My fat child is Brumating longer and deeper than usual?

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My female is about 7-9 years old (we don't know how old she was when we got her). Usually when she brumates, it's rather light and she may wake up occasionally or is at least easily woken up and it only lasts a few weeks at most. This time she has been sleeping for a few weeks now and is very into it. She's extremely exhausted and fatigued and doesn't wake easily; I can pick her up and put her wherever I want and she won't even open her eyes if I'm careful (she's not usually such a deep sleeper). She doesn't act very active when she does wake up and is also very lazy/fatigued. Once she got up and ended up sitting at her water bowl, where she seemed very sleepy but was kept awake by the fact that there was nowhere to rest her head, so I had to manually move her somewhere that she quickly fell asleep; so I'm worried about her being so tired that she doesn't even want to move even though she's clearly uncomfortable. I make sure to keep her hydrated and she'll still be alert/hungry when I offer food, and hasn't been losing weight. She's just sleeping much deeper/in longer increments than usual. The only significant differences between her environment this time vs last brumations is that we've moved from an elevation of 600 to 1200 ft and finally got her off sand and onto carpet. Should I be worried?
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Are you leaving her lights on for her as normal and then just providing a hide/cave for her to brumate in, or do you have her lights completely off? And do you wake her up once a week? Usually the best thing to do is to pick a day to wake them up, and then take them out that day, give them a nice warm bath and a drink, and then put them back in...

However, it's a really bad idea to give her food at all if she's in a deep brumation, as that food is just going to sit inside her belly and potentially rot or cause an impaction. If she's healthy and of a good weight when she started the brumation (no health or medical issues going on at all) then she shouldn't lose any weight of significance anyway.
 

Soulsplosion

Member
Original Poster
I've been turning her lights on and off as normal. She doesn't seem to care about the light and will sleep wherever, though she has 2 logs to hide under and she prefers to bury under her fake leaves. I've been giving her a bath and water every few days, and she'll be active for a short bit before passing out somewhere again. I only offered her food at the beginning, and haven't since she started deep brumation.

Thank you!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

The elevation change could be affecting her, that is a huge possibility.
Has she displayed a black beard or any other signs of distress since this started?
If she is seemingly healthy & not losing weight, then she should be fine. If you are
that worried or she seems really off, it is always a good idea to get her to a vet for
blood work. Hopefully she is just brumating heavily & doesn't have any underlying
health issues.
Do you have any pictures of her?

Tracie
 

Soulsplosion

Member
Original Poster
She hasn't had a dark beard or acted distressed, though she started breathing a bit heavily for a few moments shortly after giving her a bath, and also her hind leg was twitching very slightly in the tub (which was pretty much unnoticeable but hasn't happened before)

Here are some pics:
tumblr_p2mqntfjlI1upnfeeo1_1280.jpg

in her newfound favorite sleeping spot:
tumblr_p2mqntfjlI1upnfeeo2_1280.jpg

Thank you!
 
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