Is she alright?

[Nathan1995]

Remember to check the UV bulb that Cassie already has, she could have a good one! (But then again it will need replacing soon anyway, so it can't hurt to get it )

As for brumation, before you let her go to sleep for the winter, make sure she has a final bowel movement as if they sleep with food in their stomach it will begin to rot and this is really not good. So during brumation do not feed to prevent this.
You can put a hide in the cool side of the vivarium that will provide Cassie with shade and a safe place to hide during the 'harsh winter' she thinks she'll be experiencing :lol: Many people place towels, anything soft, down for them to make their sleep a bit more comfortable, it doesn't hurt, but it isn't necessary.
During brumation, make sure to keep Cassie hydrated, you can do this by either bathing once every 2 weeks minimum or using a pipette/syringe to drop water on her nose and she may drink it.

As far as housing beardies together goes, i've read many stories of people beardies living happily together, but then I've read many of beardies not getting along. I would really not recommend it, as beardies are solitary animals. Despite your beardie being passive, he may react very differently to an unknown bearded dragon in his home. It's a very risky thing to do, and it's physically impossible to keep an eye on them 24/7.

For the time being, if you have to, it won't hurt to turn off the old UV bulb. She'll be alright for a few days without it, although leaving it off for weeks could be a bad idea. If there's any opportunity to get her in some natural sunlight (I know, very unlikely here :lol: ), even a few minutes sitting in your hands absorbing some rays, then back in the viv to warm up would be enough until you get your new ReptiSun.

Hope this helps!

 

[UltimateShelly]

Thanks so much for your help!

I'm so glad I joined this forum.

I'll start to take her outside in our garden and sit on the bench with me for a little bit each day.

How do I know when she'll go into brumation? Does she wake up during it? Do I keep the lighting times the same? I'm just starting to read that link you sent me.

Thanks!

 

[Nathan1995]

Haha that's what the forums for! I felt the exact same when I joined

The link should explain it all to you, it's a very good article. But in very brief words -

You'll know she's looking to brumate by doing certain things like lethargy, lack of appetite and so on.

All dragons are different and as a result will do different things during brumation, my 4 year old female goes into brumation for all of 2 weeks, and her meaning of brumation is to sit on the cold side looking at me for 2 weeks straight. However my 16 month old boy went down yesterday and probably won't be awake until late December or even January. He doesn't tend to sleep either, just lays down in a hide on the cold side.

Some people like to turn their lights on later and off a little earlier to replicate the winter months, but it hasn't been shown to change the beardies brumation cycle at all. I keep mine the same all year round 8am lights on, 9pm lights off.

Glad to help

 

[UltimateShelly]

So I woke up (12pm) and I came down to find Cassie running around searching for food and jumping through her vegetation plants!

I then proceeded to check what her habistat (thermostat) was doing.

Mum had connected the habistat to the UVB lamp socket instead, and it was reading the temps from the middle of the viv, which in turn let the heat lamp run at full blast. I connected it to the basking lamp and then moved the reader closer to the lamp for accurate readings.

She is now basking, running around, color looks abit more sandy!


I'm adding her a little cave expansion to her cage incase she does still need to go through brumnation.


Just thinking, maybe the temp readings were off, and the reason why she wasn't basking was because it was too hot for her? Either way, she is looking happier now!

 

[Nathan1995]

Yep, if it's too hot they'll definitely try looking for shade and not want to bask. Glad you've sorted the temps out

 

[UltimateShelly]

Hey, I decided to get her a whole new set-up.

Can you link me to a good UVB and basking lamp from that site you sent me? Would be helpful, don't worry if you can't!

 

[Nathan1995]

Hey Shelly, you'll have to find the bulb yourself I'm afraid, it would depend on the size of the vivarium and the size of the fitting you have for the bulb. But you need a ReptiSun 10.0 or an Arcadia D3 12%.

As for basking bulbs, you don't need anything specific, you can just get a load of normal household bulbs from anywhere like Sainsbury's or somewhere similar.