Just read the brumation info

That was wrote up by Denise.

Very informative, but I have a couple of questions.

1. During brumation, it talks about light cycles, is this just normal light or the UV bulb?

2. Heat, if my beardie zonks out under the heat lamp, do I leave it on? We have hammocks, under heat and UV sources.
If they go down under their hide, what do I do about tank temp? Room (mid to upper 79s) ok. They are in middle of room, air registers are in ceiling, probably 20 ft away.

3. Article speaks of parasite test as brumation nears, is it THAT obvious they are nearing brumation?

I haven't been through brumation yet,, it WILL freak my girl friend out.

Thanks,
Tom

Hi there, I know that brumtion strikes fear in many a beardie owner it is really not a problem at all with the majority of dragons. I've owned them since the 1990's, every dragon has brumated and none ever had a problem. Same with most people on this forum One thing that is certain, beardies all do it differently. I never had a parasite check done, my dragons just suddenly slowed down + went to sleep, and there I left them. The majority of mine brumated with either 8 hours of light per day or at times no lights at all with temps. between 60 + 70 F but you can have the temps. higher. No uvb is needed, in the wild they would be in a burrow with no light at all. I never woke mine for hydration or food, brumation is a period of dormancy in which they should be left alone. You CAN check regularly to see if their eyes are open, if so you can offer a bit of water dripped on their nose [ tuck a paper towel under their chin to catch pooling water ] I don't allow mine to sleep more than 3 months, that can start getting in to losing weight and/or more chance for some other problem to develop. One thing I disagree with in that write up is that the dragons take in water through their cloaca in the wild while in their burrows. They can not and do not extract water in the damp soil, they just do not become dehydrated because they are burrowed down in the cool earth. Some may emerge briefly for a drink of dewdrops but that would be it. So oral hydration for a semi brumating dragon [ just a term for a dragon that has eyes open while staying motionless in a hide or other choice of sleeping area ] Some dragons will sleep for a few weeks, others for a few months. Some will become active for a while, others not at all. Once in a while a beardie will not brumate at all, so you will see what yours does when the time comes.

Mine's actually brumating right now, and this was good info to know. Somedays, like today, she's asleep without moving, and other days she'll be awake for a few hours, and maybe scratch at the side of her hide or something. She actually got up and ate about a week ago, then conked out again. It's so weird.