Update: Kozmo is still brumating :{

Hey guys, my Kozmo hasn't been herself lately. For the past few weeks her appetite has diminished to zero, and she is constantly looking for a dark place to nap.

Up until a week ago she was still eating her worms and dubias, just in smaller numbers, but wasn't interested in her greens and veggies. I was forcing the greens & veggies. She was still pooping daily and getting natural sun and her uv lights when in her viv(temps 105-80). She's been spending a lot of time with supervised wandering around the house these past couple of months. I have a 75wt mega-ray lamp out for her to bask under when she's out roaming. But lately all she wants to do is hang out under the couch, or behind the furniture or in baskets.

I continue to take her out for natural sun, but she almost always tries to run back to the door to get inside to find a hiding/napping spot. She has not eaten protein for about a week now and only force fed very little veg. Her last poop 2 days ago was solid and normal.

She doesn't seem sick, just super tired. I started researching brumation and I feel like this could be it. She's about 1yr old. Yesterday I put an upsidedown basket in her viv with a comfy sthirt and she happily crawled in and stayed there all day, until I pulled her out to cuddle.

She's my buddy and I'm really sad if this is brumation, I miss her company already, can't imagine waiting months for her to come out again. Any help or advice is appreciated!!

These photo's were taken just a couple days ago:

These photos were taken this morning. That stink eye kills me and I just want to pick her up and cuddle her. Should I just let her be? Or can I love on her a little everyday and put her back?

By the way, her birthday is coming up Sept 1, per my calculations :roll: . She's a PetSmart dragon, so she was itty bitty when I brought her home 10/16/16 at 5.5". And we live in Georgia, its not cold here! I keep the house at 77/78. I don't get it? Please help, I'm missing her

She looks healthy which is a good sign. She is acting like she wants to slow down or possibly brumate for a while. I'd keep her lights on the same schedule but track her weight to ensure it's remaining fairly stable. A significant decline could indicate illness. Otherwise I'd just let her be. Hopefully the phase won't last too long and she'll be back to herself soon.

Thanks so much for your input! I'm over here dreading the worst and hoping for the best. I don't know about you, but I believe in prayer too! :wave:

I weighed her on July 27:

And today:

She's probably lost a few grams due to her lack of appetite already. I'll be bathing her one a week and I'll weigh her then too. What kind of a weight loss am I looking for that may indicate illness?

And do I continue to offer her food? Or do I just leave her completely alone? :sleepy2: My inclination is to take her out for a little natural sun every day and offer water, then let her sleep the rest of the day. That's what I would do with any of my human kiddos.

That's a good weight gain and losing a few grams is no big deal at all. Look for a real downward trend with 20+ g lost in a relatively short period. Losing a little weight isn't a big issue for them though.

I've read that you should offer water but not food. I'd probably put a salad in the tank just in case she wants it but wouldn't push food or live bugs on her for now. I haven't dealt with brumation firsthand though so I'm going based on what I've read on here.

Hi! My 2 1/2 year old has been brumating since the end of June. I bathe him once every two weeks, and he does drink water off a dropper during his bath. I weigh him also and he usually loses a little bit of weight, but just 5 grams each weighing. Sometimes more or less. Sometimes I take him out just to cuddle him because I miss him so very much. I keep his lights on from 7am to 8pm. I check on him every morning and rub my finger down his back, and he'll move around a little. Then I just cover him back up with his blanket and let him sleep on. He is a comfort animal to me, and I really find myself getting depressed lately because I don't get to play with and hold him like usual.

So sorry to hear about your beardie in brumation Betty53218. I am also very attached to Kozmo and she spends a lot of time with me and my family(mostly me). I understand how you would feel lonely, please know it's temporary and soon you and your little guy will be enjoying your time together again .

I appreciate you sharing your experience with me. God Bless you!

Thank you so much! Smaug did the same thing last year also, but it was kind of handy because my husband and I were in the middle of a 200 mile move. I didn't have to feel guilty because I was too busy to give him attention. He woke up in the late fall. One thing that does surprise me, is that on the days I get him up he seems to have a lot of energy while he's awake. You'd never know he was in brumation.

So Kozmo came out for a quite a few hours yesterday before returning to her hide for the rest of the day/night. It was so good to see her moving around again! She didn't eat any of the fresh greens I put out for her, I did try to drop some water on her nose, but she pulled away, not interested.

Ugh! I miss her roaming around and interacting. Hopefully this passes quickly!

We had a weigh-in & bath today. 1.5g lost this week. She stayed out for a while and even enjoyed some natural sunlight today. She looks really good ? and appears healthy. The whole family enjoyed cuddling with her again, we miss her so much!

Maybe Kozmo is in a semi-brumation. Sometimes they are sleepy, but don't go entirely into a hard sleep. Smaug did that when he was around 10 months old. He was extra tired, but he actually only had one single day of a complete sleep. After that day he was more active again. He has been popping out of his blankets to bask now on occasion, so maybe he's coming out of brumation. We had a nice 80 degree day yesterday, so I took him out for some sun time and pictures. The man who started this website (Alex aka "beardie") puts together calendars every year with pics of our beardies. We submit them to him and he lays out all our pics into beautiful masterpieces. They are professionally printed and cost around $26 with S&H. That being said, I needed to get some good pictures of my sleepy dragon! Perfect day to get him outside. He ran around a lot and really enjoyed himself, drank some water and weigh in was more than last week. Then off to bed again, so it's all good. ?

So another week behind us and I'm worried about Kozmo's weight loss. -11g this week. She's starting to look ? really skinny. But when I pull her out she seems happy, and comfortable being held. No black beard or signs of stress at all. She's refusing veggies, but has eaten 2 dubias each day, yesterday and today. I removed her hide from her viv so she can get adequate uv/heat to digest her protein.


Any & all input & opinions are appreciated!!
Should I just continue to watch her?
Should I try to reverse her brumation?
Or should I visit a rep vet?

She still looks OK. 11g isn't too bad but I'd bring her to the vet if the drop continues over the next few weeks. Darwin's weight often fluctuates up to +/- 15g depending on the week but the general trend is what to look for. It helps to graph it out in excel or google sheets etc so you can visualize the trend.

Here's my weekly update on Kozmo's brumation. She seems to be getting back to normal, very slowly, but surely. This week she actually ate a little protein(dubia, wax worms, super worms) every day! Still not interested in greens or veggies though . She has pooped 4x this week, first ones mostly urate and last ones well formed poop w/ bright white urate. She's gained 8g back this week!! I'm so happy to have her back We went out for some sun and to take care of business today. Most people don't believe she's potty trained, she goes and comes back in when she's ready!

Check her out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87ERDKEEwE&feature=youtu.be

Today's weigh in: