Unlike the Avatar, Dragons have a Growth Cycle - Egg, Tiny Tooth (Baby), Short Wing (Teen), Broad Wing (Adult), and Titan Wing (Titan). As the player progresses through the game with their active Dragon, the Dragon Bonding level increases, "unlocking" the next Growth Stage.
Eggs are considered as the first Growth Stage, the Dragon can't be used for anything until it has hatched. Once the player has obtained Eggs, the player needs to hatch it in The Hatchery - all the Dragon Species except for the Primary Starter Dragons take 12 hours to hatch and 120 
(96 for members) to speed up, Primary Starters take 8 hours and 80 (64) to speed up.
Baby Dragons are the second Growth Stage, these will follow the player and can be interacted with, however, they can't be mounted until they've grown a bit more. Before v3.2.0, June 31st, 2019, and v3.13.0, there was two Minigames that allowed Baby Dragons: Alchemy Adventure and Eel Roast. These increased the Dragon's Dragon Bonding XP without requiring an Adult or Teen Dragon to assist them. Nowadays, there is barely to no game that allows or aids Baby Dragons aside from Stable Missions.
Teen Dragons are the third Growth Stage, at Level 5, players can freely grow them without the use of an Age-up - Baby to Teen for 250 , and Baby to Adult for 500 . At this age, players can ride the Dragon and use it in other Minigames such as Fireball Frenzy and Flight Club Glide Mode levels, though, Teen Dragons can only glide, and are still not mature enough to be able to fight in Dragon Tactics.
Adult Dragons are the fourth Growth Stage, at Level 10, players can freely grow them without the use of an Age-up - Teen to Adult for 250
. Now matured, the Dragon can fly anywhere and be used in Thunder Run Racing, and battle in Battle Events and Dragon Tactics, as well as participate in Flight Club Flight Mode levels. They can also be used a a method of travel across the map, specially if the player needs to reach a high peak or recover from accidentally falling off a cliff.Only a small handful of Dragons don't fully follow the Growth Stage, or straight up don't have one. The main Furies (Night Fury and Light Fury), Elder Sentinel, and Smitten Hobgobbler are automatically considered as Adults no matter what Level. Night Lights were once considered as Adults in spite of them being infants prior to v3.17.0, now the Night Lights are considered as Teens to allow Skins and Saddles but aren't allowed in Dragon Tactics, in spite of being allowed in other Minigames; v3.17.0 also introduces Adult Night Lights though it requires the Age of the Night Lights Expansion to unlock the Adult Stage, afterwards, players can grow as many Night Lights as they wish.
Speed Stingers are incapable of flight even in Adult Stage, they can only run and swim, making them ineligible for Thunder Run Racing, Flight Club, flight-based Stable Missions, and Battle Events to a degree. The only difference Teen and Adult Stage does to the Speed Stinger is making them eligible for Dragon Tactics and some Stable Missions like Tunnel Run.
Terrible Terrors follow the Growth Stage well except for one minor difference - these can't be mounted even at Teen and Adult Stage. Because of it, Terrible Terrors become ineligible for nearly all Minigames. The ONLY way to be able to ride a Terrible Terror is by growing them to Titan Stage.
In order to grow the Dragon, players need to head over to The Hatchery and stand close to the Dragon Hearth - the place where eggs are hatched - to trigger the growth pop-up. Before v2.7.0, players had to complete Dragon Transformation and A Mature Dragon to achieve Teen and Adult Stage respectively, however, it was highly prone to bug, preventing the growth altogether. If the Dragon isn't at the right Level, a pop-up will ask if you wish to spend Gems, or an Age-up if you have one in the Backpack, to automatically grow your Dragon.
Before v3.13.0, there was no way to grow a leveled Dragon outside of the Dragon Hearth. Now, players can use the Age-Up menu to grow a Dragon on the spot when it hits the required level.
Age-ups have been a thing since the very beginning of the game - these tickets do exactly what they say, they instantly grow your Dragon to the respective next Stage. Before v3.13.0, players needed a non-full grown Dragon to be able to purchase Age-ups - nowadays, players can either head to Store → Dragon Care → Dragon Age, My Dragons → Click on an Age-Up to access the Age-Up Menu, or click on your Dragon and select Age Menu.
Added in v3.13.0, Age Menu is a special menu that orders the Dragons according to their Dragon List, listing their respective Dragon Bonding Levels, Stage of Growth they're in, and if they can be aged up. Dragons with Special mean they can't be aged up , and Titan means they're at the final Stage of their growth.
Baby to Adult and Adult to Titan are called Adult Upgrade File:Dragons adult token.png and Titan Upgrade File:Dragons titan token.png respectively, in spite of Baby to Teen and Teen to Adult not appearing, players can still grow their Dragon to Teen. Both Upgrades cost 500 , and both boost the Dragon to the respective Level (Lvl10 for Adults and Lvl20 for Titan). On March 9th, 2021, the Adult age-up now boosts like it should. Some Expansion Packs reward an Adult Age up after completing a certain quest.
