Does Milo look too skinny?

[milo0]

I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but I'm wondering what you guys think about Milo's weight. I had him weighed tonight and my mom said he weighed about 450 grams. I don't think that's quite accurate since that weighing thing can be a bit off sometimes, so realistically I would say he's anywhere from 430-450 grams. He also is just about 18 inches. A year ago (exactly from today), he was at the vet's and though I don't remember his weight, the vet said he was in perfect body condition. He told me how most beardies he sees are overweight due to overfeeding, but that Milo was one of the best beardies he's seen. I don't think his weight has changed much, but the reason I'm a little worried is because he's been brumating for almost a month now. He hasn't eaten at all and only gets baths at this point. I usually can tell if he's lost/gained weight when I'm there with him, but I'm not at home since I'm still finishing up school. I just want to see what you guys think, as in, is he looking healthy enough to continue his brumation? He was woken up tonight for a bath so my mom was able to get this picture of him and weigh him. He will probably be back asleep by tonight or tomorrow though. Just want to make sure he looks okay and is strong/fat enough to continue his sleep. My little boy has never brumated this long so it's a new experience for me. Makes it hard that I'm 3 states away from him and panicking if hes actually brumating or dead. >_> My poor parents have to poke him daily just to confirm he's still alive so I don't freak out haha.

Anyways, here's my sleepy boy. Is he looking alright you think?

 

[ruben0311]

it looks like he still has a bit of fat reserve on his tail and head so he's probably ok, as long as greens are still provided to him daily he should get up and eat if needed. definitely have your parents weigh him to record his mass and do weekly weigh ins.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I think Milo looks good. How long has he been brumating for now? It isn't uncommon for them to "sleep" for up to 4-6 months but the average is normally 3-4 months. He appears healthy enough to continue brumating, but I would think by now he should start coming out of it pretty soon since spring is right around the corner.
He has a good tail base & pads on the top of his head look nice & rounded, too.
How old is he?
Do you have an updated UVB light for him?

Tracie

 

[milo0]

Thanks guys! He looks like he may have lost a tiny bit of weight, but he's actually always been pretty slim all his life despite having a good appetite. Maybe it's just me that's going crazy haha.

He's been brumating now for just about 4 weeks. Over the past couple years, the longest he's slept was 2-3 weeks, so this is much longer than before. They've been waking him up once a week for baths, but I'm going to try having them push it to a week and a half to two weeks for baths so as not to bother him too much. I still find it unsual that he went into brumation so late in the year. I may have been to blame for that, since I generally have him out a lot with me while I'm working, so perhaps I delayed it for him. Now that he's been back at my parents home since January, he's not being handled as much so I guess that's when he finally got a chance to go down for the count.

Also, Milo will 4 years old in June. I replaced his reptisun 10.0 UVB back in October and I replace it every 6 months. It's been off for almost all of these past 4 weeks since he's in his hide, so it still has about 2 months before I need to replace it next. I also upped his lighting to 12 hours (was 10 hours) to help mimic the spring time more, so I'm curious to see if that helps him begin to wake up. As assumed, he went back into his little hide last night and was fast asleep again. He doesn't eat veggies (he's a stubborn boy who refuses to eat any) but we do have his pellets in there for him if he decides to get up and eat. I've been having them withhold any other food from him to ensure he doesn't go to sleep on a full stomach due to the risk of bacterial infections, so he hasn't really eaten at all since he's been down. I'll have them weigh/bath him again in about a week and a half to make sure he's staying healthy. I really do hope he doesn't decide to sleep as long as some beardies do. It really does freak me out when they brumate like this. >.< Always makes me panic when I'm imaging him being without any food for 3 months lol. Then again, he's a spoiled little boy so I can't help but be overprotective.

Thank you both again for the advice. Aside from monitoring his weight, if he begins to lose some of the fattiness in his tail/head, would that be good sign that he's lost too much weight, and therefore needs to be prevented from brumating any longer? I'm really hoping he will come out of it within 2 weeks since the weather is warming up, but should that be a good indicator as to when I should start worrying a bit?

 

[milo0]

-bump-
Just an update- My mom woke Milo up today to bathe him, and she took a picture of him. I told her after his bath, offer him some worms just to see if he had any interest. Within the 2 minute time span of her putting him in his cage, walking to the fridge to get the worms, and coming back... the little brat went back to sleep in his cave. :lol: :lol:

She luckily managed to get a pic of him after bath time. He doesn't look any different weight wise. She wasn't able to weigh him either since she wanted him to warm up a bit after his bath before taking him out. He didn't like that idea.

So he's back to sleep. I also was told he actually went to sleep slightly earlier than I thought, so I think he actually started sleeping around March 1st and then fully went down by the 7th. He hasn't really eaten at all since then- he's only getting water at this point. This week will mark about 7-8 weeks of brumation. I do get back home next Sunday so I'm hoping I'll be able to convince him out of his sleep since... it's been freaking me out since he's been sleeping this long. This is the first year he's gone down this long so I'm a worried mom. D:

I'll probably bathe him either next Sunday or Monday (depending what time I can get back) and then I plan on feeding him immediately after his bath before he tries escaping back to his cave. Do you think the food will convince him to stay awake? He's got pellets in there constantly but he has shown no interest in food. I haven't had them feed him anything since I want his belly to remain empty while he sleeps, but 7 weeks without food is worrying me. My mom says he looks completely fine and acts normal when he's out so I'm not worried about him getting sick, but if I'm honest with you guys... I hate the fact they brumate. It just makes me worry constantly and honestly, I miss interacting with him. He's my work buddy, so I'm hoping by the time I get back home next week, he'll be awake. Regardless, I WILL be waking him up to cuddle him a little whether he likes it or not.

Anyways, yes to feeding him next week or wait until he's fully awake? What are your thoughts?

 

[milo0]

Oh, and here's the picture from earlier. He still has a pretty fat tail and is a good weight, right?