6 month old is brumating?

[npgeorgeuw]

I have a six month old (guestimating) who seem to be partially brumating....

The "baby" is at around 400-420 grams and was growing rapidly until about late december when she suddenly stopped growing and only was eating to maintain her weight and now has started "sleeping in" and not really eating (even started turning down hornworms whereas before she would self feed roaches and got hornworms and superworms as treats). I just got her a large hide and she immediately crawled in and went to sleep midday. Right around this same time she went from pooping once a day to once every few days. Prior to this she was also in constant shed and hasn't now shed for months. I re-ran her fecal a few days ago and she is clear of flagellates, pin/hookworms and coccidia. Her ADV status is unknown.

She is housed in a room with two other adults and another juvenile of the same age (who are not doing this) and are on identical 14 on/10 hours off light schedules to the adults. The room is kept at 75 degrees constant (space heated) and each cage has a basking lamp that keeps a basking area at around 105-107 and each cage has a Zoomed T5 HO UV lamp. The cool side of each cage is around 77-80 degrees. They are offered mustard greens, collard greens and assorted squashes every day along with choices of roaches and superworms/hornworms (as treats) and all prey are regularly dusted with calcium (without D) and herptivite multivitamin. The room is furnished with room-darkening shades so the dragons have had no visual seasonal cues either. There have been no disruptions to either temperature or light except for a few days in Mid November when a large windstorm knocked power out to our area. This sleepiness and slow down began upwards of a month after that point.

So... Is it known that this young of dragons will brumate (without any temperature or visual cues)?? She was pushing a pound before she slowed down and did decrease a bit in weight but has held basically steady since about mid January. I think she might be munching on greens every once in a while but has not been eating live prey either when offered or when left in the bowl.

Any help and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CooperDragon]

It sounds like they're all well cared for. Their setups are good. Given her size I'd agree that she may just be in a semi brumation state a bit earlier than usual. It's not as common but not unheard of. I'd continue to track her weight but if it's remaining relatively steady I'd just let her do her thing for now.

 

[anastasia6988]

My 6 month oldish dragon just did the same thing. He hasn't shed in a while and now he has shed on his arms and legs. I think this could have been why. (Thanks to some advice on here, cooperdragon)
His shed will definitely be lifting soon. And after a few days of being, in what I thought was a start of brumation, he started acting like his old self again.

Granted he has turned to his veggies more now than he use to and he is a little less rambunctious, he is up and about like normal again.

I agree with cooperdragon and let her do her thing but keep an eye on her. Sounds like a healthy environment so all should be well there.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

Yeah, there isn't even a hint of shedding coming yet so we will have to see.

So for this type of partial or early brumation should I do anything different? Should I lengthen photocycles and decrease basking lamp wattage?

Or do you just let them do their thing under identical environmental conditions and they will snap out of it when they do?--Obviously I don't want to force brumation but I also don't want to fight it either.

thanks!

 

[anastasia6988]

My guy had no signs of shed for those 3 days. But now it's very prominent on his arms and legs. It may not be it though, just sharing my experience, because I just posted almost the same thing a few days ago.

But I'm not sure about the brumation questions, I'll have to let someone else answer.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Yeah, there isn't even a hint of shedding coming yet so we will have to see.

So for this type of partial or early brumation should I do anything different? Should I lengthen photocycles and decrease basking lamp wattage?

Or do you just let them do their thing under identical environmental conditions and they will snap out of it when they do?--Obviously I don't want to force brumation but I also don't want to fight it either.

thanks!

I agree, bump up the length of the juvenile's day , 10 hours of lights on per day is WAY TOO SHORT for a bearded dragon (I'd recommend 16 hours lights and heat ON , this is more in line with actual daylight hours here in Australia in summer (especially in the region of central Australia where central bearded dragons are found naturally)).

This is the standard practice for beardies here in Australia, keepers only reduce the day cycle when they want to get their beardies to brumate. They don't need to brumate BTW.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

My 6 month oldish dragon just did the same thing. He hasn't shed in a while and now he has shed on his arms and legs. I think this could have been why. (Thanks to some advice on here, cooperdragon)
His shed will definitely be lifting soon. And after a few days of being, in what I thought was a start of brumation, he started acting like his old self again.

Granted he has turned to his veggies more now than he use to and he is a little less rambunctious, he is up and about like normal again.

I agree with cooperdragon and let her do her thing but keep an eye on her. Sounds like a healthy environment so all should be well there.

How long had he been acting brumation-like and when was the last time he had shed? (Just trying to gain some point of reference....) My girl hasn't shed for at least two months (maybe even longer)... Weird since before this she was constantly in shed and everyone else in the house (including the other adults) have shed at least a few times over the last two months.