Anyone's beardies showing signs of brumation already??

[pscaulkins]

Last winter I had to take Jada into the vet for a physical because she would not bask. She ate some food but not much and she was only 5 months old. Her fecal was clean but she had food backed up in her due to her body slowing down. The vet said she was in brumation but not to let her fully brumate because she needed protein because she was still growing. So for a month, I had to make sure she ate, pooped and basked. It was not a fun time. But she made it through it and will most likely brumate this year. So far I have not seen any signs of brumation with my three. Last year I had Magick and Semi brumating in August. They came out of it in January.

 

[beardie parents]

they usually will not brumate until the following year usually when the are full adullts maybe alvin is just taking a lazy day

This is not necesarily so....I have 2 males that brumated there first time at under a year. PVT Blaze who was hatched 6/1/08 brumated last year at only 7 months old an it was a full brumation. :shock: Checker's my 3-1/2 y/o male also brumated at under a year he was 8 months when he went into a full brumation. Both of these beardies go out for the count for about 10 weeks. I think personally that size has just as much to do with it as age.

Keep in mind even if a beardie is not large or an adult they can still slow down considerably even if they don't actually go into a full brumation.

I have another experience with an under one year old beardie. Last December, about the middle of the month or so, Zoom Zoom, who we found out a little later, was about 6 months old at that time, and hadn't grown much. She just reached 16 inches long about one month ago, however, she decided to try and brumate. This wasn't a full brumation as we got her up every morning only to get a look that said: "I don't want to get up yet! This prompted my husband to put a sign on the side of her hide box that said: "ATTENTION! I don't do mornings, Do not Disturb before 10:30 am, by order of Zoom Zoom." Some mornings she didn't wake up until noon or later, ate little, only when we put food into her mouth when she was gaping, and lost 3 grams, gained 2, then lost 2 or 3. We even tried the new reptaid and that didn't really work until the middle of March. It was then that she decided it was time to start eating again. She ate a lot more at that time then she had before she decided she wanted to brumate. I mentioned this to another woman we met through Redrock and a man I know from work and she said "I thought they didn't brumate under one year." I said "I tried to tell Zoom Zoom that but she wasn't listening.

I hate to see what she decideds to do this year. She may just go totally under. I have decided (mainly from reading about brumation) to wake her up every week and soak her and weigh her, just to make sure it's really brumation and not something else wrong.

 

[VEGASLIZARD]

I have a tegu...the key to tegus is to respect them (they aren't likely to cooperate as much as beardies) and also to keep them well fed. I think they get aggressive when people don't feed them enough. Mine is very tame and has never struck at ANYONE. What type is your son getting? They can be very high maintenance lizards, though, and require an enormous cage.

He is getting an Argentinian Black and White at the reptile show in Anaheim next weekend. That is unless we find a blue there. He has been doing research for months and has the enclosure all set up. He is planning on getting a baby so that he can spend lots of time with it and have it be as tame as possible. He just turned 16 and is not your typical teenager. He is very mature for his age. He begged to be home schooled (just starting 11th grade) and doesn't hang out with his friends very often. He loves the reptiles we already have and I have no doubt that he will be a good tegu daddy. Let me tell you I am the happiest mom on earth because I thought he would have flown the coop by now. The rest of his friends are never home and don't think their mom is cool anymore.

Ok, I know he doesn't have scales, but he is still a cutie.

 

[spyder79]

I have a tegu...the key to tegus is to respect them (they aren't likely to cooperate as much as beardies) and also to keep them well fed. I think they get aggressive when people don't feed them enough. Mine is very tame and has never struck at ANYONE. What type is your son getting? They can be very high maintenance lizards, though, and require an enormous cage.

He is getting an Argentinian Black and White at the reptile show in Anaheim next weekend. That is unless we find a blue there. He has been doing research for months and has the enclosure all set up. He is planning on getting a baby so that he can spend lots of time with it and have it be as tame as possible. He just turned 16 and is not your typical teenager. He is very mature for his age. He begged to be home schooled (just starting 11th grade) and doesn't hang out with his friends very often. He loves the reptiles we already have and I have no doubt that he will be a good tegu daddy. Let me tell you I am the happiest mom on earth because I thought he would have flown the coop by now. The rest of his friends are never home and don't think their mom is cool anymore.

Ok, I know he doesn't have scales, but he is still a cutie.

i think congratulations are in order for doing a great job raising your child :notworthy: :headbang:

 

[VEGASLIZARD]

Thanks!