Initial Brumation?

[Mrjaws]

Good Morning,
Mrjaws is acting extemely lazy. He is 8.5 months old but for the past weeks he will burrow under his bedding(shredded paper) at about 2:00 PM and sleep until I wake him up for breakfast at around 7:30
AM the next morning. He never shows any agression and is always ready for the attention I give him.
My question is, is this the beginning of Brumation or is this just a lazy teenager. My own children went through something similar when they became teenagers. I have read a lot about Brumation and am not looking forward to him sleeping for two months. I just recently changed both UVB and basking bulbs and I feed him leafy greens, crickets(dusted), various worms. While he's awake , I have outside of his house,
and he sits on my shoulder . He is very alert while awake, but quickly goes back to sleep. Thanks



I leafy greens, crickets, Phoenix worms, wax worms, super worms, meal worms

 

[CooperDragon]

It doesn't sound like full brumation but he may be slowing down for some reason. Is his appetite normal? Is his weight staying steady? Perhaps take him outside for a little while each day to provide some natural sunlight and see if that helps perk him up.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I'm seeing a similar afternoon nap habit with Peppa and Toothless, I've been it putting this change (over the month or so) to:

--- very cold wet miserable weather outside (we're experiencing a very stormy winter here this June and July with a string of Tasman Sea "hurricanes" (very deep lows) over what is an unusually warm ocean off the NSW coast (they can sense the nasty weather outside despite our house being warm (we run the aircon 24/7 over winter in reverse cycle / heat mode) and they have been hunkering down in their nice toasty warm hides (all my beardies have 7W "heatslabs" under their hides that run 24/7 on a thermostat set to hold 36-37oC)
--- a teenage beardie phase (Peppa and Toothless have both become loads less urgent to get their crickets, essentially being lazy lizards who wait for them to blunder into them when they are basking or for daddy to give in and handfeed them - yes all mine a terribly spoilt and pampered)


I think this is normal , my records show that Rex and Puff behaved similar at about the same age too.

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a good point. It could be related to his metabolism slowing down and causing him to be a bit sleepier than usual. Both here and in Georgia it's quite hot (mid 30s C) so it's not likely a seasonal/weather related slowdown. As long as his appetite is OK and his weight is stable I wouldn't worry too much. I'm glad to see that KingofNobby's records confirm this behavior. I don't recall or have records of how Cooper acted at that age.

 

[Mrjaws]

Thank you for your reply. I have really spoiled him and when he sleeps for so long it worries me. Mrjaws is 8.5 gems and 20 inches long.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thank you for your reply. I have really spoiled him and when he sleeps for so long it worries me. Mrjaws is 8.5 gems and 20 inches long.

If he's napping at second meal time , I'd leave him be, if he wakes up hungry he'll come out looking for something to fill that hole, if there is salad/chopped greens & grated veg he'll eat that. I reckon a sleeping teenage lizard is a growing lizard.