Brumation advice

[Doddins]

Hi guys
Liz has started to show signs of brumation and as its our first brumation together i just wanted to make sure im doing things right

Tank: 5 ft by 2ft by 2ft
Light: 1 MVB 60watt (if i remember right, im emailing form work) and 1 30watt house bulb the other end to keep temps up
Basking spot one end of the tank which is a huge piece of flat rock and the other is some pieces of drift wood that she has a hide under and can climb up and over etc

Liz is 1 and half now so its her first Brumation. shes been healthy but sadly i cant check poo sample as we dont have a specialist vets within 2 hours of where i live

I have removed the house bulb and reduced the length of light in the tank by 3 hours and bathed her. I was planning on bathing her every day for 5 days and reduce the light hours by an hour every day as well so eventually her MVB comes on at 9am and goes off at 1 or 2pm?

I was going to move her hide and replace with a shoe box and comfort blanket in.

i was then going to take her out once a week, weigh her, bath her, attempt some food and put her back

Is this sounding ok?

Anything i should/shouldnt do...or that i should change?

 

[Buggsy]

You really dont need to play with the lights, i turn mine from a 14on/10off cycle to a 12/12. Keep the temperatures the same, and jus make sure she has a nice dark place to sleep, away from the UVB, a shoe box works really well. Every thing else seems ok, but they are all different. Gizmo will stay in the shoe box for weeks, opening her eyes in the morning and coming to the entrance, then backing up and going to sleep about 5. After a few weeks she will come out and stay there for a few day, then it starts again! I guess they are all different so you just need to learn what kind of sleeper she is.

I would bathe her twice a week, and offer food while she is out, sometimes they will take some and stay up for a day/teo to digest before sleeping again, just make sure they dont go to sleep on a full belly.

I always find a good test to see if it is brumination or lazness, is to pop them on the basking spot if they dont come out in a few hours by themselves. If is brummination they will want to go right back to the nice dark cave, if they want to stay there they are prob just being a little lazy.

 

[Doddins]

ok cool ill do the lazy test later on haha
as for the lights and temps..ill take your advice and ill just keep an eye on her.

I know brumation can be random in terms of length but is there normally an average length of time that they brumate for or is it literally as everyone says and is random per beardie?

 

[Buggsy]

Completly random, i went throught the first brumination last year, we have since moved house, its much warmer for her to come out and play. This time last year she was all hunkered up in her cave, this year she is still going strong, eating loads and running around, so it really does vary! Hopefully she wont go to sleep because i get it! but hey ho#!
!
Some just never do it, some just get lazy then others are dead to the world for months! It varies as much as their little personalities!