Juvenile in brumation?

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halima16

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So I have read that Beardies don't brumate until they are full grown adults and I am just curious if people have seen that this is not always the case? I have had my beardie for 4 months and he is about 6 months old now, 16"-17" long, and is healthy. He hasn't' been eating as much as he used to and he seems to be a little more lazy than usual. What was weird is that this morning when I woke up he was not basking, instead, he was sitting on a log on the cool side of his tank (80 degrees). He had pooped and it looked fantastic so he seemed normal besides that. Then today I get home from work around 4 pm and he is sleeping! He was out of sight and then I found him lying under his log :roll: So I didn't feed him dinner.

His temps are 105 degrees on the hot side with a 75 watt bulb, like I said, cool side is 80 (tested with probe). He has a reptisun T8 10.0 long UVB bulb. He eats twice a day, as much as he can in 20-30 min time span. It is getting into the winter season here in San Diego (believe it or not) It is finally cooling down and the sun sets at 5 pm now. His lights come on at 6 am and are off at 6 pm.

His behavior seems normal beside him not eating as much and going to bed earlier. He has, a couple times now, dosed off early prior to this, but he still hangs out under his heat lamp when he does.

Anyway, is it possible he is trying to brumate? If so, is there anything I should change. I am not prepared for this if he is, because I thought I wouldn't have to deal with it for another year! Here are some pics of my love.

I took this a few days ago

full


And this is whats left of him after I came home from work at 4 pm lol.

full
 

AHBD

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Hi there, some dragons at that size do go through a sort of a slow down phase which is not a full on brumation....it's very common this time of year. But you can check your lights, is the uvb bulb close enough to give off enough rays where he basks and is it more than 6 months old ? They lose a great deal of their uvb strength even though they still produce light after 6 months [ they can produce light for years after no longer producing barely any uvb ]


So if his light is older that might be a factor, they need good uvb to be active.
 

halima16

Member
Original Poster
Yeah I will check his UVB light then and maybe get it replaced.

Just a quick update though. I woke up this morning and he is still lying under his log. When I come around he just looks up at me and doesn't move. So he is awake but he just doesn't wanna bask.
 

CooperDragon

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That's how my guy is some days. Not always sleeping but not moving much and just hiding and acting very sleepy/dazed. As long as his weight is stable he should be fine.
 

halima16

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CooperDragon":3mz9md8z said:
That's how my guy is some days. Not always sleeping but not moving much and just hiding and acting very sleepy/dazed. As long as his weight is stable he should be fine.

Yeah I think he was having an off day. He got up around 10 am and started basking again. So I fed him and he ate totally fine and seems himself again. I finally bought a scale. I didn't realize how important it is to weigh beardies. What are things to look for in regards to weight? Like how much should he weigh at 5 months? Also, how much weight is too much weight when it comes to weight loss?
 

Ssjcambo

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My little guy who is about 5 months is the same just now, some days he’s up and normal other days he’s just relaxes till noon and then basks. I think it’s a semi-brumation. To be fair this time of year I don’t fancy getting out of bed.

To top mine off he’s shedding too so he’s a barrel of laughs right now haha.
 

CooperDragon

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They can be cyclical with their sleepy moods so that's OK too. I'm glad you have a scale now. I would weigh him every few days at least and record it in a spreadsheet with the date. That way you can easily graph the weights and create a trendline. The trendline is more important than the weights themselves because you want him to be stable or increasing over time. Fluctuations in weight due to eating or a large poop can be +/- 20g easily depending on their size. This is OK. Over time your graph may look something like this:

76248-3282945170.jpg
 

halima16

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Original Poster
CooperDragon":2fjmglwb said:
They can be cyclical with their sleepy moods so that's OK too. I'm glad you have a scale now. I would weigh him every few days at least and record it in a spreadsheet with the date. That way you can easily graph the weights and create a trendline. The trendline is more important than the weights themselves because you want him to be stable or increasing over time. Fluctuations in weight due to eating or a large poop can be +/- 20g easily depending on their size. This is OK. Over time your graph may look something like this:

I weighed and measured him today and at 6 months old, he is 17.5" long and weighs 315 grams. Obviously I couldn't get his whole tail.. just the base of it. I think that seems average or healthy. He hasn't been sleeping all day anymore either. He just gets up a little later in the mornings.
 

CooperDragon

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That sounds fine. I'd still keep a log so you know how he's trending as he grows. It's a really useful health tool. That's good to hear he isn't sleeping all day. It's pretty normal for them to be grumpy and sluggish in the mornings too based on what I've seen with my guys. I set the lights to come on an hour before I get up to give him time to warm up and wake up a bit before breakfast. That seems to help a little.
 

halima16

Member
Original Poster
CooperDragon":23mjtt7n said:
That sounds fine. I'd still keep a log so you know how he's trending as he grows. It's a really useful health tool. That's good to hear he isn't sleeping all day. It's pretty normal for them to be grumpy and sluggish in the mornings too based on what I've seen with my guys. I set the lights to come on an hour before I get up to give him time to warm up and wake up a bit before breakfast. That seems to help a little.


Sounds good! I'll have to have someone teach me how to make a nifty graph like the one you have :wink:
 

halima16

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Original Poster
**UPDATE***

So Basil is hardly eating or basking again.. Again, hes awake but he hardly basks under his heat lamp, which is like 105 degrees. I even replaced his UVB tube recently because I was afraid it wasn't emitting any more rays. I have been weighing basil every few days and here's the thing, hes GAINED weight. haha He was 331 grams in the beginning of December and now he is 365. Also, his poops still look really good. When I take him out he acts completely fine. He just refuses to bask and eat a lot.

Is this ok?
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
halima16":2ipxntgd said:
CooperDragon":2ipxntgd said:
They can be cyclical with their sleepy moods so that's OK too. I'm glad you have a scale now. I would weigh him every few days at least and record it in a spreadsheet with the date. That way you can easily graph the weights and create a trendline. The trendline is more important than the weights themselves because you want him to be stable or increasing over time. Fluctuations in weight due to eating or a large poop can be +/- 20g easily depending on their size. This is OK. Over time your graph may look something like this:

I weighed and measured him today and at 6 months old, he is 17.5" long and weighs 315 grams. Obviously I couldn't get his whole tail.. just the base of it. I think that seems average or healthy. He hasn't been sleeping all day anymore either. He just gets up a little later in the mornings.

Is very important that you get the entire body weight , I use kitchen scales that are very thin, and simply place a 600ml tub ontop and the lid from a 1.8L or 4L tub ontop and place the reptile on the lid. This way the entire body is supported and being weighed including the tail.
 
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