kingofnobbys":3kdgq7ou said:
Only states of the USA where dumped bearded dragons might survive winter are Florida , the southern end of Texas , and Hawaii .
I'd suggest that they would probably be okay in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of California and Utah that are more scrub-y/desert-y.
<<< doubt it …. too far north , winters too extreme, maybe the warmer year round areas of California but …. I woundn't bet money on that.
I live in Colorado, and while we do get snow and some cold winters, south & southwest of Denver conditions change fairly quickly. Because some of these areas are true desert, it does get cold at night, but not freezing, and the sand/soil retains heat enough that I think they'd be okay burrowing.
They definitely wouldn't make it in the foothills and mountains west of me, but Colorado is funny regarding winter because of the topography and its geographic location. In Denver, we can go an entire winter without a snowfall > a few cm. because we're in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. However, there are years like this one where we get decent precipitation, though it never sticks around like in the U.S. upper Midwest states. East of Denver is the plains, which can get smacked with snow and strong storms, or not, depending on the year. The mountains usually see a goodly amount of snow, but the entire area goes through drought cycles, and areas like Pueblo, Grand Junction, and the 4-corners area can be quite dry.
They'd be pretty miserable in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida because of the high humidity, but those states are likewise snow/freeze free on the sides near the Gulf of Mexico.