Does anyone know a sure-fire (or at least more definitive) way
to distinguish brumation from illness or bad husbandry?
The reason I ask is that my 2 brumators (Q hasn't brumated before, but
she was probably too young last year), went down in early October last year
and stayed down until early March.
The past two weeks, both have been showing the same signs as before [hiding/sleeping all day, refusal to bask, eating very rarely/not at all].
I continue with their normal routines, bathing, moving them over to their basking platforms in the morning (to which they almost immediately get off and go back to sleep), offering food daily, etc.
So it really "feels" like the start of brumation to me, but it just seems like it's way too early yet...I'm thinking about switching out the Arcadia bulbs for new ones (these are right at 6 months anyway), but if it really is a brumation cycle, then all that bulb lifetime will just be wasted.
FYI - they have Arcadia 12 bulbs over the primary basking spot (hottest spot at 100-105 F), Arcadia MVB bulbs over the secondary basking spot (90-93 F), and a normal florescent over the cool spot (~80 F during the day). Completely separate enclosures of course.
to distinguish brumation from illness or bad husbandry?
The reason I ask is that my 2 brumators (Q hasn't brumated before, but
she was probably too young last year), went down in early October last year
and stayed down until early March.
The past two weeks, both have been showing the same signs as before [hiding/sleeping all day, refusal to bask, eating very rarely/not at all].
I continue with their normal routines, bathing, moving them over to their basking platforms in the morning (to which they almost immediately get off and go back to sleep), offering food daily, etc.
So it really "feels" like the start of brumation to me, but it just seems like it's way too early yet...I'm thinking about switching out the Arcadia bulbs for new ones (these are right at 6 months anyway), but if it really is a brumation cycle, then all that bulb lifetime will just be wasted.
FYI - they have Arcadia 12 bulbs over the primary basking spot (hottest spot at 100-105 F), Arcadia MVB bulbs over the secondary basking spot (90-93 F), and a normal florescent over the cool spot (~80 F during the day). Completely separate enclosures of course.
