brumating dragons "Tis' the season" :)

[KahliLizard]

Hello all. I have a sleepy little beardie who hasn't been awake for several weeks. Anyone else?

 

[KahliLizard]

anyone?

 

[Soulwind]

Oh yes.

My little ones have been down since early October.

Rico went down last week of September...out like a light until right before
Halloween. He's been waking up and basking since then, but still won't eat
anything. Just gives me the stink eye if I try to offer him any buggies.

Mellow went down 2nd week of October and isn't showing any signs of wanting
to wake up yet. She'll wake up if I move her (for her bath and such) but then
it's right back to sleep.

Q has never really done the "sleep" brumation, but she slows down a lot. It's
difficult to get more than 1 dubia into her every 2 or 3 days.

 

[MamaTater]

Holiday anxieties not always caused by the influx of family members!
Our first official Deep Sleep. My hairs are sticking out all over and I'm just sure there's a bald patch somewhere...or soon will be.
Stuart has been ready for several weeks now but I put him off for his checkup, then the round of wormer pushed it back two more weeks. Poor guy has been begging me with his one half-opened eye to just let him please go to sleep! But, today! Today he's in a dark box and nothing will keep him from it any longer.
I hope it all goes according to plan. (at least more so than the last 3 wks of prep!)
I'm so nervous. I'm just sure I'll do something wrong.
And next year it'll be all three going down! Eek!
Is this a sort of separation anxiety?

 

[Goonie]

One of my girls, MoMo, had been sleeping for about a month now. Her total hours of being awake is about 3 or so hours :roll:
The others (Pookie, Digi, Squirt) had been less active, but are still awake during the day. They all go to bed an hour earlier though.
The baby, Gianna, is still uneasy about this whole brumation thing. Her body is telling her to sleep, but her mind is telling her to stay awake. She'd been sleeping for 1.5 days then be awake for one, then repeat, until this Wednesday. She is now refusing to get up

 

[MamaTater]

I peeked in on Stuart and he's O. U. T. It's kinda cute. I miss him but it's kinda nice to have more time to give Stella and Stanley. Just wait till next year!

 

[KahliLizard]

Kahli has been out since the beginning of November. The only way I still know he's alive is that he changes positions occasionally. Also, at about 8-10 am everyday, he opens his eyes a little and looks around. I only see him doing that on the weekends when I'm at home during that time. Sometimes when he's kind of awake, opening his eyes and changing positions I'll take him out, and hold him. He usually falls asleep as I pet him, then it's time to put him back to bed. I miss having a play buddy. My leopard gecko isn't the same as Kahli. He doesn't like to snuggle, and gets mad at me easily. Though I did only just get him about a month ago, so, that may have an effect on the way his opinion of me. I wish Kahli would wake up again...

 

[Southpaw]

My Aina has been up and down for about a month now. She sleeps for 2-3 days then gets up basks for a bit and then goes back to sleep. Watson and no name are way too young, thankfully.

 

[jenn4turtles]

I am so glad that I saw this post! I've notice some changes in behavior for mine.

Smauggie is our 1st BD, and we adopted her in May, so this is our 1st "winter" with her. I use the word "winter" loosely, because I'm in Southeast Louisiana. It *normally* doesn't get too cold here. It is 74 now, going up to 76 for a high here. That said, I am using a CHE in her tank, just to keep it warm for her.

Since last week, maybe the week before, she's not eating very much. She's eating 7 dubias a day at most (when normally she eats around 20 or more - these are medium/large), and rarely eats any of her greens now. I even went to the local pet store and bought a couple of the "Hoppy Meals", thinking maybe she was sick of dubia and would like some crickets. Nope. She hasn't pooped since Thursday (not surprising, given her drop in intake). She's not very active either; she's usually curled up under her tree and falling asleep by the afternoon.

I'm guessing this is start of brumation ... ?

