Denise Bushnell's Brumation Article

[Paula]

I loved your article regarding brumation. You are the only one I've personally seen stating that beardies will do it in the summer in North America for instance because Australia is opposite us in seasonal weather. All I keep seeing is "brumation occurs during the winter months where it's cold". Well here in Southern Ontario now it's definitely not cold & Rufus keeps wanting to sleep & not wake up. I've only had him for 2 weeks & he's 3 years old.
He was awake the 1st week then went to sleep. I awoke him yesterday because I was so worried & almost gave him to someone else thinking I wasn't doing something right.
I changed my mind because he stayed awake all day yesterday & ate a little of his greens & looked very alert.
This AM I awoke him again at noon. I don't believe in waking a brumating lizard but this will be the only 2-3 seasons I can take him outside for REAL sun.
Can you teach a bearded dragon to brumate in the winter months here? Or will I just stress him out?
He also still hasn't pooed that I know of which concerns me.
Thanks for your patience in reading this lol.

 

[sweetiepie9]

You're so right, Denise's article is very thorough and I recommend it to anyone who's dragon might brumate. It's full of great information.

Beardies can brumate any time of the year and do. It's more usual during our winter months, but can be anytime.

I can understand your concern, having just received your 3 year old. Did the previous owner mention when he would brumate? You should ask him/her if you're still in contact.

Seeing as he's new to you, he might be going through relocation stress, too.

A few things to mention is your set up. What are the basking spot temps? It should be 100F - 102F for an adult. If it's not warm enough, that will put beardies to sleep; if they're too hot, they'll keep going to the cool site to thermoregulate (cool off). Also what type of UVB are you using and the name, too. Is it a tube? or mercury vapour bulb? That's also very important as, even if they go outside for sunshine, they still need good full spectrum UVB in their tank.

So those should be checked out (do you have a temp gun or another type of accurate temp measurement for the top of the basking spot?, that's also important).

Another thing that can cause sleepy dragons is if they're dehydrated. Daily warm baths for 20 min a day would be what I'd recommend for at least 2 weeks, then every other day. The best way to determine dehydration is to pinch their skin lightly, if it falls back to proper shape, he's ok, if it stays pinched, then he'd dehydrated.

Are you going to take him to your vet for a wellness check and poop sample to determine if he might have parasites? That would be important, too.

Sorry to dump all this on you, but if he's not really brumating, then these issues could be the problem. Let me know, I'm here to help
Deb