Beardie has been "hibernating" for a while now.

Hi, I'm new to both this site(sorry if this isn't urgent enough to be on the ER page) and bearded dragon raising. I've had my beadie since she (we are pretty sure its a she) was about 4 weeks old. She turned 1 in late Nov of 2017. So I've never dealt with hibernating. She has been "hibernating" for the past like 3-4 months. At first she just would sleep for a while and sometimes come out to eat. After a while she stopped coming out to eat. I have to force her to get out of her hide and come eat (was that a bad?! I hope not) Now for the past 3 weeks she is usually awake but doesn't want to leave her hide. If I take her out though, shes perfectly fine. Not angry at me in the slightest. But now if I get her to eat she only eats a smaller amount than she used to.

As for her normal diet. Sadly, keeping crickets (the only bug I am willing to keep) are a little hard to buy over and over because I never have the time to leave my house for that. Instead I feed her "National Geographic adult Bearded Dragon Entree" they are moist pellets. I feed her mustard greens and kale, switching them out when I run out of the other one. I try to feed her greens in the morning because I have to leave before she even gets up and when I get home I feed her the pellets.

Like I said, I am new to EVERYTHING and no one else in my house has owned a beadie, or a reptile, before.

Questions I need answered (anything else helps too)
1. Is this normal?
2. What am I doing wrong
3. Any diet ideas?

Please help, is there something wrong or is this normal and I'm over thinking?

Hello,

They sure can brumate/sleep for awhile. It can be worrisome sometimes.
Has she visibly lost weight, or not?
The pellets are fine for secondary use, but she really does need some type of live insect. It is
much more nutritional for them. Can you order them online & have them delivered?
Does she eat any greens at all?
Please review your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB, supplementation used,
along with the temperatures in the tank & substrate used.
If you have pictures of her along with the tank, feel free to post those too.

Tracie

Drache613":30st3cwk said:

Hello,

They sure can brumate/sleep for awhile. It can be worrisome sometimes.
Has she visibly lost weight, or not?
The pellets are fine for secondary use, but she really does need some type of live insect. It is
much more nutritional for them. Can you order them online & have them delivered?
Does she eat any greens at all?
Please review your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB, supplementation used,
along with the temperatures in the tank & substrate used.
If you have pictures of her along with the tank, feel free to post those too.

Tracie

Click to expand...

Thank you, I will get you the measurements and such in a little bit because I am currently getting read to head out for the day. Yes she has eaten greens but not in the past two days I'd like to say, I had put them out but when I came home she hadn't eaten them. I was also very busy yesterday so I didn't get any one on one with her. Today when I get home I will try.
(EDIT) Sorry I forgot to say. No she doesn't look like she had lost any weight really.

Drache613":2ywwz6ic said:

Hello,

They sure can brumate/sleep for awhile. It can be worrisome sometimes.
Has she visibly lost weight, or not?
The pellets are fine for secondary use, but she really does need some type of live insect. It is
much more nutritional for them. Can you order them online & have them delivered?
Does she eat any greens at all?
Please review your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB, supplementation used,
along with the temperatures in the tank & substrate used.
If you have pictures of her along with the tank, feel free to post those too.

Tracie

Click to expand...

When I first got her we got the Zoo Med set which came with everything I thought I needed. The basking lamp, the UV long lamp thing, the thermometer and the tank. It came with other things like a food and water bowl as well as some sample food things.

40 gallon tank
Currently have a 75w basking lamp (zoo med)
24 in, 5.0 UVB (I don't know what the number is but you all probably do)
Sand instead of felt. We changed to sand in February.
(I don't know what else is needed in this part....... :? )

Hello,

You will need a stronger UVB tube bulb than a 5. Reptisun makes a 10 & Arcadia D3 makes a 12%
& a 14% tube bulb. She will do much better with a stronger bulb. She most likely isn't getting
enough UVB lighting.
I am thinking that you are using a stick on type of thermometer or do you have a digital probe,
for measuring the temperatures?
I am glad she isn't losing weight right now.
I think it would be best to change the sand to another substrate such as tiles or non adhesive
shelf liner. It is cleaner & safer. Is the sand a calcium based sand, or playsand?
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie