Brumation problems

Hi, I have a 1.5 year old beardie called Daisy. She started to slow down and stop eating/pooping around October, I started to gradually reduce her hours of daylight, then stopped offering food and then turned all her lights and heat off permanently. This is what I was told to do by many people. I left her along and checked on her once a day and bathed her once a week to keek her hydrated. Some of my family members didn't understand and thought not feeding her was cruel so they gave her some mario worms. I can't get her to poop at all. I've turned her heat and lights on this morning and she seems to be alert. Should I feed her? Or should I leave it for now? I'm just worried and don't know what to do, she's never been an overly active dragon anyway, I guess she's just a lazy girl (temp, humidity etc is all correct) any advice would be appreciated. I'm thinking of taking her to the vet but where I live there aren't many vets that specialise in reptiles. Should I just act as if she's stopped brumating and start offering food? How's she's acting is confusing and I'm not sure what to do, thankyou

Hi there, brumation causes a lot of stress to the owner and it seems like there will always be differing opinions on how + what to do. If your girl is not showing signs of illness such as respiratory problems then just let her return to her normal routine. Don't feed her TOO much the first few days but definitely feed her. Her metabolism will take a bit of time to kickback in to gear so be patient. Many beardies can go for weeks without a poo so it's no real problem. You can give her natural laxatives like baby food squash, sweet potato and prunes with a few drops of veg. oil or raw honey . Then the next day give a nice warm 10 minute bath.

I wanted to mention that if you brumate your dragon with no lights + heat on they should not be bathed at all. I've brumated most of my dragons [ over 20+ years ] with no lights on but without ever bathing them. This is dangerous and can bring on a respiratory infection because the dragon has no real way to warm up + much more likely to get chilled. Hydration should only be offered if the dragon is awake, and then just dripped on the snout with a paper towel gently tucked under the head to catch excess water. Even that is not really necessary. They don't need to eat or drink during a true lights out brumation because the metabolism slows way down.

If the dragon is brumating WITH the lights + heat on it's metabolism is faster and the dragon can be offered water every 10-14 days at the most.

Thankyou for the help! I'd struggle to get her to eat anything other than live food as she's never really eaten much veg despite my best efforts I've put her viv in my bed room so I can keep a closer eye on her. I'm now worried that she does have a respiratory infection as she's started making kinda weird noises through her now but I just put it down to stress. How would I go about treating a respiratory infection if she does have one?

I will give you my opinion on the safest, easiest way to brumate your dragon, though it sounds like it's quite possible that your dragon wasn't actually trying to brumate at all, she was just going through a normal, winter slow-down period that a lot of them do, where they become a bit more lethargic than usual and eat less than usual. So it's quite possible that by turning off her UVB tube and Basking Bulb, and removing all of the heat, you actually put her into a partial brumation that wasn't necessary. Many Bearded Dragons in captivity do not EVER brumate. My first dragon was a male that I brought home when he was around 2 months old, and he lived to be just shy of 13 years old, and he never once brumated, not even a partial brumation. He did however usually slow-down his appetite quite a bit from November through February (I live in central Pennsylvania, so it's very cold her, and they can sense the change in barometric pressure caused by winter, even if their actual temperatures don't drop). So unless your dragon starts to continually try to stay out of all light by constantly hiding inside a cave or hide all of a sudden, and is actually sleeping for very long periods, then she's probably not actually trying or wanting to brumate.

If your dragon does start trying to continually stay out of all light, starts sleeping all day long, and stops eating completely, then yes, she's probably wanting to brumate. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to leave her lights on as usual, don't change a thing about her daily photoperiod and leave both her UVb and her Basking Bulb on every day for at least 13-14 hours a day, as you normally do, but make sure that she has constant access to a hide/cave that she can get into/under fully on the Cool Side of her tank. If she's actually brumating she'll go in it, go to sleep, and stay there all week. But leave her lights on as normally, and turn them off at night, turn them on in the morning, like nothing has changed. Then pick a day of the week, like Sunday, where you take her out of the hide/cave and wake her up, and then give her a nice warm bath and make sure that she drinks as much water as she wants to (usually they will drink the bath water) or give her drops on her snout to lick off until she stops licking, BUT DO NOT GIVE HER ANY FOOD AT ALL! Then after her weekly bath just put her back in her hide/cave. Wake her up once a week to give her the warm bath and a drink, and eventually she'll start coming out in the daytime, and slowly she'll wake up.

Unless she's spending a good amount of time out under her lights as she's waking up, you cannot give her any food, as she will not digest it while sleeping in the hide/cave, and that's how a lot of terrible health issues happen, when food just sits in their GI tract and rots. Once she's up and on her basking spot/platform during the day, then you can start feeding her again, but introduce food to her slowly and in small quantities at first, until she's all the way out of the brumation...

I disagree with bathing a sleepy dragon, it's a recipe for disaster. Is she breathing heavy, wheezing or making a popping noise when she sucks are in ? Can you post a video if she is ?

I don't know how to post videos or pictures unfortunately, she seems ok in herself. She makes noises like you said kind of popping sounds and when she's breathes in she might struggle a bit?

If it lasts for more than a week have her seen by an experienced reptile vet , she may need antibiotics. Keep her temps. at 105 in the basking area + about 80 at the lowest in her cool end. Keep her warm at night as well, about 77-82.

Thankyou very much for your help

Her lights have now been on as normal but she still doesn't want to bask and seems lethargic and uninterested in food, what should I do?

It's only been a few days, give it time.