brumation

I have read quite a bit about brumation, but I am still concerned because my bearded dragon started her brumation in October 2016 when she was only about 4 months old. She only wakes up when I give her a bath and she might stay awake a bit after that and eat some salad, but the next day she's back into a heavy sleep. So now it is almost March and she has been in brumation for basically half of her life. I have read that it is uncommon for a juvenile to go into full brumation and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

What kind of lighting do you have for her (UV and heat)? And how long do you leave the lights on during the day? If they're warm enough and bright enough with the right amount of UV, then you could try keeping the lights on for up to 16 hours a day (increase the artificial photoperiod) to help her feel like spring is coming, because she's really too young to be brumating. If she's lost weight or is showing any other signs of illness, it might be a good idea to take her to a good reptile vet just to make sure there isn't something else going on.

We have uv and heat. I bought brand new bulbs last month too. Lights only stay off for 8 hours at night and we use a night heat light aswell. She hasn't lost any weight at all. Not sure what else we can do. If we wake her up she just tries to hide and sleep again. She doesn't seem stressed out when she is awake just looks sleepy.

Cherry092":jmyucsrr said:

I have read quite a bit about brumation, but I am still concerned because my bearded dragon started her brumation in October 2016 when she was only about 4 months old. She only wakes up when I give her a bath and she might stay awake a bit after that and eat some salad, but the next day she's back into a heavy sleep. So now it is almost March and she has been in brumation for basically half of her life. I have read that it is uncommon for a juvenile to go into full brumation and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

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Unlikely to be brumation at 4 months old , more likely the temperatures and husbandry are not right and this what has caused her to become very lethargic. A 4 month old beardie simply will not have the fat reserves to survive a long period without food.

The general advice is that beardie should not be allowed to brumate in it's first winter. My 4.5 year old girl has never brumated.

Bump up the temperatures in her tank so she has cool zone warmer than 28oC , bump up the photoperiod to 16 hours per day, and check her UV is at least 10% UVB . Make sure her tank never falls below 24oC overnight too (you might need to install a CHE on a thermostat to keep her tank warm overnight, and perhaps install a film style heatpad under her hide (all my beardies have these and I run the heatpad off thermostats set to hold at 37oC 24/7 ,and my beardies love their toasty warm beds).

If she doesn't become active and feeding again (crucial at her age , she should be polishing off up to 20 medium 1/2 sized crickets split into two live insect meals per day and spending most of her day basking when not eating) it's an indication she is sick and needs to be seen by an experienced reptile vet.

I agree that the beardie is too young . Although some very fast growing dragons that rach 16" or more by that age might sleep for a brief time , a month or so, they should'nt sleep for longer than that. What are the exact type + brand of lights and what are the temps. throughout ? Can you post a full body shot of the dragon as well as pics of the tank ?

She was the biggest of her batch and grew very fast and was 16 inches long before she went into brumation. She still looks chubby like she did a few months ago. She was sleeping on and off the first half of her brumation but very lethargic but the last 2 months she's been in a deep sleep. If she does eat she poops with no issues usually the next day. And they look normal aswell. We use 150w bulbs both uvb and heat the cage is a large wide low glass enclosure with a screen top exo Terra brand. I can't remember the light bulb brands maybe flukers? She seems very healthy but since she's young I'm not sure if I need to be concerned. I appreciate any feedback thank you