I saw you already read the article on here, it's a good one, but brumation can be confusing. I have 6 male adult dragons and they all brumate differently. So the first thing you have to do, if Faith is starting to sleep more & more, is to stop feeding her, but only if you figure she's ready to sleep steadily. You have to make sure first that her digestive system is completely empty before you let her sleep fully. It's very important, as if she sleeps with food in her belly for a long period of time, it could rot and cause an infection. Seeing as how it's hard to determine the first time what type of brumation she'll do, I'll explain what my boys do.
Lonzo is 10 1/2 yrs old and he lost the function of 1 lung last year, so he's not allowed to fully sleep, he's up every morning, eats as usual & then is allowed to go to sleep earlier in the day. I leave his lights on until about 5p, if he naps before that, he's still warm. That's what he does all winter, I make sure to wake him up every morning.
Leo is 6 yrs old and he's already in full brumation. Starting early September he started to eat less and less, I made sure to give him regular baths (I give mine baths every 2-3 days to help with
hydration) and after a week of not eating and not really wanting to get up, I made sure he did a last poop & then let him sleep with his lights off. I don't go through the less & less lights, just turn them off when he didn't get up one morning.
Didi is also 6 yrs old and is also brumating. I did the same thing with him. I'll wake them both up on the weekend and give them baths to make sure they're
hydrated, see if there is any poop left, they'll probably stay up for a couple of days but I won't feed them, just leave their lights on for the usual time. When they're back to sleep I'll turn the lights off again. Both of them are up and down all winter. I call them my yo-yos :lol:
Rubio is 5 yrs old and he will sleep for 2 months or longer straight. So for him I feed him water every week from a syringe, in his bed (my dragons are all very spoiled :lol: ) so I don't have to wake him up until he wants to wake up. He's the only one of my beardies that sleeps for a prolonged amount of time.
Gabriel is 3 years old and he hasn't tried to bromate yet. He's up every morning, doesn't eat a whole lot and is asleep earlier in the day. Still leave his lights on until 5p.
Titan is only a year old & is battling a skin infection that I think is fungal. He had a biopsy on Friday & is not a very happy beardie right now, just waiting for results. So he won't be brumating at all this year, even if he wanted to.
So that's what I do every winter. I've been taking in rescue beardies for 7 years and every winter I learn something new. When my first beardie decided to sleep I had no idea what to do & freaked out. But the moderator, Denise, who wrote the article helped me out a lot.
You really have to learn what your beardie wants as they all do their winter slow down/brumation differently. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. The first winter they slow down is always the most difficult, as you don't know what to expect.
Deb
and Faith..
