Bearded dragon growth check

Why it asks for two weigh-ins

Because the chart cannot do what people want it to do. A four-month-old at 60 g and one at 100 g can both be perfectly healthy, and both are inside the same published band — so “is my dragon the right weight?” has no honest answer from a single number. What does have an answer is “is the number moving the way it should be at this age?”, and that needs two.

So the headline here is the direction: up, flat or down, over the days between your two weigh-ins. Where today's weight sits in the band is printed underneath it, because it's the less important half. Pick first time and the tool will say so rather than invent a verdict — one point isn't a line.

Where the numbers come from

Every band below is a row of the table in our own bearded dragon growth chart, quoted as published. Nothing is interpolated: if your dragon is 5, 7 or 8 months old, its age falls between two rows and the tool says so and quotes both, rather than fitting a curve through six data points and pretending to a precision it doesn't have.

Two things on this page are ours rather than the chart's, and the tool labels both where it says them. The first is the suggested gap to the next weigh-in — a week while growth is fast, a month once it isn't — which is our reading of “gaining weight noticeably week to week”, not a published interval. The second is that a lower number is treated as a possible weigh-in problem before it's treated as weight loss, because the same dragon weighs differently before and after a meal, and the article's own advice is to weigh at a consistent time.

These are general ranges for a central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps). They are not a diagnosis, and nothing here is veterinary advice — take any real concern to an exotics vet.

If you're not sure, weigh again

The two mistakes aren't symmetrical. Acting on a single alarming number costs you a vet bill and an afternoon; missing a line that's been falling for a month costs a lot more, and by the time it's visible in a photo it has been true for weeks. One more data point is the cheapest thing on this page — a scale, the same time of day, thirty seconds.

That's also why the tool won't tell you your dragon is fine. It can tell you the direction between two numbers and what the chart says about the age; whether the animal is well is a question for someone who can see it.

• The full growth chart — size and weight by age, and why the bands are so wide
• Bearded dragon care guide — if growth is slow, husbandry is usually the first place to look: basking temperature, UVB and what's actually being eaten
• Tracking in an app versus a spreadsheet — both work; the difference is which one you'll still be using in six months
• The best bearded dragon apps