hello all,
this is my first winter hibernation this year and i was just wondering if i should start to prepare my beardie. The past 4 days she hid behind her tree i had set up (away from the light and didnt touch her food) and i knew these were signs of it. but then today she just perked up and hasnt stopped running around in her cage....so should i still start to prep her or wait till she slows down again?
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really do any preparation for Randal - if she decides she's ready to sleep, she just does it and we go from there. Sometimes it can take a bit of back and forth before they start some serious sleeping, and then there are those dragons who only half brumate through the winter, having some sleepy days with normal days in between. Each dragon is different, and I prefer to let my dragon tell me when she's ready for something. The only thing I might do is put a hide in her tank so that it's ready when she wants it (she doesn't have a hide the rest of the year, doesn't use it other than during brumation).
Brumation is a normal occurrence in a beardie's life when it tends to not be so active. When over a period of days your beardie doesn't seem to be as active or want to eat at all, it may be entering brumation. My dragon starts his every June-September, which actually corresponds to winter in the Southern hemisphere! He's still on Aussie time! But brumation can happen at any time, it just depends on the dragon. Every year he slows down for the summer, but come this time of the year, he does nuts!!