Going on 4 months of brumation

[SC Beardie Dad]

Hello all. I've searched and seen answers all over the place so my apologies for yet another question on the subject. We are new beardie owners.

We have a two and a half year old male. We adopted him from a teenager who wasnt taking care of him anymore last summer. He did really well for us all summer and into the Fall and then I believe he went into deep brumation. Around Halloween he started sleeping more and slowing down. A short time later he went to sleep in his cave and hasnt budged once. Ever. Yes, since the first weeks of Nov he has not moved more than his leg maybe a couple of times.

No water, no food, no anything. From what we read online this seemed "normal" and we shut off his heat and UV setup and just let him sleep. We keep a bowl of water in there in case he gets thirsty, but he's never budged. The temp in the room is 68 day and night. We live in northern SC so it's starting to warm up a bit outside and be light longer.

He is alive. If we watch him long enough, you can see him breathe. If you lightly touch a foot, he will twitch it. We read not to startle him, so we just leave him alone.

Is four months normal? Anything special to do when he wakes up? Do we turn on his light and heat lamp yet? My kids are getting a little bummed their new dragon hasnt moved in months. Thankfully we have plenty of other pets!

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello all. I've searched and seen answers all over the place so my apologies for yet another question on the subject. We are new beardie owners.

We have a two and a half year old male. We adopted him from a teenager who wasnt taking care of him anymore last summer. He did really well for us all summer and into the Fall and then I believe he went into deep brumation. Around Halloween he started sleeping more and slowing down. A short time later he went to sleep in his cave and hasnt budged once. Ever. Yes, since the first weeks of Nov he has not moved more than his leg maybe a couple of times.

No water, no food, no anything. From what we read online this seemed "normal" and we shut off his heat and UV setup and just let him sleep. We keep a bowl of water in there in case he gets thirsty, but he's never budged. The temp in the room is 68 day and night. We live in northern SC so it's starting to warm up a bit outside and be light longer.

He is alive. If we watch him long enough, you can see him breathe. If you lightly touch a foot, he will twitch it. We read not to startle him, so we just leave him alone.

Is four months normal? Anything special to do when he wakes up? Do we turn on his light and heat lamp yet? My kids are getting a little bummed their new dragon hasnt moved in months. Thankfully we have plenty of other pets!

Please turn on the lights all of them get your surface basking temps to 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- what kind of basking bulb are you using and UVB? I need the brands and the bulb of the UVB -- if its a coil your going to need to replace it -- Please get him out and offer him water -- he needs to start waking up - can you see if he has lost any weight --? We always recommend getting them out every couple of weeks to get a weight and offer water --

 

[SC Beardie Dad]

Please turn on the lights all of them get your surface basking temps to 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- what kind of basking bulb are you using and UVB? I need the brands and the bulb of the UVB -- if its a coil your going to need to replace it -- Please get him out and offer him water -- he needs to start waking up - can you see if he has lost any weight --? We always recommend getting them out every couple of weeks to get a weight and offer water --

Repti Sun T5 HO 10.0 bulb and reflector. It was around 2 months old before he went to sleep and has been off since he went to sleep. It is mounted on small chains inside the enclosure on one end above his basking rock. I'd have to measure how far away it was but I had done research before buying that one and mounting it.

Flukers 100W basking bulb in a metal reflector. Temps have always been around 100 on his favorite rock. Temp taken with both a lab grade IR thermometer and I use a probe to check off and on. It sits on top of the wire mesh of the enclosure top.

Enclosure is a big Zen Habitats model. 65 gallon? Cant remember off top of my head. I added slate flooring. He has a 2ft square piece of reptile carpet where his cave sits and he sleeps inside the cave.

He was perfectly healthy before sleeping. Diet was Dubia roaches and super worms for bugs. Mustard and collard greens, small bits of fruit (he loves blueberries and strawberries) as a treat, squash, and other veggies. We grew a lot of his diet at home. We used a calcium powder to dust the bugs.

