many feeder insects.
Start training your bearded dragon to eat vegetables from an early age. If your bearded dragon is overweight, don’t feed it too many bugs, you need to cut back on them.
Generally, an adult bearded dragon can eat around 15-20 crickets per feeding which should last around 15 minutes.
If your bearded dragon needs to lose weight, don’t feed it more than 30 crickets per week, so 15 per feeding. Feed bugs in the morning so that your bearded dragon can burn more calories throughout the day.
Step number 2: Make your bearded dragon hunt for food and crop its own salad.
If you are not using loose substrate in the bearded dragon’s tank (hopefully), then you can place few crickets or other bugs at a time in the tank. Your bearded dragon will have to hunt and chase them before it can eat them.
This feeding can take longer, and hopefully, by the time 15 minutes are gone, it will have eaten less bugs. You can also use feeding tongs and hold the bug higher in the tank, so your bearded dragon will stand up and climb higher to get it.
Also, you can hang the salad on the clip so that your bearded dragon crops its salad as it does in the wild. If your bearded dragon doesn’t eat vegetables, this can interest it. Otherwise, offer salad in the bowl.
Step number 3: Make sure that your bearded dragon doesn’t eat too many times in a day.
Bearded dragons need to eat a different number of crickets and other feeder insects at a different age.
For example, hatchling and baby bearded dragons (0-4 months old) need to eat 20-40% veggies and 60-80% feeder insects. Juveniles (4-7 months old) – 50% insects, 50% veggies and adults (18 months+) – 15-30% insects, 70-85% veggies!
Well, this is a big difference. Young bearded dragons need to eat more insects to get more protein for building their bodies. With age, this need decreases.
Hatchling and baby bearded dragons need to eat bugs 2-3 times a day, juveniles – 2 times a day, and sub-adults + adults – once a day. So, for example, babies need to have a small bowl of salad in the tank at all times to familiarize with vegetables.
But for adult bearded dragons, you need to alternate between bugs and vegetables (either salad or bugs in one day) – and it should be bugs 2 times a week, and salad – 5 times a week.
If your adult bearded dragon is very overweight, you can feed it bugs 2 times a week, and salad 3 times a week. And for two days – don’t feed nothing.
Don’t feed your adult bearded dragon bugs more than 2 times a week. And generally, don’t feed your adult bearded dragon (16-18 months and over) more than once a day. The best time to feed is in the morning or afternoon, so it has all day to digest the food and burn more calories before sleeping at night.
Step number 4: Cut back on any fatty feeder insects in a bearded dragon’s diet.
If your bearded dragon is obese, stop offering it any fatty worms and other bugs. Skip giving those even as treats, until your bearded dragon has lost weight. Remove any fatty worms that include butterworms, waxworms, superworms.
Mealworms are not the best option when losing weight because they contain much more much fat comparing to little calcium.
If your bearded dragon only eats fatty worms, you must slowly switch to other bugs. High fat and protein diet will cause liver and kidney problems. Your bearded dragon might be eating only one type of a bug out habit and lack of alternatives. Either way, start offering other insects as well.
Offer a variety of non-fatty staple insects, such as crickets, hornworms, roaches (Dubia, Madagascar hissing, discoid etc.), locusts, grasshoppers (only green, lubber ones are toxic) and sometimes, Phoenix worms and silkworms.
Find a list of staple feeder insects and vegetables in this post.
Step number 5: Offer more salad and start training as soon as possible.
Does your bearded dragon eat enough salad? Check the points above and see if you are overfeeding it feeder insects. Start introducing salads from a very early age.
Even though babies are likely to eat only few pieces if any, you need to help them get used to veggies. If your bearded dragon doesn’t eat enough vegetables or only a little, you will need to train it. Read about various methods on how to train your bearded dragon to eat salad, greens and flowers in this post.
You must start training your beardie to eat veggies – and they should make up most of adult’s diet. Obesity often starts in the adulthood, when overeating with bugs is often a common due to lack of vegetables in the diet.
If your bearded dragon is not eating salad and nothing is helping, try making a veggies slurry and feeding it from the spoon. See if your bearded dragon enjoys it.
Step number 6: Make your bearded dragon exercise and move around.
After you have adjusted bearded dragon’s diet, you need to incorporate exercise. There are many types of exercises that your bearded dragon can do.
For example, you can hang pieces of vegetables in the tank before the main meal so that your dragon eats them. Clipping the pieces of vegetables in the tank will intrigue and challenge your bearded dragon.
What is more, you can add additional ramps, branches, hammock, tunnel in the tank – so that your bearded dragon can more around and climb more. Outdoors playpen for small animals is also an excellent choice for playing outside in summer.
Another exercise for your bearded dragon is swimming. You need to bathe your dragon in water 1-2 times a week. Fill the tub with water up to dragon’s knees and elbows.
Water should be around 80 (around 26) degrees. Splashing in the water will be a good exercise. You can even fill one part of the tub with more water and other side – with less. Your bearded dragon is likely to swim from the shallow to a deeper end. Make sure to watch your dragon, though.
Make sure that the temperatures in the tank are correct, otherwise your dragon might be lazy to move.
What is more, let your bearded dragon roam the room or climb over you. You can even buy toys for your dragon and play with it. This will engage your bearded dragon mentally and make it exercise, while your will enjoy playing with it!
One of the toys is a cat ball, that you fill with bugs, making your dragon kick the ball and try to get to the bugs. Find a list of 11 bearded dragon toys and fun activities in this post.
Step number 7: Give your obese bearded dragon some detoxifying supplements.
If your bearded dragon is obese, you might help it prevent developing a fatty liver disease. To do this, give your bearded dragon some milk thistle (such as this in a powder form) or serrapeptase.
Milk thistle is a natural herb and serrapeptase is an enzyme that is taken from the silkworm’s intestines. They help support liver function, cleanse the blood and the liver. You can give it to your bearded dragon even if it’s healthy.
The dosage or serrapeptase or milk thistle should be around 15 mg/kg – 25 mg/kg. It is very hard to measure the dosage that you need to give your bearded dragon, as it’s usually half of a milligram, which even jewelry scales won’t weigh.
If you have special fine gram scales or laboratory scales, you can weigh these small amounts. But often, you won’t be able to do this, so that’s why you need to only use a pinch of the supplement.
If using capsules, open them up and only use a pinch. If you have a liquid form or serrapeptase, it is a similar situation. Maximum use a drop from a pipette, or a pinch (just like a pinch of salt). You can use it once a day, every other day.