Brumation?

[xp29]

how long can he be in brumation for? and should i still handle him a bit since he's not fully in brumation for feeding roaches

They can be down for month's. If he out and moving around it's probably ok to handle him. Once he is down only wake him every few weeks to offer water and weigh him.

 

[AHBD]

Mine usually sleep for 3 months. I almost never offered water, once in a while if they seemed to have moved.

 

[hdochow]

sir henry is another that has never brumated. but he sure is lazy as hell and doesn't eat much of anything from early october to around the end of february

 

[ChileanTaco]

Mine (healthy male dragon) brumated the first time at an age of 9 months. Now, a year later, he is brumating for the second time.
Brumation can last from just a few days to three months. My dragon did almost three months.
I am only handling my dragon when he approaches me. Any caves, hides... are "no no" for me, means I never touch him in there or pull him out (emergencies would be a different thing, of course). When he retreats, this is his thing. When he sits at an elevated spot, looks at me, eyes following me: I put my hands in, close to him, and if he climbs up, I take him out.
So this means, when my dragon brumated last year for three months, I never touched him or took him out. I can see him in his cave, I can see he looks fine (not looking thinner, no black beard).
This time, it will be the same.

Regarding feeding: As my dragon is not leaving his cave, I don't put in insects anymore. Live plants are always available as they are just planted into the tank. In case he wants to eat something, he could come out and eat those plants. (I know that he likes eating them, as he does regularly when he is not brumating. About half of the veggies/plants he is eating come from these live plants.) As soon as I would see him doing this regularly, I would put the insects back in (that's what I did when he ended his first brumation).

If I'm thinking correctly Australia should be headed in the fall season? If so it would be perfectly normal for them to start winding down.

Yes. And we are also on the Southern hemisphere (Chile), our season is fall now.

 

[xp29]

Mine (healthy male dragon) brumated the first time at an age of 9 months. Now, a year later, he is brumating for the second time.
Brumation can last from just a few days to three months. My dragon did almost three months.
I am only handling my dragon when he approaches me. Any caves, hides... are "no no" for me, means I never touch him in there or pull him out (emergencies would be a different thing, of course). When he retreats, this is his thing. When he sits at an elevated spot, looks at me, eyes following me: I put my hands in, close to him, and if he climbs up, I take him out.
So this means, when my dragon brumated last year for three months, I never touched him or took him out. I can see him in his cave, I can see he looks fine (not looking thinner, no black beard).
This time, it will be the same.

Regarding feeding: As my dragon is not leaving his cave, I don't put in insects anymore. Live plants are always available as they are just planted into the tank. In case he wants to eat something, he could come out and eat those plants. (I know that he likes eating them, as he does regularly when he is not brumating. About half of the veggies/plants he is eating come from these live plants.) As soon as I would see him doing this regularly, I would put the insects back in (that's what I did when he ended his first brumation).

Yes. And we are also on the Southern hemisphere (Chile), our season is fall now.

Perfectly natural to be going in to brumation for him then.

 

[ChileanTaco]

@xp29
Absolutely. And I expected him to brumate again this year, as he has a tendency to hide when the weather is just a bit off, already.

 

[Qibli-Bib]

sorry i have not replied in awhile, so about taking him out for handling dont grab him while he's in his cave? i do this alot when its just a normal day i will grab him from where ever he is except this black cave in his cool side that he rarely use's. i took him out this morning to get weight before brumation (340g) he was perked up alot and started to even fade his stress lines, put him up on his basking spot and he actually took some food from my hand! and looked like he wanted more. should i have left him alone?

im always unsure of how to look after qib and will sometimes do the wrong thing, i try my best so please tell me what to do i only want the best for him

 

[xp29]

sorry i have not replied in awhile, so about taking him out for handling dont grab him while he's in his cave? i do this alot when its just a normal day i will grab him from where ever he is except this black cave in his cool side that he rarely use's. i took him out this morning to get weight before brumation (340g) he was perked up alot and started to even fade his stress lines, put him up on his basking spot and he actually took some food from my hand! and looked like he wanted more. should i have left him alone?

im always unsure of how to look after qib and will sometimes do the wrong thing, i try my best so please tell me what to do i only want the best for him

Personally I try not to remove my beardies from thier hides unless I just have to. I generally try to coax them out with a bug. It works most of the time. (Lucy is the only one that actually uses a hide much) My reasoning is because I want them to feel like their hide is a safe and secure place they can retreat to.

