I read the brum article

[beardieluv]

but i just wanted to make sure. Charlie has never brumated before (he is on;y 1 1/2 yrs old!) but he is showing signs of wanting to brumate. Anyways,

1) I usually turns his lights on and put him under his light in the morning. Should I stop doing this and see if he will go on his own? And if he doesn't does that mean he is ready to brumate?

2) I read that their bellys are supposed to be empty. He still loves his occasional super worm, but shows little interest in his salad. His appetite for greens seems to have decreased a lot over the past few weeks. Am I supposed to not feed him for a few days before I allow him to go down?

3) They don't need heat/uvb while they are down correct? Should I turn them on daily anyways in case he decides to wake up and wants to bask for a bit?

I'm just really nervous because I've never had a brumating beardie before :/ gah.

I think that's all i got for now. Thanks.

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

i cant help you but i just wanted to tell you.. you're not alone... Phoenix is doing this partial brumation thing...eat for a few days, poo, no eat, sleep for a few days, get up bask, glass dance, eat, stop eating, poo, sleep... his lights are still at 12hours... i'm gonna leave them that way for now just incase because i never know what hes doing lol...

 

[beardieluv]

Haha lovely i'm taking him to the vet on saturday for a fecal and check up ( i don't want him brumating if he has parasites or anything! ) so if he is good to go then i guess i'll stop putting him under his light and not feed him if he doesn't go under them by noon? idk. what does phoenix do? do you wake him up/unwrap his head? i cover charlie's head at night and unwrap it in the morning. gosh i thought i knew almost everything...then brumation season came ha.

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

Haha lovely i'm taking him to the vet on saturday for a fecal and check up ( i don't want him brumating if he has parasites or anything! ) so if he is good to go then i guess i'll stop putting him under his light and not feed him if he doesn't go under them by noon? idk. what does phoenix do? do you wake him up/unwrap his head? i cover charlie's head at night and unwrap it in the morning. gosh i thought i knew almost everything...then brumation season came ha.

If/ when he's asleep i dont bother him. what we do when hes awake is he loves to fall asleep on me, i wrap him in his blanket and lay next to him, after he falls asleep i will move him to his viv as he is, make sure hes comfy and if he stays there fine, i dont move him to get him out, as i figure he knows what he needs to do lol, and if hes awake when i get home i offer food, some times he will eat, others not so much... if he's awake he gets a bath so i can make sure we have a nice BM and a few days before he's going to sleep he will stop eating, he only ate a banana peice yesterday so i'm pretty sure we are about to go back to sleep for a few days again... after he empties himself of food he will not accept food and a few days later will be out. i know what you meanm, i have learned a lot... still learn new things everyday and none of that seemed too difficult, now this burmation thing lol... :study: like i told you though.. you are not alone lol!! now i figure when i know he's really gone to sleep, i figure if he sleeps for a month, then i'll turn the lights down to i think the rule is 8 hours, but i'm not doing it until then (or until someone more knowledgable who has done this before tells me otherwise lol)

 

[beardieluv]

I hate brumation, it hurts my brain lol. Hopefully someone who has done this before will come help!

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

hurts my feelings lol... when he doesnt want to come out and snuggle Juuji is a baby so she still isnt in snuggle mode yet lol

 

[giffelse]

Seriously! I feel like we're all clueless! Where these so called experts, huh?

 

[beardieluv]

Charlie is till a snuggle bug haha, only at night though. During the day, he wants to run around my room and get into stuff he shouldn't be in. But starting a little over a week ago, he will try to nap wherever i set him lol.

And yes! I have had charlie since last september, actually, today marks a year since i got him from the pet store! Woot! He was too young for brumation last winter so i din't even worry about it. ARGH!

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

same here phoenix was too young too so i didnt put a ton of thought into it ... bad Jordan lol

 

[sara24354]

I am going through my first brumation as well even though I have had my oldest dragon for almost 2 years.She never fully brumated,just slept a little leter during the day or went to bed earllier at night. My male however went down about a month ago and has been asleep for the biggest part of a month. I'll see if I can find someone to help with questions.
Sara

 

[FJM]

Hi,

I remember going through what you're going through a couple of years ago, with my dragon's first brumation. I read the care sheet and still had lots of questions because it was so new. And even though i now know what it is and what to expect i still worry that something is going on and she's ill or something.

Mine will slow down before actually going into full brumation. I put mine under her light every morning as well but when she's getting ready to go down for good i'll come home from work and find her jammed in the corner trying to sleep. I would keep doing what your doing and just let him do his own thing. Don't worry about changing your lights but make sure he has a "hide" for when he's ready.

Yes, their bellies are supposed to be empty when they go down, otherwise the food will rot in their bellies. They need heat to digest food and he won't be getting that when he's down. If he's goes down after being fed, wake him up & give him a bath to make sure he passes it.

I usually cut back the daylight hours on my light cycle just to save on my electric bill while she's down, but i wouldn't leave them off. I read somewhere (on this site) that they may still be able to sense night & day while in brumation. They don't need heat during this but they still shouldn't go below the 65deg minimum temp limit.

Hope this helps,

FJ

 

[giffelse]

Nice, finally someone with experience for all us newbs! Thanks a lot!!!

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

Hi,

I remember going through what you're going through a couple of years ago, with my dragon's first brumation. I read the care sheet and still had lots of questions because it was so new. And even though i now know what it is and what to expect i still worry that something is going on and she's ill or something.

Mine will slow down before actually going into full brumation. I put mine under her light every morning as well but when she's getting ready to go down for good i'll come home from work and find her jammed in the corner trying to sleep. I would keep doing what your doing and just let him do his own thing. Don't worry about changing your lights but make sure he has a "hide" for when he's ready.

Yes, their bellies are supposed to be empty when they go down, otherwise the food will rot in their bellies. They need heat to digest food and he won't be getting that when he's down. If he's goes down after being fed, wake him up & give him a bath to make sure he passes it.

I usually cut back the daylight hours on my light cycle just to save on my electric bill while she's down, but i wouldn't leave them off. I read somewhere (on this site) that they may still be able to sense night & day while in brumation. They don't need heat during this but they still shouldn't go below the 65deg minimum temp limit.

Hope this helps,

FJ

THANK YOU SO MUCH! that really did help a wholeeeeee lot!!!
Jordan :mrgreen:

 

[beardieluv]

Woohoo! Thanks a lot

 

[dragonxxxx]

i read that brumation article as well and had some questions, so i e- mailed the person who wrote it and got no responce. someone out there has all the answers, we just need to find them, or they need to find us.