Brumation Haters Anonymous

[Jess]

Hmmm, is it raining out? Sometimes they will have "off" days when the weather is funky. Both the beardies Ive had seem to be effected by the weather outside, like they will sleep in all day when its cold/cloudy/rainy out. If its just 2 days, I wouldnt say that he is brumating quite yet!

LOL Mccalumpiper, you feel my pain! I really didnt expect Dudley to brumate untill we were farther into the winter. Oh well, I gues sit will be over sooner this way (I hope). He is basking again today, but he just doesnt want to eat. He looks like he really wants to eat the buggies I show him, but then at the last minute he closes his eyes and turns away. Its like hes trying to resist the temptation! :roll:

 

[RHETORIC]

Good I'm glad this is normal then. I knew some did and some didn't some go down all winter some for a few days. He was my first reptile and he's the first to do this so far... My tegu might brumate at some point... I went out and got a ceramic heating bulb so now he can stay toastier without the bright lights. Hope everyones dragon has a happy/safe winter!

 

[crickest]

I was told last spring that brumation is triggered by weight, not necessarily age. My girl, Embyr, went down at eight months starting in April, and Spark went down at eight months in October of last year. Spark is sleeping again and Embyr has slowed down quite a bit. It's beginning to get cold here and I know that the barometer falling causes both of my babies to get sleepy.

 

[xebo]

We think our Eddie is starting to brumate. He stays under his log most days, occassionally sits on his rock but mainly doesn't move. Although every 3 days or so he goes a bit mental. He climbs up the wall of his viv and runs around like a mad man, then he conks out again for 3 days. He's eating his crickets, not any veg though, pooing every 3 days but seems to spend most days pufffed up like a balloon, slowly sticking his beard out and pulling it back in again, almost like he's trying to stretch his skin again...
is this normal for brumation?

 

[Sarah26]

Hmmm, is it raining out? Sometimes they will have "off" days when the weather is funky. Both the beardies Ive had seem to be effected by the weather outside, like they will sleep in all day when its cold/cloudy/rainy out. If its just 2 days, I wouldnt say that he is brumating quite yet!

LOL Mccalumpiper, you feel my pain! I really didnt expect Dudley to brumate untill we were farther into the winter. Oh well, I gues sit will be over sooner this way (I hope). He is basking again today, but he just doesnt want to eat. He looks like he really wants to eat the buggies I show him, but then at the last minute he closes his eyes and turns away. Its like hes trying to resist the temptation! :roll:

Good to hear, I wouldn't want him to brumate this year:-D

 

[Jess]

I was told last spring that brumation is triggered by weight, not necessarily age. My girl, Embyr, went down at eight months starting in April, and Spark went down at eight months in October of last year. Spark is sleeping again and Embyr has slowed down quite a bit. It's beginning to get cold here and I know that the barometer falling causes both of my babies to get sleepy.

Really? Thats interesting! How much did your beardies weigh when they went down? Dudley was 525g, and now hes down to 500g. He weighed 460 when I adopted him and he still looked great, so Im not too worried about the weight loss... But do you think that they start brumating once they reach a certain weight?

LOL @ Xebo... Eddie sounds hilarious! Im not sure if hes brumating, since hes still eating, but he sounds like quite the little character!

 

[mccallumpiper]

Hmmm, is it raining out? Sometimes they will have "off" days when the weather is funky. Both the beardies Ive had seem to be effected by the weather outside, like they will sleep in all day when its cold/cloudy/rainy out. If its just 2 days, I wouldnt say that he is brumating quite yet!

LOL Mccalumpiper, you feel my pain! I really didnt expect Dudley to brumate untill we were farther into the winter. Oh well, I gues sit will be over sooner this way (I hope). He is basking again today, but he just doesnt want to eat. He looks like he really wants to eat the buggies I show him, but then at the last minute he closes his eyes and turns away. Its like hes trying to resist the temptation! :roll:

I know me either it took me by surprise as well. That is good he comes out to bask on his own at least. My girl does the same.. I say I know you want some of these delicious greens! But she just goes back to her log. I figure for both of us they will be done earlier which will be wonderful. My luck she will be a 6 month burmating machine.

 

[Sarah26]

I was told last spring that brumation is triggered by weight, not necessarily age. My girl, Embyr, went down at eight months starting in April, and Spark went down at eight months in October of last year. Spark is sleeping again and Embyr has slowed down quite a bit. It's beginning to get cold here and I know that the barometer falling causes both of my babies to get sleepy.

That sure is interesting! We would really like to know how much did they wiegh when they went down. My bearded dragon is 469g at 9/10 months.