 

[MamaTater]

LOL Hoppy meals!
Sounds like it to me! From what I read temp makes no matter to some dragons. Stuart slowed down a lot last year, eating and consciousness-wise. This year I took pains to keep him on a sort of schedule and somewhat control his brumation. He needed a vet visit and take some meds before he was free to sleep. Today I checked on him and he was stirring. He came out for a couple mins and seemed quite out of sorts. He took no water and I moved him from his "sleepy tank" to his regular set-up so he could bask and move around. I'm not sure what he wants. I assumed he'd sleep if I cooled him and kept him dark. :| I didn't believe others when they say that some dragons eat and behave otherwise normally except maybe sleeping a little more. I figured they're only 20-ish years out of the wild and their instincts can't be changed that much but...well...I believe nothing until I see it. I saw it. Why can't things be simple? I suppose I'll keep an eye on him and offer food if he doesn't go back down soon. Really wasn't wanting to deal with bathing and worrying about his pooping so the food doesn't rot in his gut. Gee! He needs to make up his mind!
Keep us posted on Smauggie I'd love to know how he (she?) does down where it's not cold.

 

[jenn4turtles]

That's really what Flukers calls it: a "Hoppy Meal". It's 30 crickets in a small, square carton w/ an egg crate in it. It makes me laugh every time ... :lol:

Originally, we called our BD Smaug, because we thought it was a boy. Months later, we realized that it's a girl, but we liked the name for her, so she's Smauggie, or Smauggie-girl, or Smaugarita ... Well, you get the idea.

She ate about 4 dubias this afternoon, so that makes 7 for today. I plan on bathing her tonight, and cleaning out her tank, which I usually do on the weekend, but she was so sluggish yesterday, I hated to take her out (except for snuggling and sleep, which started at 4 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m.).

I'm a little worried about the poop/food in belly issue myself. She hasn't gone since Thursday, and while she isn't eating much, I know that what she has eaten needs to come out. These little babies sure like to make us worry!

 

[MamaTater]

I noticed Stanley acting a little "brummish" lately. He's the same age as Stella but nearly as big as Stuart. Stuart's 2yrs, Stanley/Stella 7mos. Stanley the Manly is still eating regularly, just less than usual and he's been going to bed pretty early each night. I wonder if he's trying... :? This is all very interesting.
Curious, Smaug from LOTR?
Sidenote: I noticed you have ghost shrimp. I once had some in a brackish tank and they were reproducing. I thought it was SO neat and now that I have all sorts of tanks (funny how when you need one you can't find any but if you have several they seem to reproduce) I'm thinking of having a tank with just shrimp. A little shrimp world. *sigh* Ahhh, geekdom.

 

[jenn4turtles]

Yep, the name is from LOTR! (Although she's hardly fire ... A little cranky at times though! We joke that she's going to smite us.) We had just watched "The Desolation of Smaug", and we knew that our BD was going to be named Smaug (even if it was a girl). And it fits our "S"-named theme. LOL.

I had a bunch of ghosties, but I'm down to only one. We've had "him" for awhile now, at least since June, but maybe as far back as March. We call him Waldo (as in, Where's Waldo?, b/c he's so hard to find, since he's so transparent and ... hidey). Anyway, the others didn't seem to survive the molting process, despite my adding iodine (or is it iodide? Whichever one is supposed to help with molting. Will have to check bottle at home.) I'm bummed that he's the last because I really liked them. I know, to most they are just food for bigger fish, but I think they're neat. I like watching Waldo swim across the front of the tank with all he's got. I'm thinking about trying a few more or maybe adding another type of shrimp. They have all different kinds and colors! I haven't ordered from this site (yet) but here's some other types available:
http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/freshwateraquariumshrimp.php

I have my old 10G (from before I upgraded to the 29G) and I've thought about making it a shrimp only tank, too!

 

[MamaTater]

Mind.
Blown.
Those shrimp are gorgeous!!! I'm much too cheap to drop $50 on any animal tho. I'll stick with the little 23c feeder shrimpies from the petstore. Perhaps I should hint to the fam to get me shrimpies for my birthday.
Huge LOTR fan here. Ok, gotta get off here and do something productive. :shock:

 

[Taterbug]

Pepper also has a "I'm just not hungry" approach to this winter, he's been turning in early but mostly doing this:
it's warm in there, and seems comfy... I guess. lol

I love my cherry shrimp! I got them from the shrimp farms store on eBay, they are just too cool they breed easy if you keep me right (also easy)

Jenn, are you thinking of calcium?