Do night time temps determine brumation?

[IvynaJSpyder]

Asking around different reptile forums because I was hoping some other beardie owners could help me test a hypothesis!

Last winter my 9 year old beardie Bowser woke up a while from brumation and I noticed he had some tremors. The vet determined it was a slight calcium deficiency and just said to up his intake... Problem was, he just wanted to go back to sleep even though I had his basking temps normal and everything.

Then I realized one day that even though I had his day time temps high, I wasn't accounting for the temps at night.

In the summer it typically doesn't drop below 75 indoors. But as soon as cooler weather hits, it'll drop below 70 at night even if its still warm during the day. And that is when Bowser will become less active. (Same when in the summer if the AC is left on too high at night- he'll go into a kind of mini brumation for a few days)

So all I did was add a supplemental heat source at night (lightless heat emitter) to get the night temps over 75 again and he was active as he is in summer. It really helped me get him healthy again.

Could anyone else help me test with their beardies and see if this is universal? I'd just be really curious to see.

 

[randtm]

I don't know about your particular bearded, but I would tend to doubt it. Ours is a particularly deep brumator. It actually took us a couple of years to figure it out and, as with many new bearded owners, we were concerned he was sick when late summer came his second year and all he did was sleep. With our particular bearded, he goes to sleep about this time (early September!) every year and sleeps soundly with hardly a peep until right after New Year's. Then he becomes a whirlwind of energy. Yes, that's right, he sleeps solidly from the beginning of September until beginning of January. It took us back so much because we would have assumed that if he was going to brumate, he'd go to sleep around November and sleep until around March. The winter months, right? No, go figure. He sleeps from late summer until the BEGINNING of winter. We have come to a very strong conclusion of what sends him into brumation. It is clearly not temperature related. It has to be the length of the day, or specifically, the fact the days are getting shorter. He starts greatly decreasing his activity as soon as the days start shortening, and he wakes up very shortly after the winter solstice and the days start lengthening again. He just doesn't seem to like less daylight each day than the day before. Of course, this is strange since he has his own UVB light for which the schedule doesn't change, but he knows exactly what the real sun is doing outside, even though he is not close to any windows. So, not saying other bearded aren't driven by different factors, but I think it's clear that ours is driven by length of day.

 

[IvynaJSpyder]

Is there a difference in brumation with beardies kept in rooms with natural light vs without?

On a related note, a lot of people say that brumation is 'hard coded' into beardies and they just know when it's winter... But if that's true, wouldn't they become less active in summer when kept in North America? Since that's when it's winter in Australia.

 

[randtm]

I would bet that even if you kept them in an inner room with no possible natural light penetration, they'd still know what it's doing outside. Don't ask me how, but I just bet they would. Did you see the news just recently about scientists finally discovering why dogs turn in circles before they eliminate? They've discovered they're aligning themselves with the magnetic field of the Earth! Yep... amazing. I suspect beardeds just know what the Sun is doing somehow too.

 

[Taterbug]

I've mentioned it in no few articles, but it seems like other cues (that we can't always pick up on) may be at play, not just temperature - though reptiles certainly respond to lower temps with lowering their metabolisms. Dragons can also possibly since magnetic fields too - not sure those fluctuate with seasons though. The sense/instinct is hard wired - but not the time, otherwise yes we wouldn't see them sleeping in the summer, Australia's winter. It's a pretty awesome adaptation and there may be more than just one or two triggers for it too.

I think I read somewhere that keepers/breeders who's animals live in basements or otherwise don't have the same light/temp fluctuations still get sleepy winter dragons. I wonder if keepers on tropical or less temperate climates that don't see seasons have the same brumation behaviors?

I have noticed a direct link between an early drop in atmospheric pressure, irrespective of the actual fall, and the start of concerns being expressed by keepers. Our reptiles in effect are becoming a very clever, long-range weather prediction service. It seems that they can sense the impending seasons, and perhaps the severity of the winter too, adjusting their behavior accordingly.
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/changing-seasons/

It would be interesting to test the behaviors, or see what other trends may be there. I have notice Pepper hunker down before bad storms roll through.

 

[diamc]

Hi, I only wanted to add one thing. I have noticed over the years as my beardies age, it takes them longer to get moving in the morning and their joints act stiff if the tank temp goes down to 65 or close to that. So, to help them out when they are 7 yrs or above, I use a low wattage ceramic heat emitter to keep the tank temp around 70 to 75 and it really seems to help them out. Also, when a beardie is ill or has a compromised immune system, we usually recommend using a CHE to keep the tank temp at around 80 overnight to help them recover quicker. Just thought I would share this info.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Thought I would weigh in also.
I think that they sense things we can't, absolutely. I also think that the brumation cues are all of the things mentioned, from the length of the day, to the intensity & angle of the sun, etc.
They are all connected by their souls & are from Australia.
Anyway, we have a 6 year old dragon who from the first year we got him & we had him since he was a baby, to now, has brumated in May/June to about September/October, roughly. I think a lot of them are in tune with their true nature which is from Australia. It is built into their genetics. Some may have a stronger pull to it than others but this is what I have seen with ours.
I had one years ago that brumated earlier in the year also, almost to the same extent, too.

Tracie