7.5 month old BURMATING? MAYDAY!

[blue11]

hi all
ok guys ... im kinda wierded out the past few weeks.
my beardie, Blue, has alawys been active, chill and docile, but alert, basking, eating her greens, eating her protein, pooping beautifully daily (i know that sounds wierd) ... she has baths every other day, has always been handled daily, she is just the BEST dragon, i love her so much.
Blue was born early in the year, in the month of April (early on is the best guesstimate) .... she is under a year, BUT, approaching her year mark. Up until now she has had regular sheds, i mean, just growing and coming into her own. Its been AWESOME. Well, in mid-late October, she just started to sleep all the time ... staying over on her cool side, getting out of bed ALOT later than normal .... she used to pop out of her blanket within an hour of lights on, so it became this increasing "staying in bed longer" to not getting out of bed at all. The days wer getting cooler, now the days are so much shorter, and she is just one sleepy sleepy girl.
I have woken her to bathe, to make sure she poops out the protein feeders, she has gone off greens totally. After a bath she tends to perk up and be crazy hungry ... then back to sleep. so i am making sure i am waking her up every other day to let her poop so it wont stay in her tummy. Ten minutes into every warm water soak, she poops, its well formed with a good urate.
I have been keeping the day/night schedule with the lights and temps. I read the article on burmation on here, and some people do that, some dont. the last few days i have shortened her lights on cycle from about 14 to about 12, now to about 10 hours.

Her set-up is this:
48x18x20 viv
10.0 ReptiSun on basking side
60 watt household bulb on same side
Accurite thermometer with basking spot at 101 - 102 backed up with a Temp Gun for super accuracy.
Zilla Thermomenter on cool side with temps ranging between 80 - 82
Tile substrate
can get as close as 6 inches to UVB tube
places to climb, bask, hide ... all that
hydration source - every other day soaks
food - supers, butters, pheonix worms ... greens were collards and mustards but she wont eat them now.

My thing is this - she is under a year so i know its not impossible to burmate, but unusual? am i right?
IS she burmating?? .... or has something changed that i am missing? Her fecal is clear. She's a pudgy happy dragon, i always thought at least!! I have had her since she was a hatchling, and now she is 16 inches at her age.
I dont want to disturb her sleep. At the same time, i am going crazy thinking, what if this isnt burmation? Her appetite so far, when live food is offered after her bath, is full on. But i dont want to keep feeding, her sleep, and bathe every day just to make sure she gets it out. Im stuck ... I dont want to bother her but i want to make sure she isnt going without either.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

im so sorry, this is driving me crazy. i wish they had a sign over their head saying "yes i am burmating" or "no i am not" .... ha. stupid i know but im reallllllllllllllllllllly confused, even after reading the articles. how long CAN she be this way? Is it going to stunt her growth with her not shedding and kind of shutting down? DO i keep waking her to eat and poop?
She is my first dragon, and man, i just wasnt ready for burmation YET lol, i thought i had maybe at least several more months till she was at least 1.5 yrs.

i know its impossible for yall to know, but, from what im describing, and the questions i have, does anyone have ANY input? like ANYTHING would be appreciated. i know so many people have been through this, and if you have, anyyyyyy tips or thoughts would be so so awesome right now.

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH .... i mean SO SO much .......
~Emily and Miss Blue

 

[Bwalter]

I have a little girl, well not little, 17" and a year old end of this month who is doing the same thing. I thought today I wouldn't wake her up until tomorrow for bath and food, but she was peeking her head out today so I got her up, fed her and gave her a bath, now she is under her log instead of her hide. She started this a couple months ago at around 9 months old. Not sure on the age thing tho, sorry I can't help on that.

 

[blue11]

hi
thanks so much for sharing!!! yeah, its kinda driving me batty :shock: i just wish i knew what to do, or the right thing to do ... i just woke her up and fed her, she happily ate decent amount of small supers and i put her under her basking light, i just dont want to be messing up a natural thing, and i dont know if i am ... what if she is just being super lazy and sleepy? or actual burmation, or semi burmation ... does it drive you crazy or i am just being totally paranoid?
~Emily

 

[kimbasmom]

Kimba is doing the same thing. I weigh him when I bathe him, and he's holding his weight and his still a hefty beardie dude. Just letting him be for the moment and hoping he wakes up soon. I miss my happy little guy.