 

[Sue E.]

sorry i have not replied in awhile, so about taking him out for handling dont grab him while he's in his cave? i do this alot when its just a normal day i will grab him from where ever he is except this black cave in his cool side that he rarely use's. i took him out this morning to get weight before brumation (340g) he was perked up alot and started to even fade his stress lines, put him up on his basking spot and he actually took some food from my hand! and looked like he wanted more. should i have left him alone?

im always unsure of how to look after qib and will sometimes do the wrong thing, i try my best so please tell me what to do i only want the best for him

I think every one of us has done the wrong thing or been unsure from time to time! The important thing is to keep trying your best and learning like we all do...you can see that you care about qib by doing just that! He is lucky to have you! Ask whatever and whenever you need, and feel free to share pics of him too...we love to see those beardies going about their beardie business!

 

[ChileanTaco]

sorry i have not replied in awhile, so about taking him out for handling dont grab him while he's in his cave? i do this alot when its just a normal day i will grab him from where ever he is except this black cave in his cool side that he rarely use's. i took him out this morning to get weight before brumation (340g) he was perked up alot and started to even fade his stress lines, put him up on his basking spot and he actually took some food from my hand! and looked like he wanted more. should i have left him alone?

im always unsure of how to look after qib and will sometimes do the wrong thing, i try my best so please tell me what to do i only want the best for him

For me, his caves are "no-no", "private" (other than in an emergency - then I would take him out from there, had never happened so far).
Whenever my dragon retreats, and he uses caves and other hidden spots a lot, I leave him alone. I might gently talk to him, but nothing more.

I only take him out when he is on his branch or a basking platform and then approaches me when I put my hand close to him.

My reasoning is because I want them to feel like their hide is a safe and secure place they can retreat to.

Exactly.

 

[Sue E.]

Kai was out in the morning...ate 3 silkworms and some arugula (the only green he toucbes despite the kale and danadelion leaves also being in there. He basked a while, then went into his cave. He has been in his cave for most of the day and will be all night...it was the same yesterday. Im leaving him alone...he pooped about a week ago, and he lools well hydrated. He is darker colored of course because he is in the cave. His eyes are open but he is just looking out. When his lights go off, he closes his eyes and goes to sleep. I tried with the eye dropper but he wasnt interested, closed his eyes and wouldnt open his mouth. He gets a lot of moisture from his worms and the arugula so Im not stressing. I didnt bathe him, I just double checked all his temps and his uvb. Basking 106.7F down to 100 further from the light. UVB at a range from 4.5 to 5.7 level with the basking surface, slowly grading down just past basking area from 3.1 to 1.8 to 0.04 on cool side. Warm side ambient 88F, cool side ambient 75.5. Humidity 21%. Greens offered fresh daily. Much reading done on beardies on various topics. His cave is on the warm side so he gets some heat radiating from the slate top. He also has sleeping spots that he uses sometimes on the cool side. Ummm...now what do I do lol???

 

[Qibli-Bib]

thats whats happening with qib to! he woke up yesterday basked and went back into his cave! now hes just sitting in their again exactly like kai!

 

[Sue E.]

thats whats happening with qib to! he woke up yesterday basked and went back into his cave! now hes just sitting in their again exactly like kai!

Yeah, its so strange. Today Kai was up and about at 830am, had some silkworms which he gobbled, basked, came out of his tank around 130pm to sit on my arm and watch video games on the tv, very alert, looking around. When I put him back, he basked a little bit longer, then back into the cave he went and it was only 230 pm. Hes just fine, just likes that dark warm spot I guess.