AnneSchumii
Member
Hi everyone,
I chose to take care of the beardie of my brother, since he does not have time for him anymore. The beardie is 15/16 years old. I live in the Netherlands.
The thing is that my brother never changed the time the lights in his cage were on. For several years the beardie had approximately 10 hours of light, but after the age of 8 (of the beardie) my brother decided to just put the beardie in front of the window of his house. This means the beardie missed a lot of heat/UV, since he has not been in his cage for years. During several years he just got enough sun light in summer since my brother put him in the sun for several hours in the garden, and I guess sun that shines through the window also contributes a bit.
Besides this, the beardie does his hibernation every winter, but it is his own built-in-clock that makes him do it I guess, since the lamps in his cage were usually on for 10 hours per day or since he stayed in front of the window and just was more relaxed during winter.
I adopted the beardie 1 month ago and put him in a cage with a good heat lamp and a good UV lamp, and decided to change the amount of light from 9 hours per day to 3 hours, for getting him into hibernation.
My question: How long should he be in hibernation?
Should his hibernation be shorter because I started his hibernation quite late?
Besides this, he has not been fed well the last weeks/months, so I guess his weight might be a bit low. Is it smarter to put him in a shorter hibernation? Or should I first give him enough light and food during a month, and then create some sort of hibernation?
If I put him in hibernation now, his weight may reduce too much.
I woud love to have advice please!
Thanks so much!
Love, Anne
I chose to take care of the beardie of my brother, since he does not have time for him anymore. The beardie is 15/16 years old. I live in the Netherlands.
The thing is that my brother never changed the time the lights in his cage were on. For several years the beardie had approximately 10 hours of light, but after the age of 8 (of the beardie) my brother decided to just put the beardie in front of the window of his house. This means the beardie missed a lot of heat/UV, since he has not been in his cage for years. During several years he just got enough sun light in summer since my brother put him in the sun for several hours in the garden, and I guess sun that shines through the window also contributes a bit.
Besides this, the beardie does his hibernation every winter, but it is his own built-in-clock that makes him do it I guess, since the lamps in his cage were usually on for 10 hours per day or since he stayed in front of the window and just was more relaxed during winter.
I adopted the beardie 1 month ago and put him in a cage with a good heat lamp and a good UV lamp, and decided to change the amount of light from 9 hours per day to 3 hours, for getting him into hibernation.
My question: How long should he be in hibernation?
Should his hibernation be shorter because I started his hibernation quite late?
Besides this, he has not been fed well the last weeks/months, so I guess his weight might be a bit low. Is it smarter to put him in a shorter hibernation? Or should I first give him enough light and food during a month, and then create some sort of hibernation?
If I put him in hibernation now, his weight may reduce too much.
I woud love to have advice please!
Thanks so much!
Love, Anne
What is his diet like ? Is he eating well now ? Since he's so old I would keep the lights at 10-12 hrs per day but provide a hide or cave in the corner of the tank in case he wants to sleep. If he chooses to spend more time in there , then reduce to about 6-7 hours of light. After a month or so bring the lights back to 13 hours.
