Brumation?

[Ashgrove13]

Hi everyone! It's been a really long time since I've been on here, but Leo is doing amazing!

I am having some concerns with his behaviour recently. It started about 3 weeks ago. I live on the East Coast in the USA, and it is starting to cool off. Leo has been very sleepy, mostly in the cool side in a corner behind his favorite tree. He has been curled up and uninterested in coming out to keep me company. He is still VERY excited when I offer him bugs. Recently he has been going crazy for his dubia roaches, and continues to do that even when he is being lazy. He is slighly less interested in his salad, but still eats some of it. He is still pooping, they look okay, although not as frequent as he used to.

I have been questioning whether or not he is going into brumation. He has never done it before, which makes me wonder if it is something else. I got him in December of 2015 as a tiny little guy. He did not brumate in 2016 or 2017. I did take him to the vet and she did not mention anything about brumation, just that I should get a fecal sample looked at. Once I get a good one on a day I work I will take it into work and read it (I work at a vet clinic, but the two vets do not specifically specialize in reptiles, so the vet I took him to was an outside vet).

I would just like to know what people think is going on. His behaviour sounds like brumation from what i've read, but I just want to make sure before I do anything.

Thanks to anyone who can help! I really appreciate it!!

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah that sounds like brumation. It's similar behavior to what my guy has been doing. He is asleep all day today but was a bit active and ate yesterday for example. It's good to have a fecal test done if you can but not critical if you don't suspect a parasite load. Just keep a log of his weight to make sure that's staying relatively stable and offer him some water every few days and he should be OK.

 

[Ashgrove13]

Yeah that sounds like brumation. It's similar behavior to what my guy has been doing. He is asleep all day today but was a bit active and ate yesterday for example. It's good to have a fecal test done if you can but not critical if you don't suspect a parasite load. Just keep a log of his weight to make sure that's staying relatively stable and offer him some water every few days and he should be OK.

Thank you! Is it okay for him to eat as long as he readily eats? I'm worried that he will eat a big meal and go to sleep without pooping, and it will get all rotted and stuff.

 

[CooperDragon]

I haven't run into issues feeding my guy a snack when he is up. Their appetite decreases quite a lot when they are in full brumation though. I don't think it's a great idea for them to sleep for extended periods with a full belly but if they aren't in a full brumation and are (slowly) processing the food it should be OK.