Darwin

CooperDragon

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He's down to almost semi brumation again. He had a brief active period today after sleeping in for several hours and I had to wake him up. After an hour or so looking out the window he went back to sleep. I'm going to try and keep him up by showing him sunlight as much as possible but ultimately it's up to him. I'd hate for him to sleep through our Labor Day trip to Minnesota. That's his favorite place.
 

sweetiepie9

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I hope he does stay up for you. Castiel has been brumating since mid May, earlier than usual for him. Cierra and Nathaniel are both slowing down alot, so they'll be next. Gabriel is still fighting an RI, he's had a month of shots (10) and is now on a repeat of the treatment for another month. I hope he beats it, it's the first RI I've ever had to deal with & I really don't like it. Freya is also slowing down but she's just over a year old, so not sure what she's going to do. Hopefully stay up with Gabriel.
 

CooperDragon

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Are you going to try a nebulizer treatment for him? I've read that those can be successful with RI treatment when oral or injectable antibiotics aren't working.
 

sweetiepie9

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I've been thinking about it, I'm going to contact a friend that has one and used it successfully on her own dragon, he'd been through 2 treatments already, I think. Something needs to be done.
 

CooperDragon

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We just got back from our annual trip to northern Minnesota. Darwin's favorite and he was happy there again. He got his (once a year) licks of maple walnut ice cream which he goes crazy about for some reason. He got to go for a swim in the (unusually warm this year) lake. He went on a canoe ride. Pretty good week for the little guy! He did well on the car rides too. They wound up being about 10.5hrs each way because we stopped at rest areas to let him bask. Great weather all week. I think he's happy to be home and back to his normal routine now though.

76248-1142175775.jpg

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https://vimeo.com/287919138
 

sweetiepie9

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I'm so glad you all enjoyed your trip, so glad to hear Darwin loved it, too. He really is an outdoor dragon on your trips, glad the weather was good you all. Basking in the sunshine on vacation, what better way to keep him nice and healthy. Sweet boy. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, he sure looks happy :D

Gabriel is still battling a very stubborn RI. He's just finishing his 3rd month of meds (that should have worked), so we're back to the vet on the 26th and probably more meds. Sigh. I've never dealt with an RI before and now I'm glad I never had to.
 

Betty53218

Hatchling Member
And I thought I had a spoiled dragon! Those pics are so stinking cute!! Happy for the little guy. Ice cream? Never let Smaug lick real ice cream before. I do tell him Tracie’s Reptophilus is like his ice cream because of the way he licks it off the dropper! Glad the weather cooperated with your trip. You are braver than me about leaving him run around without a leash on though! :lol:
 

CooperDragon

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I guess the trip exhausted him. He has been brumating off and on for the last week or so. Some mornings he'll have a bit of energy but is often back asleep by noon. Some days he just sleeps. Since the trip is over I let him be rather than forcing him up. He's been trying to brumate since late July really. I'm offering him food as he wants it and he is starting out at a decent weight of about 552g.
 

Betty53218

Hatchling Member
That’s just about the same weight that Smaug was going into brumation last February. He didn’t fluctuate much either that time around. They are really easy to take care of during times of brumation! Once a week bath and some water and they’re good to go. I checked on my guy every day though, just to make sure he was ok. They hardly breath. Maybe once per minute. I would touch him daily and he usually moved a little. Covered him up and left him alone until the next day.
 

CooperDragon

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Yeah they are quite easy to care for when they are down for brumation. Pretty unnerving the first time they do it though. It was nice to not feel bad about leaving him behind during travel (it's always so sad to check his camera and see he wants to get out and run around) but I do miss him when he's sleeping all day. Similar to what others report on here for sure. He just had his head up and was looking out from his hide when I got home from work a few min ago so he was happy to chomp down on a black soldier fly. He loves those so I let the BSFL sit until they start hatching =).
 

sweetiepie9

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I have 3 down. Nathaniel woke up but Freya went down. So still 3. I'm not sure what's going on with Gabriel, he doesn't seem to have foam in his mouth and I can't hear any noise but his heartbeat from his lungs but don't think he's 100% done with the RI, we're back to the vet next Wed.

But no, not alot of work when they're brumating. I get them up every 2 weeks or so for a soak, they dry off & back to sleep right away. If one stays up, no food for 3 days in case they're taking their time to get back to sleep. I've tried all kinds of methods of keeping them hydrated while sleeping and this seems to work best, 1/2 hr soak after 2-3 weeks.

I was surprised that Nathaniel stayed up, he's usually sleeping until November, so we'll see, he might still go down. You can never tell what they're going to do.
 

CooperDragon

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He's in an up phase at the moment. Awake(ish) for 2 days. Enough to get a sea flap-flap costume on him =) poor guy.

76248-8087883531.jpg
 

Betty53218

Hatchling Member
Looks like a nice cozy place to snooze! Didn’t dress Smaug up for Halloween, but l did put him in a Santa hat and scarf at Christmas. I don’t think he was too thrilled about it! I’m going to send it in with the calendar pics this year though. I hardly got any good ones this summer of Smaug outside. I bet you got tons!
 

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