G'day melluvssnakes, I agree with your reasoning for getting hatchlings. All but 1 of our lizards have been purchased as hatchlings; it's not just great for them to bond to you early, but it allows you to experience 'all' of their life's phases
I reckon the most important thing is to have the TIME for them! As hatchies, they require at least 2 feeds a day, a couple of mists a day, cleaning, keeping an eye on them for bullying, etc... and that's EVERY day. Can get a bit time-consuming, but well worth the effort in the long run.
As long as you have your tank set up ok, with a nice basking spot (hatchies like it a bit hotter, about 40C) and plenty of UVB and ventilation, you should be right. What sort of substrate are you using? I recommend astroturf, but there are plenty of other options - just be careful the bd's don't eat it!
Another important thing is to dust your insects with calcium at least every 2 days. Their first year is critical for bone development.
One of the hatchies we got this season was a real problem eater; however, thanks to the advice from this forum, we were put on to a product called 'herpaboost'. It has given our little girl the appetite she was lacking, now she's putting weight on. I recommend keeping a bottle of this stuff in the fridge.
There's heaps of beardy keepers here that'll have lots of great info and advice for you; all you have to do is ask
Oh, we'll all be expecting heaps of pics when you get them too
Have fun with them, they make awesome pets! All character!
Cheers,
Nic
How would breeders have done that, my guess would be by selective breeding. Breeding the biggest to the biggest and then the offspring to the biggest over generations. Would this be true?German giants are an overseas line of bearded dragon that reaches particularly large sizes. I don't know the exact story of how they came to exist. The German giant line obviously isn't available here legally.
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