my bearded dragon never grew

Question
Hello, I had a bearded dragon that I got as a gift he was very small maybe 4 or 5 inches. Anyways I kept him in a 35 gallon tank. He had the correct lighting and temps. I had desert sand as the substrate. He had hiding places basking places and a big dish to drink or soak in. I fed him all the ok veggies and gutloaded crickets and mealworms. I had him for a year and he never grew not even an inch.and after that year he suddenly passed away. Was it something I did wrong or was something wrong with him?

Answer
Hi Shelby, I'm so sorry, that must have been quite upsetting. I hope it has not turned you off the idea of keeping reptiles completely. I will quickly go over a few basic guidelines for beardeds just in case you had been given bad information when you acquired him. The basking temperature should be in the 100 - 110 F range with a cooler part of the tank that the dragon can move to. A specialized fluorescent bulb made for reptiles that produces UVB should also be used. Young dragons should be supplemented several times a week with a calcium and vitamin D3 powder on their crickets. The one thing I would suggest you change is the sand substrate. Young dragons are particularly vulnerable to impaction even with the calcium based sand products. Newspaper or reptile carpet is far safer at least until they are older. There is no strong indication that your bearded had any impaction problem but it is something to note for next time.

Bearded dragons are very easy to breed which means that many people breed them without paying any attention to genetic diversity. Acquiring a pair from the same clutch and then breeding them is quite common unfortunately. This type of inbreeding can lead to weak animals that just fail to thrive despite all the proper care.