Tazz will be 7 this year. His normal brumation habits are about a good month totally down followed by some up and down for a few weeks until he finally comes out of it. During the up and down period, he will still occasionally eat. This year he's acting different.
We lost power in late September when Hurricane Maria swept through our area. Temps were cold, but not critical cold, and Tazz went down early due to this. He hasn't been up since. I have been able to get him up a few times this past month, but he has little to no interest in his food and has lost weight. I've bumped his ambient temps up just a tad and added some 'day' time to his light cycle. This has only given some minimal results as far as increased alertness and activity. I started giving him Repti-boost critical care this week, and actually got him to eat a few millworms. I know, not the best food source, but at this point I feel like I should give him whatever he'll actually eat. He couldn't care less about the dubia I have, and my usual go to - silkworms - are out at my current supplier.
I think I'm posting more out of mommy worry, because I think he's fine... just getting older and brumation is harder and being out of power threw him for a loop, and yes, I'll have him to the vet soon if something doesn't give... but was just hoping another experienced beardied mom or dad has had some similar experiences of a sudden abnormal brumation as they get older, etc?
He has always liked his basking spot on the cooler side, but I've bumped it up to 93*F now. Ambient warm side is around 87*F, temps going to lows of 71*F at night. Cool side goes as low as 78*F if he goes in his cave.
And baby food has been an epic fail this time around, too.
Hi there, since you've just now started getting him back out then it is normal for it to take a while for him to become more active. Some beardies are more sluggish by nature so after brumation ends they don't get active for a while. Do you know how much weight he lost ? So you have pics of him ? And how long are your lights on ? Is the uvb still good ?
It's O.K to give him mealworms that are calcium dusted, eating may spark more activity.
I think I may be more concerned about how long he's been down than I am how slowly he's coming out, maybe? I don't know how much weight he's lost, but I can tell that his fat pads on his head and tail are not what they were. He also seems to have a lot more wrinkles than usual, which I believe may point to not being hydrated. Between the baths and water in the repti-boost, I think that much will be fine. I adjust my lights every month to follow with the outside sunrise/sunset. Right now, I bumped it up to 14 hours on to try and break him out of the brumation. The UVB is a 10.0 and 4 months old. I haven't been dusting the few mealworms he has eaten, just because the repti-boost has a good dose of calcium in it. I can dust the feeders too though if that won't be too much.
Main basking lamp had to be taken up quite a bit with the new flood bulb I put in it. Temps weren't quite getting warm enough between the household bulb I had in it (100w equivalent) and the cold temps outside, but this one does the trick almost too well. It's been in almost a week. https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvb2h0e7euym57m/0128181324a.jpg?dl=0
He looks good actually, just a bit sleepy. As long as he's hydrated + eating a bit just give him time to become more active. One thing I'd change is to put the uvb up above, not on the side. That's potentially going to bother his eyes.
I've been considering getting him a longer UVB since his cage is so big, so now might be the perfect time to get that done and move its location. I'll give him another few weeks to come back around to his old self...
Beardies, always coming up with new ways to make us worry :roll: