Hello! I think my beardie is brumating... he turned 1 in October so this wasn’t an issue last winter. I’ve read the articles about brumation on bearded dragon.org and just about anything else I could find - maybe I’m just a nervous mom and need some reassurance :shock:
Our little Yoshi slowed down on his eating a couple of weeks ago then basically stopped. He’s also been more of a lump lately. The temps in his terrarium have not changed. He had a couple of poops this past weekend and has been hiding out under his blanket since Sunday. I don’t think he’s sleeping the entire time. We peek in on him from time to time and he’s often awake during the day (maybe because we keep peeking in on him!). We took him out for a bath the other day and he was wide awake for it.
Is he brumating? Any help or advice would be really appreciated!
Sounds like he could be. Just keep regular track of his weight and if that's stable and he looks OK (no black beard or other visual signs of stress) then I'd let him do his thing. They don't all sleep through brumation, sometimes it's just a slow down for a while.
After me worrying Dobby was ill for weeks, today I was passing the breeder where we got her so I went in and asked advice, he said her symptoms are toward brumation even though she was only 7 months old when this started. I even took her to a rep vet who said she was too young to bromate . She gave her worming meds and said to keep an eye. All these weeks I’ve been fussing around her not letting her do what’s natural. Feel so guilty now. I also read on exotic pets website that you can turn the heat and uv lights off during brumation is this right ? I’ve been leaving them on as normal.
After me worrying Dobby was ill for weeks, today I was passing the breeder where we got her so I went in and asked advice, he said her symptoms are toward brumation even though she was only 7 months old when this started. I even took her to a rep vet who said she was too young to bromate . She gave her worming meds and said to keep an eye. All these weeks I’ve been fussing around her not letting her do what’s natural. Feel so guilty now. I also read on exotic pets website that you can turn the heat and uv lights off during brumation is this right ? I’ve been leaving them on as normal.
I turned the UV & one of two basking lights off for mine when he went under. I left the other one on in case he decided to come out to eat the small meal I'd leave for him. I was under the initial impression that they would sleep straight through & could not have anything to eat because it'd rot in their gut, but that appears not to be true. When he did come out, I'd turn everything back on, mostly hoping he'd stop all this silly brumating stuff and hang with us like before :lol:
Digestion is 1 thing I’m worried about now as I’ve been feeding her as usual. She’s only eating 1 or 2 dubia roaches per day , no veg , but I bathed her in warm water today hoping she’d pooh but she hasn’t. I only have 1 basking light and her uv so will probably leave them now maybe turn heat down ?. Also got 300 crickets I don’t know what to do with. Could ask our local rescue rep centre if they would like them.
You may have to play it by ear at first. Mine drifted into brumation, so there was a lot of weeks of some sleep, some eating, with lethargic behavior throughout before he went under. Even then, he'd sleep for 3-4 days straight then get up for maybe half a day. Like I said, I shut most everything down whenever he retreated to his hide. The advice I got was to let them do whatever it is they're going to do and just monitor their weight. As long as there isn't a significant change that would indicate parasites or other health issues, it seems they'll be fine with minimal intervention.