Brumation?

[owtoty]

My beardie Zeus has slowed down on eating. He eats a lot less and hasn't pooped in a week. Could he be getting ready for brumation? It's the winter, so that's what I'm thinking.

 

[ziggydoodles]

How old is Zeus? Bearded dragons don't brumate unless they're over a year old (or very very close to it, in some cases, but usually not before the one-year mark). If he's an adult I'd say he could definitely be trying to brumate. Has his behavior slowed down as well, and has he poo'd since the last time he ate? You don't want to let him go to sleep with food in his stomach as it could rot before it digests, they usually sleep on the cooler side of their tanks while brumating.

 

[owtoty]

How old is Zeus? Bearded dragons don't brumate unless they're over a year old (or very very close to it, in some cases, but usually not before the one-year mark). If he's an adult I'd say he could definitely be trying to brumate. Has his behavior slowed down as well, and has he poo'd since the last time he ate? You don't want to let him go to sleep with food in his stomach as it could rot before it digests, they usually sleep on the cooler side of their tanks while brumating.

He's a year old, just turned it December 7th. No, he didn't poo since the last time he ate. He hasn't in a week. Could this be impaction?

 

[Nathan1995]

Sounds like he's trying to go into brumation, my little one is for his first time too. Make sure you give him a nice warm soak to get all the last food out of his belly so it doesn't rot, as said above. After he's all cleared out, just let him sleep for a while and give him regular baths to keep him hydrated

 

[owtoty]

I did give him two baths, still nothing. How will I know when he wants to go to sleep? Do I just leave him in his cage with the uvb and heat lamps off? He hasn't gone fully to sleep yet. Do I have to do this? Or will he just stay asleep one day?

 

[ziggydoodles]

I did give him two baths, still nothing. How will I know when he wants to go to sleep? Do I just leave him in his cage with the uvb and heat lamps off? He hasn't gone fully to sleep yet. Do I have to do this? Or will he just stay asleep one day?

He will just go to sleep when he wants to, brumation is different for every beardie. Does he have a hide he can sleep in? This year was my girl's first year brumating too, and she was just super lazy & grumpy & didn't have much of an appetite for a few weeks before she finally crawled into her hide and slept for a week straight until I woke her up for a bath. Now she's sleeping for about a week at a time, I give her weekly baths to keep her hydrated.
I would keep giving him baths until he poos, and unless he fully goes to sleep on his own and is down for days at a time, I wouldn't turn his lights off. Even if he does, I would keep the UVB on your regular schedule, but you could turn off your basking lights.

 

[owtoty]

I did give him two baths, still nothing. How will I know when he wants to go to sleep? Do I just leave him in his cage with the uvb and heat lamps off? He hasn't gone fully to sleep yet. Do I have to do this? Or will he just stay asleep one day?

He will just go to sleep when he wants to, brumation is different for every beardie. Does he have a hide he can sleep in? This year was my girl's first year brumating too, and she was just super lazy & grumpy & didn't have much of an appetite for a few weeks before she finally crawled into her hide and slept for a week straight until I woke her up for a bath. Now she's sleeping for about a week at a time, I give her weekly baths to keep her hydrated.
I would keep giving him baths until he poos, and unless he fully goes to sleep on his own and is down for days at a time, I wouldn't turn his lights off. Even if he does, I would keep the UVB on your regular schedule, but you could turn off your basking lights.

Okay thanks he doesn't have a hiding place because he out grew his a long time ago. Could I just put something over him like a towel? I've noticed that he's been very lazy too this past week. He also keeps sitting under his hammock where there is less heat. But I'll give him a bath every week. He still hasn't gone to sleep fully yet. About how long will it be? Another week or so?

 

[ziggydoodles]

It's hard to say when or if he will completely go to sleep, beardies are kind of like people in that sense, because it really depends on each individual dragon and what they think their body needs. I have heard some stories here where users' beardies have slept for 3 months straight without waking up (even for baths), some that sleep on and off for just a couple of weeks, and some that don't even brumate at all, or decide to start years later.

I would give your beardie something he can hide in, even a small cardboard box with a hole cut into one side that he can fit into would work great. He may be staying awake because there's nowhere he can hide, because his instincts would be telling him that he can't just fall asleep out in the open, in case of "predators." Just make sure you put the hide on the cool side of his tank, they usually look for cooler places to sleep when brumating. I would keep bathing him every day or two until he empties out his system, and then see what he chooses to do. If he stays awake you should keep offering him food every day, but he may not eat it. If he does eat you need to make sure he stays awake long enough to pass it through again. If he fully goes to sleep you can just keep an eye on him, and give him a bath at least once a week.

