8month old Bearded dragon brumating

[newbeardieowner1999]

I am a new bearded dragon owner, and i have come across a situation. My bearded dragon, Smaug, is 8 months old and I don't know if he can/will brumate. He sleeps more, but still eats and poops every day and he is still active and gets up when his lights turn on, but tries to sleep 3-4 hours before his lights turn off. He is 18 inches long from tip to tail and is 295 grams or so. I have done a lot of research :study: and I am not coming up with much. Please review with some help!! I need it!!!

 

[CooperDragon]

At 8 months he could brumate I suppose. He has good length to him but his weight sounds a bit low to me. He's eating well? They can go into different levels of brumation. They can just slow down a bit or they can sleep for extended periods. Can you post some photos of him? You can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

Can you provide some details about his enclosure? What kind of lights are you using? What are the temperatures around the tank? It's possible there's something in his environment that may be causing an issue.

 

[newbeardieowner1999]

I took him to the vet and they said he was healthy, if not a bit over weight. I feed him 10 crickets a day and he gets a full salad (of kale, collard greens, turnip greens, and mustard greens) and those bearded dragon bites, which he loves. He was in a 20 gallon enclosure but now he is in a 40 gallon, but he is not stressed about that, because i just got that yesterday and this started happening a month before now. His basking spot is a nice 90-95 degree temp, Smaug has two 100 watt bulbs, his UV light is a bit low, and i think that is a 100 watt too. My room is around a 75-79 degree temperature all day and night. His tank is pretty simple, he has a carpet, basking rock, food and water bowl, and a plastic plant (He doesn't mess with the plant, don't worry about that, he would only touch it to climb it when he was little.) He seems happy, but what do I know.
All these pics are from this month, the first is of his gut, then you have the pic of him on my 6 year old cousins shoulder, and the third is him sleeping on my lap when I was watching TV.

 

[CooperDragon]

It looks like he has a pretty full belly in that first photo. His body looks like it's filled in well so his weight is probably fine. 95 is OK for an adult and he may want to hang out at that temperature a lot but I'd provide an area that is a little warmer, maybe 100-105 as well so he can get some more heat if he wants it. Adding a nice gradient for variety is a good thing for them. What kind of UVB light are you using? Is it a 100w mercury vapor bulb?

 

[newbeardieowner1999]

What kind of UVB light are you using? Is it a 100w mercury vapor bulb?/quote] Do i need to be using a 100w mercury vapor bulb, he just has the 100w reptisun.

 

[CooperDragon]

Do you mean 100w PowerSun? That is a mercury vapor bulb and will produce UVB. Otherwise you will need a separate UVB light.

 

[psuaero]

I'm in almost the same situation with Spike. At 6 months old, 17 inches long, and 463 grams could he be brumating?

The last 2 weeks his appetite has gone down and now he's sleeping during the day (with he lights on). He's also hanging out to the side of his basking spot where it's just a bit cooler.

He's still eating some salad (not much) and some bugs (Supers, Dubias, and crickets) but not nearly the volume as mid to late November. He's still pooping every day or every other too and that all appears normal.

 

[CooperDragon]

He's a bit young for brumation but may be slowing down a bit either for the season or because his growth is slowing.