He had regular baths too and liked those.

No idea if he lost weight, he has to have lost something being asleep this long. I read you arent supposed to startle them or force them awake so left him be. We kept his water dish in there (humidity was always fine since it's winter) but he's never touched it. He doesnt have any food now! All his bugs were fed to our chickens when he didnt get up for a few weeks and the garden is long gone.

 

[KarrieRee]

Repti Sun T5 HO 10.0 bulb and reflector. It was around 2 months old before he went to sleep and has been off since he went to sleep. It is mounted on small chains inside the enclosure on one end above his basking rock. I'd have to measure how far away it was but I had done research before buying that one and mounting it.

Flukers 100W basking bulb in a metal reflector. Temps have always been around 100 on his favorite rock. Temp taken with both a lab grade IR thermometer and I use a probe to check off and on. It sits on top of the wire mesh of the enclosure top.

Enclosure is a big Zen Habitats model. 65 gallon? Cant remember off top of my head. I added slate flooring. He has a 2ft square piece of reptile carpet where his cave sits and he sleeps inside the cave.

He was perfectly healthy before sleeping. Diet was Dubia roaches and super worms for bugs. Mustard and collard greens, small bits of fruit (he loves blueberries and strawberries) as a treat, squash, and other veggies. We grew a lot of his diet at home. We used a calcium powder to dust the bugs.

He had regular baths too and liked those.

No idea if he lost weight, he has to have lost something being asleep this long. I read you arent supposed to startle them or force them awake so left him be. We kept his water dish in there (humidity was always fine since it's winter) but he's never touched it. He doesnt have any food now! All his bugs were fed to our chickens when he didnt get up for a few weeks and the garden is long gone.

Ok w/ him being a sleep so long your going to haft to feed him slowly but he needs water now-- please start waking him turning on all lights and just start his regular routine going w/ the photo period- see if he comes out on his own w/ the lights being turned on - when he comes out drop water on his nose to see if he will lick the water

 

[Undrcoverglitch]

I think the idea is ‘if it continues being cold, I will continue sleeping’. Naturally, the weather would warm up and wake them up as well. You control the weather

 

[SkittlesK]

Hello all. I've searched and seen answers all over the place so my apologies for yet another question on the subject. We are new beardie owners.

We have a two and a half year old male. We adopted him from a teenager who wasnt taking care of him anymore last summer. He did really well for us all summer and into the Fall and then I believe he went into deep brumation. Around Halloween he started sleeping more and slowing down. A short time later he went to sleep in his cave and hasnt budged once. Ever. Yes, since the first weeks of Nov he has not moved more than his leg maybe a couple of times.

No water, no food, no anything. From what we read online this seemed "normal" and we shut off his heat and UV setup and just let him sleep. We keep a bowl of water in there in case he gets thirsty, but he's never budged. The temp in the room is 68 day and night. We live in northern SC so it's starting to warm up a bit outside and be light longer.

He is alive. If we watch him long enough, you can see him breathe. If you lightly touch a foot, he will twitch it. We read not to startle him, so we just leave him alone.

Is four months normal? Anything special to do when he wakes up? Do we turn on his light and heat lamp yet? My kids are getting a little bummed their new dragon hasnt moved in months. Thankfully we have plenty of other pets!

Four months is normal
I had a Beardie that went down for about 4 months and slowly woke up in the next two months.

Ok w/ him being a sleep so long your going to haft to feed him slowly but he needs water now-- please start waking him turning on all lights and just start his regular routine going w/ the photo period- see if he comes out on his own w/ the lights being turned on - when he comes out drop water on his nose to see if he will lick the water

You should see him waking up here soon. I'd start waking him; let him come out on his own.

I think the idea is ‘if it continues being cold, I will continue sleeping’. Naturally, the weather would warm up and wake them up as well. You control the weather

Definitely, if it's still cold they won't wake up.
Get the thermostat turned up, and natural heat.