Walter - 7mo dragon preparing to bromate?

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BrightStar

Hatchling Member
Hi, everyone.

I’m looking for some advise about my bearded dragon, Walter. He’s a little over seven months old now, and I’m worried he’s trying to brumate. For about the past week, he has barely wanted to eat, and only basked for about 2-3 hours each day. The rest of the time, he makes himself a burrow and hides in the shade. Today, he hadn’t gotten up after 5 hours of lights on, so I decided to get him out of bed. He’d dug himself a pretty deep burrow, and when I got him out of it he just squirmed and climbed back in! I’ve checked him over and there are no stress lines or black beard. His eyes are bright and he seems alert. But what should I do? Temps are 90 ambient, 80 cool side, 105 basking.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Sounds like hes slowed down my 8 month old has been lazy as well --- hes still eating is your dragon eating? Mine has had a few days of sleeping in his cave as well -- is your dragon pooping? They will have their lazy days due to the time of year - its when they completely doing all that we know of them to do -- basking pooping eating etc............ its when they quit doing it all is when to get concerned - is he shedding ? that will slow down the eating and being lazy as well -- is your UVB a tube or a coil?
Karrie
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

Walter is quite big now right?

One of mine is younger than Walter by a bit and has been semi brumating for the past few weeks. Maybe even a month now.

Its more so related to size than to age IME.

I would just keep track of Walter's weight on a weekly schedule and make sure hes not loosing too much. Otherwise, I'd be inclined to just let him be :)

They can brumate young, especially if they are already quite large.

-Brandon
 

BrightStar

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I just weighed him and he’s 402g. I’m not sure of his length, but he’s at least 16.5 inches. Is that size okay for him to brumate? Walter does seem to have a lot of natural instincts in him, so I’m not entirely surprised that he would want to brumate. But he seems so young! Should I do anything differently for him? What about feeding? I know if he goes into full brumation he shouldn’t have food in his stomach, but what about if it’s semi brumation? I will continue to weigh him weekly instead of monthly. How long can brumation last?
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
At 400g he's not brumating he's just dieting! Haha I only kid. Yes that's definitely large enough for a dragon to feel safe brumating at.

They really can go weeks or months without eating while brumating. Especially if they are deep into it. I tend to offer salad once or twice a week to see if they will eat it it usually just wilts. If they look awake when I'm near them, I might offer a worm or two to see if they want it but if they dont, no biggie.

If he really borrows himself in, I wouldnt disturb him to weigh him but maybe once every few weeks. But if hes just lying out in the open, it's not much fuss to get him weighed.

Unfortunately it can last a few weeks to a few months, it's really random it seems.
Remember, it's a very natural process for them. They know what to do :)

-Brandon
 

BrightStar

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Walters’s still not showing much love for his salads. After getting him up twice today to check on him, and then later to weigh him, he decided to stay up and bask. It’s been two days since he accepted anything to eat, so I tried your advice since he was looking quite alert, and offered him a few worms and some roaches. He seemed very eager to eat them.

I’ll try not to worry too much. When Rygel got sick, I suspected he might be brumating, and was completely wrong. So I know it’s natural to worry something bad will happen to Walter.

Walter has been digging down quite deeply when he goes to bed. We found a pretty deep cave in the substrate going down almost to the bottom of the cage. If Walter is sleeping, will it be okay to continue to mist his cage to keep his Bioactive setup healthy? Or would soaking the substrate with water be a problem for a brumating dragon?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You dont want RI setting in --- some one else would need to weigh in on the bioactive tank -- I am not savvy on them and dont want to give poor advice
Karrie
 

Linzloohoo

Hatchling Member
Kai is 9 months old now. He started semi brumating at 7 months. Started out with him going to bed early, then he would just not wake up some days, progressed into him sleeping for days at a time, and now he has been completely out for a month straight. I did wake him up once to give him water and weigh him to make sure he isn’t losing. He’s now 9 months old but hasn’t had a decent meal in 2 months, he weighs the exact same now as he did 2 months ago (390). While they are under a year, they are both good sizes. I try not to worry and let him do his thing. Today he actually came out to bask on his own for a few hours. Here’s hoping he’s done brumating, we sure miss him.
 

BrightStar

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I followed everyone’s advise and decided to Let him do what his body was telling min he needed to do. Wednesday he was actually awake when I checked on him in the morning, and stayed out all day basking. I offered him food, but he was not interested. He went to bed about three hours before lights off, and he’s been out since then.

Every instinct is telling me to check on him, to make sure he’s not somehow got himself stuck, or sick, or injured.... It’s really hard trusting him to know what he needs, and not disturb him. Last night I was even having nightmares about him dying because I didn’t check on him. He’s been digging himself in pretty deeply, so checking on him would require lifting him out and disturbing him. I’m assuming it’s healthier for him not to be disturbed whilst he’s brumating?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You need to keep.him hydrated-- either by bathing dropping water on his nose or syringe feeding slowly- check his weight keep an eye on his weight he should not be losing weight or at least alot- I would do this every 10 days or so
Karrie
 

Linzloohoo

Hatchling Member
I totally understand. It kinda freaks me out too that Kai has been dead to the world for so long. I check on him everyday to see if he has changed position at all, and if not sometimes give him a friendly are you still alive poke to see if he moves ( he does). It’s so hard to just leave them be, but it’s what they need at the moment. I did wake mine up a couple times because I was worried and I wanted to weigh him and at least give him some water, this did not go over well with him and my normally non aggressive beardie got very angry and puffed up at me.
I did exactly what you are, I came here for advice. I know it’s hard to not worry, but chances are he’s completely fine. Try not to stress about it. Easier said than done I know.
 

BrightStar

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Thanks, Brandon, for the link. It was an interesting read, and a reassuring reminder that beardies do this quite naturally in the wild with no problems.

I checked on Walter Thursday and found him hanging out under his cork flat with his nose just poking out. His eyes were half closed, but he was pretty responsive. I let him sleep all day. He slept through all of Friday, too. Then today, I checked on him and found him in the same position, but a few hours after he ventured out on his own. I think maybe he needed to poop, because that was the first thing he did. I couldn’t help myself and gave him a cuddle afterwards —- I was so happy to see him up! Walter wasn’t too impressed and seemed a bit skittish. After a brief cuddle, I put him back in his cage and he climbed onto the hottest point on his basking log. Interesting, because he usually prefers to bask at temps of about 102, but the day before he went down, and today, he’s basking at the 112 points. I offered him a few roaches, which he ate, but didn’t seem to want anything else. I offered water but he just stink eyed me.

He seems bright and alert, so,I left him to it for the rest of the day.

Linziloohoo - thanks for sharing your experiences with Kai. It is very nerve racking to leave them to get on with what they need to do. Is this your first time going through brumation with a beardie?
 
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