 

[Bwalter]

this is my first beardie and have asked a lot of questions about burmation too, and I still worry about her, and I think a lot of first time beardie owners are worrying about their little ones like we are.

 

[AtlasStrike]

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. I've almost posted this twice now and deleted it...

The term is brumation- B-R-U-M not B-U-R-M

My guess would be that dragon's maturation occurs at different rates, so if their development in a shorter period of time (less than a year) is sufficient enough that their body has matured to an "adult" stage then brumation would occur earlier in their life time. I don't really know why it is that younger dragons would not brumate, other than building fat reserves, so under ideal captive conditions, I don't see why they couldn't be of size to brumate under one year of age. Just my theory, of course.

 

[blue11]

ohhhhhhhh man, i have been spelling it and saying wrong this whole time. ha! ima dork :shock: thanks for that ... oopsy!
~Emily

 

[kimbasmom]

ohhhhhhhh man, i have been spelling it and saying wrong this whole time. ha! ima dork :shock: thanks for that ... oopsy!
~Emily

I keep going out to the BD.org article to remember how it's spelled. :lol: But then again, I've been thinking my little guy will be 1 this spring. Nope, he'll be 2. So no wonder he's brumating. :roll:

 

[FalkorsMommy]

My Falkor is brumating right now too. When he first did it he was about a year and it freaked me out. He is 2 now and he started about a month ago maybe but this time I knew exactly what was going on. He does have some active days too. Today he was out and about running all over then he took the biggest poop ever and now he is back to sleeping.

 

[blue11]

hey hey
ok i dont feel so wierd and scared now after hearing everyone else .... b/c she is sooooo similar sounding to how yall's is acting ... sleep days, active day, then sleepy days. i guess i just wasnt expecting it, ya know? i think i thought, ohhh no way she will brumate before one year ... but it happens! thanks for sharing your stories guys!! i REALLY appreciate it, like you have no idea!!!
~Emily

 

[Ezzor]

Mine is only about 6 months, but 18". Hes also starting to brumate. he grew into a monster quickly and caught me by surprise. I got worried when he just hid all day and wasn't eating his favorite foods. He wouldn't even eat his treats (waxxies). So I took him to the vet and he was healthy, so the only thing it could have been was brumation. I would think that as long as your beardie has developed genitalia they would go into some sort of brumation, since it makes them fertile in the process.

 

[Ronzie]

I wouldn't worry about it. My gal was born April of 2010 and did the same thing last year.
I tried to intervene to no avail. I was worried but they know what they're doing.

 

[SuzukiRider]

My little guy is now doing the same thing at 7 months. I'm not going to worry anymore, I'm sure he's fine. However, a bit skinny for my liking.

 

[blue11]

thanks! yeah ... blue has gotten into somewhat of a pattern ... she sleeps for about 4 days and is up for one day where she will eat several bites of collard greens and a few supers or dubia, has a bath to poop, basks for about 2 hours, and then is ready to go down again for another few days straight. i have eased off worrying too!! as long as she keeps appearing healthy and poops out what she does eat, im becoming much more chilled out about it. i think its just the shocker of a first brumation (or semi-brumation) that gets to me/us. like ... whaaaaaaaaaat ahhhhhhhhh. i dont have a scale to weigh her, which i totally need to get regardless ... but she is DEF NOT a skinny beardie, not yet, idk if she will lose a bit of weight or not. she's got a buddha belly on her! i really appreciate everyone sharing, makes me feel not alone in this brumation venture!!!! i feel more comfortable that she establishing a pattern (which, knowing beardies, that could change at any moment and i will freak out all over again hahaha) ... BUT, so far, so ... kinda good i do miss her fun energy though!
thanks again everyone, if anyone has brumation stories and tips ... share away!!! i can always learn more, i need to learn as much as possible about it. HAVE A BEARDIFUL DAY!!!
~Emily and Miss Blue