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Bearded Dragon Weight

Bearded Dragon Weight

What is a healthy weight for a bearded dragon? | How to tell if you have an overweight bearded dragon | What are the health risks to overweight bearded dragons? | How to help your bearded dragon lose weight

bearded dragon piggy back

Unfortunately, overweight and obese bearded dragons are common in pet households. In nature, bearded dragons regularly move around searching for food and patrolling their territory. On the other hand, most pet lizards simply wait to have their food delivered and spend most of their time in their habitats with little opportunity to exercise. Additionally, many pet parents have trouble discerning how much food their lizard actually needs and they tend to overfeed.

A fat bearded dragon is not a healthy pet—being overweight can increase their risk for several health issues, including arthritis, liver disease and other serious conditions. If you have an overweight reptile, consult your veterinarian about how to help your pet slim down to a healthier weight.

What is a healthy weight for a bearded dragon?

Before you start implementing a plan to help your beardie lose weight, it is important to know what a healthy weight for a bearded dragon is. A healthy weight for a bearded dragon depends on their age, gender, overall health status and other unique traits.

Your veterinarian may refer to a bearded dragon growth chart and weight chart to determine whether your pet’s weight is appropriate. In general, a bearded dragon reaches maturity when they are around 10 to 12 months old. Once they’ve reached adulthood, their body length should be roughly 16 to 24 inches and they should weigh approximately 250 to 700 grams.

If your adult beardie weighs under 250 grams, you may have askinny bearded dragon that isn’t being fed enough—or your pet could be losing weight because of an underlying medical condition. On the other hand, if your beardie weighs more than 900 grams, your pet is almost certainly overweight. Consult your veterinarian and review our Bearded Dragon Care Sheet to help ensure you care for your pet properly.

healthy bearded dragon

How to tell if you have an overweight bearded dragon

Bearded dragons store their fat in specific areas of their bodies, including two large fat pads inside their abdomens. By feeling their bellies, you should be able to locate these bearded dragon fat pads and you may be able to tell if they’re overweight.

In addition to the abdominal fat pads, bearded dragons have other storage places for fat in their bodies. The most common bearded dragon fat pockets are in the following areas:

  • Tail An overweight lizard’s tail will be very thick, especially around the base
  • Back It is hard to feel and see the spine and ribs of an overweight beardie
  • Stomach An obese bearded dragon will have a noticeably round belly, which is especially obvious when looking down at them
  • Jowls A fat bearded dragon will often have thick folds of skin under their neck that look like jowls
  • Head The top of an overweight bearded dragon’s head may feel squishy with fat
  • Arms and Legs An obese bearded dragon often has pockets of fat behind their arms and legs

If you suspect your bearded dragon has a weight issue, schedule a wellness exam with your vet to help rule out any potential health issues that might be contributing to your pet’s condition.

fat bearded dragon

What are the health risks to overweight bearded dragons?

Unfortunately, being overweight can have a negative impact on your bearded dragon’s health and quality of life. Carrying more weight can put stress on their bones and joints, predisposing them to arthritis and making it more difficult to move around and explore their environment.

A fat bearded dragon may also be at a higher risk of developing several significant health issues, including fatty liver disease, heart failure, strokes and cloacal prolapse.

Overall, being obese or overweight can shorten your beardie’s lifespan. If your bearded dragon is obese, work with your veterinarian in trying to get your beardie back to a healthy body weight to help ensure they live a long and healthy life.

How to help your bearded dragon lose weight

Getting your overweight bearded dragon on a weight-loss plan or a different exercise regimen may seem challenging, but your veterinarian can help you find the right routine to help your pet reach a healthy weight and improve their quality of life.  

To encourage your beardie to lose weight, you should consider what and how often you are feeding them. The diet of a healthy bearded dragon depends on their age, weight and overall health status. Babies and juvenile bearded dragons need more protein and fat than adults because they are still growing. A juvenile bearded dragon’s diet should consist of about 70-80% insects and 20-30% vegetables. Adult bearded dragons are done growing and therefore need less fat and protein. An adult beardie’s diet should contain roughly 20-30% insects and 70-80% vegetables. Feeding too many insects can be a prime reason for weight gain.

Also consider what kind of protein you’re feeding your bearded dragon—some insects are higher in calories than others. To help promote weight loss, avoid high-fat insects like super mealworms and waxworms. Instead, offer them prey that contains less fat, such as crickets, grasshoppers, Dubia cockroaches, mealworms, black soldier fly larvae, locusts, silkworms, butter worms and tomato hornworms. Make sure these insects are gut-loaded (fed a nutritious diet) and dusted with calcium supplement before offering them to your pet.

In general, vegetables should comprise the bulk of an  adult bearded dragon’s diet. Focus on calcium-dusted dark leafy greens like kale, dandelion, spinach, bok choy, collards and broccoli rabe. Squash, bell peppers and even flowers like roses, carnations, nasturtiums, and hibiscus—as well as turnip and beet greens—can also be offered. Fruits are packed with sugar and should only be given as an occasional special treat.

It’s not only what you feed but also how often you feed that can affect a bearded dragon’s weight. Baby and juvenile bearded dragons need to be fed insects two to three times a day—along with some vegetables—to ensure they grow healthy and strong. As your pet reaches maturity,  the frequency of feeding should be reduced. An adult bearded dragon should be supplied with vegetables every day and fed insects about every other day. To encourage a fat bearded dragon to lose weight, some veterinarians recommend feeding them insects only once every three days. Your vet can help you determine the best diet and feeding schedule for your bearded dragon.

For healthy weight bearded dragons, most pet parents leave insects in their pet’s habitat for 15 minutes before removing them. To help encourage weight loss for an overweight bearded dragon, you can reduce this time interval to just five minutes.

Aside from changing their diet, another way to encourage an overweight bearded dragon to lose weight is to increase their amount of exercise. Bearded dragons often just sit around their enclosures all day because they are given little opportunity to move around and explore. To help your bearded dragon get more exercise, encourage them to move around and interact with their environment.

Consider adding some bearded dragon supplies to your pet’s enclosure—such as ramps, tunnels, branches and hammocks—to spark their interest in climbing and exploring. You can also give them some time to exercise outside their habitat by setting up an escape-proof playpen—just make sure they’re supervised and kept warm enough. If this isn’t an option,you may need to invest in a larger habitat.

Another way to promote exercise is to encourage them to perform their natural foraging behaviors. Hang leafy green veggies from a clip in their habitat so your beardie will have to reach up and crop, or tear apart, their veggies as they do in nature. Adding just one or two insects into your beardie’s enclosure at a time will also encourage your pet to hunt their prey and burn calories.

By following all of these weight loss tips, you can help your fat bearded dragon return to a healthier, more normal weight. To keep your pet lizard in their best shape, take a look at our Care Sheet for a Bearded Dragon, and for some entertaining tidbits to help you care for your pet lizard, look at our 10 Bearded Dragon Fun Facts.

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