Do Juveniles Brumate?

[Spikeshuman]

Ok first ... Spike is a 5 month old female bearded dragon, 16 inches and 300g.

For the past week.. whenever I turn on her lights in the morning.. Spike goes and hides in her hide.. and UNDER her blankie.. she wiggles herself under there which is an interesting feat because her hide holds down her blankie. She has to really work at it to dig it up and burrow under it. She was staying there untill about 5pm or so and then she would come out to eat.. warm up a bit.. then fall asleep again. Today.. she did not come out on her own. I did lift the hide.. and when she saw a roach she went for it. She ate about 6 of them before deciding she was full.

So.. is she experiencing some sort of semi-brumation?? What do I do? Do I leave her alone? Is it bad that she is not getting any UV under that hide of hers? Do I leave her light on all day anyway? (which I have been .. just in case she comes out.)

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes, winter slow down is what I call it. Just make sure she poops regularly, and basks for a few hours after she eats to make sure she's digesting, as everything slows down, even digestion. It seems to affect all beardies, the change in the weather. There's a great article on Brumation in the Care & Articles section written by Denise Bushnell & it really explains everything, as every beardie is affected by the winter change differently. So check out the article, honestly, when my dragons started brumating I freaked out, read that article about 6x to make sure everything they were doing was normal (I have 5 adult males). You just have to take it a day at a time and eventually she'll get back to normal.

 

[Spikeshuman]

Thanks. As of right now she still eats and poops every day. She just hides in a hole until about 5pm. Good to know that its normal and that shes not sick or anything.