Here's a little rundown on what has been happening with Doodles' first brumation, just to give you an idea of things you could do, & things your beardie might do:
Back at the beginning of October, Doodles started getting really lazy & was spending a lot of time just lounging on the bottom of her warm side, giving me the stinkeye. She was eating less & didn't really want to be taken out of her tank. I made her a hide with a small USPS box, it's big enough that she can curl her whole body into it, but there's not a ton of extra space, so she feels secure. I threw a hand towel in there too, so she can cover herself up or lay on something soft. After the hide was in her tank for about 3 days, I woke up one morning to find her face first in the corner of the box, burrowed underneath her towel. She stayed there for a week, until I woke her up for a 20 minute bath. After that I offered her some worms, she refused them, and was back in her hide by the next morning. That has pretty much been the weekly routine since then. Once, she changed her sleeping place, and slept under this stone corner staircase thing she has for a week, and a few days ago she ate some worms, so I've given her a bath every day since so she can pass them before she goes back to sleep. She's still awake for now, I'm sure after she poos she'll go back to sleep though.

I hope that helps, and at least gives you a little bit of an idea of what you can expect with Zeus. There's also a great article on brumation on this site, I read it when Doodles first started getting sluggish. Here's the link to that, just in case you haven't seen it and would like to take a look, it's got some really helpful info http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/brumation/

 

[snazzyglasses]

That brumation article is awesome
My 4 year old slowed down and napped all over and wouldn't eat for almost a month before he finally crawled into his hide to sleep (drove me crazy lol!). I think they really do prefer a hide to sleep in. But luckily it doesn't have to be anything fancy! My dragon is currently sleeping in a shoebox with a "doorway" cut into one end

 

[owtoty]

I made a shoe box too with a hole in the front. He slept in it last night, but didn't go into brumation. He still eats crickets, but eats a lot less veggies. It looks like he's going to go into brumation any day now, but he hasn't yet.

 

[owtoty]

Okay now Zeus went to sleep, but didn't poop again. (He did a couple of weeks ago) . Should I wake him up, give him a bath, and wait until he poops? I gave him a bath last night, and he just went into brumation today.

 

[owtoty]

Okay today Zeus went into brumation fully today right after pooping, so everything is fine now.

 

[OnTheGround]

Alright, I'll use this thread to ask my own questions here since yours has been resolved and I don't want to start a new thread...

Trooper: Trooper is about 20 months old, he has been slow since mid November, eating very little, crawling under his log and sleeping for days at a time. I placed a small, open-sided cardboard box into his cage under his log for him to sleep in. A week before Christmas he had two bowel movements, ate two crickets, then crawled into the cardboard box and finally went into a full brumation, so I turned off his heat lamp. I pulled him out today and bathed him, hoping he'd pass the last two crickets, but he immediately turned black with stress marks and tried to go to sleep in the bath (after swimming away from me). I put him back into his cage with the cardboard box and the basking light on, and he took to basking on his log before I left, his stress marks were still present but were not as prevalent as when he'd been in the bath. I'm assuming he'll be back in the box when I get home tonight, and I intend to turn the lamp back off if that's the case. Is it imperative that he pass the last two crickets before I allow him back into brumation, or should I just leave him to do his own thing?

Lilly: I believe my friend said Lilly is a year old this month. She has been eating me out of house and home for about a month. Two days ago she ate, but seemed a little slower than usual. Yesterday when I woke up she was under the paper towel which is lining her enclosure, and trying to dig her way under the basking rock. I placed another box into her enclosure and sure enough when I got home from work she was curled up in it fast asleep. This morning I woke her up and placed her onto my bed while I cleaned the enclosure out, during which time she dug her way under my pillows, curled up, and went back to sleep. Afterward I also threw her into a warm bath and she had a large bowel movement then took to basking under the heat lamp. I was actually wondering yesterday if she might be preparing to lay infertile eggs considering how much she's been eating, but I think brumation is more likely, especially considering that she tried to go back to sleep under my pillows. Have any of you had a beardie who didn't slow down before brumation, but just suddenly crashed? I plan to bathe her daily until she stops having bowel movements before I let her go into full brumation.

 

[owtoty]

Just do what I did for both your beardies. I just gave Zeus a bath every day. He stayed out for a while before going to sleep every time. On his third bath in a row, he stayed awake the rest of the day and pooed. Also, try feeding them pumpkin if they eat it, because that's what I did for Zeus which helped. I'm not really sure if Lilly is brumating or laying eggs because Zeus is my first beardie and I've never had any experience with female beardies. But it seems like she is going into brumation, but I don't know if she will lay eggs after fully waking up.

 

[Rhino8085]

Dont wake your beardie up and give it a bath i talked to a well known breeder what your really doing by giving it a bath is warming it up and speeding the metabolism witch is making it burn more food you should turn lights off and have the tank around 65 and let them be i didnt believe it and was worried as can be when i did it around Christmas but mine is doing really well she isnt loseing much weight it has been about1 or 2 months since she ate it is normal what my breeder does is puts theres in ashoebox for 90 days only checking vitals once every 2 wks