 

[jms79]

Alright I'm not sure of two things. First of all if my Thorn is a boy(which was told) or a girl which I believe she is? Secondly not sure if she is going into brumation or not. I've had her two months now and when we got her we were told that she was any where from 6 months to 9 months. So she is any where from 8 months old to 11 months old. She is around 17" long from what I can tell. She never holds still long enough for me to get a good messure . The space between her eyes is a little over an inch. She use to eat at least 40 or so cricketts at a sitting now I'm lucky if she eats 10. Use to run and glass dance any time she saw pheonix worms, now lucky if she eats 5 of them. This all started to happen about 2 months ago. She was pooping at least 1 time a day now she seems to be going every other day(same time I give her a bath). She never goes in her hide, in the two months I've had her I've seen her it in 3 times or so. It might be too big at this point, but I'm planning on putting a nice soft blankie in there to make it a little bit smaller. So she sits on her basking log just haning out there pretty much all day moving to the cooler side and not eating much. As for greens well she's never been much of a green eater so little here little there. So is she on a semi-brumation? if so what's the next step? I really don't know, I've been researching brumation so any help would be great.
ah the set up question Size 55 gallon fish tank for now, going to buy 60 gal breeder. Lighting big old basking light keeps temps in basking spot 100 to 105, cool side of tank 80-85 with che, no heat rocks, no under the tank heaters, 18" reptisun 10 forecent tube for uvb with plastic cover off bulb, a big log hide for her to hide in(never really uses it) beardie hammock really haven't used that either, 8 inches from uvb and 8 inches from basking bulb, temps are messured with digital thermometer with probe, bottom of tank is slate tiles. Feeders: pheonix worms, cricketts and roaches. dusting with calcium once a day, multi vit 3 times a week(the fav one repti herp ersomething) also I've seen multi vit up to 7 days a week as little as 1 time a week both for juvinille ages so i went for 3 times a week middle of the road(good or bad please let me know) bath every other day. greens mostly collered greens and mustard greens, squash. she's the only dragon i got so she's all alone. lighting is on 12 hours and off 12 hours(winter started to actually get cold about a month ago soon will be really really really cold) <~~living in Wisconsin. if I missed anything please ask

 

[Jess]

Can you go over your set-up? Since she is almost a year, I guess its possible, but I want to make sure your set-up is good first.

Dudley has been SOOOO boring this week... All he has done is sleep, LOL! I get to wake him up for his bath today though
Yesterday I was vacuuming and cleaning in my room, and Dudley disapproved of the lights and noise... His head was sticking out of his hide a little, and as soon as I started vacuuming, he promptly turned around and crammed himself as far into his hide as he could go, and went back to sleep! When I looked in at him, he was glaring at me, like "Bad slave... You disturb mah sleepies. Now you dont get to see mah bootiful face no more."

 

[TwistedCrayon]

I'm sorta the opposite over here. With 11 of them, which I cherish and adore very much I'm kinda looking forward to the slowing down process, and sleeping. Last year I only had Grim who was 1.5 years. I got him in September and wouldn't let him go down. This year I have 6 that are old/big enough to brumate Including my birthday present from last year, who was around six weeks at the time, and is now over a year. I know I talk a big game, and when/If they sleep I'll be crying the blues.

 

[healthybeardie]

Woofy has been down for 2 days now. He is only 9 months old and weighs 700 grams. He's cut back quite a bit with the eating, has not been interested in greens for about 2 months now A couple weeks ago he would either be pacing to get out (hormonal) or laying around. The other day he went in his hide and has not come back out. I miss him SO much. I just love the routine of the kids get on the bus, put his greens in, clean his poop, play and cuddle time. Then lunch, etc., etc. I guess I'll have to readjust.

This is unchartered territory for me (our first dragon). I read the article about brumation on this site but am wondering, since he is only 9 months old, how long will this last? I guess if he is down for a week, I should bathe him and dry him to allow him the hydration. I just don't want to disrupt his natural process.

 

[Jess]

@TwistedCrayon: Wow, you must be enjoying the break, LOL! I cant imagine having 11! But yeah, thats one of the few good things about brumation... You dont have to do all of the work!

@HealthyBeardie: 700g at 9 months?! Woofy must be quite the chubba! It wont hurt him any to wake him up once in a while- getting dehydrated would be much worse. He just might be a little cranky LOL!

 

[healthybeardie]

Jess thanks for responding back. It is so comforting to know I am not the only lonely beardie slave. He will occasionally give me the "stink eye" glare. I look forward to bathing him on Wed. and Sundays. I am just lost without a schedule. I hope he won't be down ALL winter long.

 

[boxers]

Razual is two years old now, and seems to be starting his first brumation. On Monday, just a couple hours after turning on the lights, he marched off under his cave and has been in there since. This is strange for us, as he is normally QUITE lazy and just sleeps in his basking spot. Yesterday I opened his cage and put some greens on his plate, but when I closed the doors and peeked in the cave, he hadn't even opened his eyes! :shock: I was very impressed with how deeply he was sleeping. Or maybe he was just purposefully ignoring me. :lol:

Anyway, I was just wondering if I should more or less let him do his own thing, or if I need to step in and wrangle him out of the cave once in a while. I leave his light on its normal 10-12 hour span, just in case he wants to come out and bask, but so far he hasn't.