Weird brumation conversation...

Hey everyone!! Not sure where to post this but feeling a little weird after I had a talk with my local reptile guy. Please feel free to tell me where to post. Thx

Fun fact maybe lol I just went to go pick up crickets from my reptile guy and he asked why he hadn't seen me in so long. Told him well gretchen was brumating. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me they should never brumate it decreases their life spand by half. Then went on and on to tell me my temps were wrong which they arent/were not (im a crazy mom and am constantly checking them) Went on to say that bearded dragons in Australia don't brumate etc etc. So a little weirded out by this whole conversation. Anyone have any input about this.

Weirded out bradie mom now ???

I've heard people say that brumation can be bad but I've seen several cases in which they at least slow down for periods of time. I've read enough on here to know that brumation is pretty widespread (especially this past year) and seeing it first hand showed me that there really isn't much choice on our side. Darwin was just OUT quite a bit like Gretchen was. I don't know that there is enough data to know what the overall trends are when they're in the wild. They probably do brumate quite a bit when the temps get cool or if food gets scarce. I think brumation is natural for them and if they want to brumate we should let them. We don't necessarily need to encourage it or schedule it but if they want to shut it down for a bit who are we to say no?

As far as lighting goes, your setup is fine. Providing them with a nice gradient of temps will let them choose and you can tweak the actual temps based on where she spends time and how she reacts to the lighting. Same with UVB. If she avoids areas of high UVB or seeks out the highest UVB areas you can increase/decrease according to her preferences.

Brumation is totally normal in the wild. It's meant to help them save energy when it gets cooler. Captive beardies can be sensitive to changes in heat, but also the shorter days and their own internal clocks. It generally precedes the mating period which is the most important period of their lives and not something they want to lose track of! It's all part of their routines. You should get a fecal done to make sure her parasite levels are under control; I think that's the greatest risk in brumation since they aren't eating & I believe their immune systems are taken down a notch. Weigh her throughout (my vet said a decrease in weight up to 50-75g is normal) and bathe her. The water only needs to come a bit above her vent, that's where they absorb the water. Hold her head up if you need to. The slope of my bathroom sink os perfect to keep her head up. If she's hungry, don't feed her anything big because She'll digest slowly. Mine wake up for a bit every couple of weeks.

CliffsMom":2mpjvyd1 said:

Brumation is totally normal in the wild. It's meant to help them save energy when it gets cooler. Captive beardies can be sensitive to changes in heat, but also the shorter days and their own internal clocks. It generally precedes the mating period which is the most important period of their lives and not something they want to lose track of! It's all part of their routines. You should get a fecal done to make sure her parasite levels are under control; I think that's the greatest risk in brumation since they aren't eating & I believe their immune systems are taken down a notch. Weigh her throughout (my vet said a decrease in weight up to 50-75g is normal) and bathe her. The water only needs to come a bit above her vent, that's where they absorb the water. Hold her head up if you need to. The slope of my bathroom sink os perfect to keep her head up. If she's hungry, don't feed her anything big because She'll digest slowly. Mine wake up for a bit every couple of weeks.

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Hey thanks for the reply. Gretchen has been fully awake for a few weeks now (shes done with her brumation). She back to normal and in full force. This post was more or less wondering if anyone had ever been told they "dont brumate" before because my guy. Weirded me out by telling me that lol.

Hi there, I agree with everthing Cliff's mom said, good info.....except that they absorb water through the vent, they really do not. In the wild they would just curl up in a nicely dug burrow and sleeeeeep. Only water they'd get would be from dew on plants/rocks when they come out of their burrow after they are done brumating + come back up or if there were a period of rain.