Juvenile brumation

[Poopdog]

Hi all, checking to see if anyone can share their experience with a juvenile going into brumation. After ruling just about everything out short of a visit to the vet (happening this week), and reading a lot of brumation info, it seems like Elliot starting to go into brumation at just about 6mos old.

I've read that this can happen at any age and I'm worried that her growth is going to be stunted if she sleeps for 8-12 weeks at this age. Has anyone had experience with a young brumating beardie?

For reference, her eating habits, poop, demeanor have all remained totally normal. Viv temps and basking spot are all good with 77 on the cool side, low 90's on the hot, and 103 in the basking spot. The past week or so she's started going to sleep about an hour before lights out, and all of the sudden I just can't seem to get her to want to bask much. Today she wouldn't really even bask after breakfast or dinner (ate like a PIG) and went to bed 1.5hrs before lights out. No matter how I arrange the furniture in the viv she just goes to the same back corner whether it has a hide or is in the light, and shuts her eyes for on and off snoozing all day.

She was shedding like crazy every 2 weeks from 8 weeks old but stopped after her last shed a few weeks ago. This all seems to be coinciding with the days feeling suddenly shorter despite it still being summer weather in N.California.

So brumation it seems... but I'm worried she wont continue to grow much when she wakes up! Would love to hear experiences from anyone who went through this with a juvenile.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Hi all, checking to see if anyone can share their experience with a juvenile going into brumation. After ruling just about everything out short of a visit to the vet (happening this week), and reading a lot of brumation info, it seems like Elliot starting to go into brumation at just about 6mos old.

I've read that this can happen at any age and I'm worried that her growth is going to be stunted if she sleeps for 8-12 weeks at this age. Has anyone had experience with a young brumating beardie?

For reference, her eating habits, poop, demeanor have all remained totally normal. Viv temps and basking spot are all good with 77 on the cool side, low 90's on the hot, and 103 in the basking spot. The past week or so she's started going to sleep about an hour before lights out, and all of the sudden I just can't seem to get her to want to bask much. Today she wouldn't really even bask after breakfast or dinner (ate like a PIG) and went to bed 1.5hrs before lights out. No matter how I arrange the furniture in the viv she just goes to the same back corner whether it has a hide or is in the light, and shuts her eyes for on and off snoozing all day.

She was shedding like crazy every 2 weeks from 8 weeks old but stopped after her last shed a few weeks ago. This all seems to be coinciding with the days feeling suddenly shorter despite it still being summer weather in N.California.

So brumation it seems... but I'm worried she wont continue to grow much when she wakes up! Would love to hear experiences from anyone who went through this with a juvenile.

She's about 3 months old. <<<< OK correction required 6 months old , so , what I posted still applies.

Shedding slows as they move from hatchling to juvenile to subadult to adult , so very normal.

Keep her temperatures up at summer levels, the photoperiod 14-16 hours per day, keep offering food.
If she is going to bed earlier , she's likely just having a growth spurt. Weigh her weekly and you can pick up on these.

At her age she is way too young and tiny to brumate and if the temperatures and UV lighting are right, she will remain active and growing rapidly over winter. Also be sure to keep her warmer than 21 deg Celsius over night too.

Bearded dragons should never be allowed to brumate over their first winter.

The closing eyes may be an issue with the UV lighting , exactly what is the UV lighting and how is it set up ?
see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, is Elliott a big girl at 6 months ? The previous poster says she's 3 months, did I miss something somewhere ? Can you post pics of her as well as her set up ? Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Size is very important, most beardies don't brumate under 10 months of age but there are a few exceptions when they grow very big very fast. Others go in to a slow down period that is not a true brumation. Others may be lethargic for unrelated health concerns.

 

[Poopdog]

Hi there, is Elliott a big girl at 6 months ? The previous poster says she's 3 months, did I miss something somewhere ? Can you post pics of her as well as her set up ? Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Size is very important, most beardies don't brumate under 10 months of age but there are a few exceptions when they grow very big very fast. Others go in to a slow down period that is not a true brumation. Others may be lethargic for unrelated health concerns.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, she is 6 months old (previous reply was mistaken).

She is good size at 16.5" and 310g as of yesterday, and is still gaining weight steadily at around 25-40g/week. Not a fatty by any stretch but likes to eat her dubia and salad for sure! The current pic of the viv has her perch in a new spot as of this morning in an effort to try to get her to stay under the UV light. You can see it's working but she's choosing to hang out away from the basking bulb, which is only hitting at 102 on the perch. The viv setup has a 100watt sunglo on a dimmer over the basking spot, and a 100watt CHE on an InkBird thermostat for when it starts to get cold at night. The UVB is a Reptisun T5HO 10.0 that is relatively new, and is aligned on an angle across the basking area half of the viv. It is not hurting her eyes; she doesn't squint or close them when under the light, she just seems to prefer cool naps all of the sudden (we've also dealt with UV burn conjunctivitis when she was like 12g and I'm confident I cold tell if she was irritated now).

Everything really seems totally fine except that no matter how I try to adjust temps for her to see if she's too hot or too cold she doesn't want to really bask much these days and would rather just lay around on the floor away from the light. Taking in a fecal this week just to make sure everything's all good but really her poops are freaking medal winners and I'd be shocked if she was carrying parasites.

Her viv is a bit empty and boring for her rn as I'm finishing up an epic fake rock desert background and hide. Note that even though I keep a couple of stick on therms on the sides there is also a probe attached to the thermostat that regulates the cool side and is also used to check the basking spot periodically.

 

[AHBD]

Well, she's a beautiful big girl and a picture of health. Probably nothing to be concerned about, but you can see what the fecal test reveals. She should have a taller basking log, you can even get one from outside, dust it off if need be and put it in a preheated 250 F oven for an hour to sterilize it + kill any possible bugs. Or get one from a pet store if you prefer.

But some fast growers like her may just go through a short phase of " laziness " , a semi brumation or slow down and pop back out of of in a couple of weeks. So there's likely nothing to worry about that would be serious.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Yep , she is stunningly beautiful and will be a very big girl when she is a full grown , my Peppa was her weight at 10 months is now 700g and 23in long at just under 2 yrs old.

 

[Poopdog]

Thanks gang. I think we done growed ourselves a pretty good drago.

I'm starting to think she's just being a fussy teenager! You mentioned adding a higher basking log but I honestly just removed the one I had in there bc she refused to use it! I have some great fake rock structures and hides that we just finished making (and let cure for a week and half), and I just took them out of the viv bc she only wants to lay under them and not ON them.

Sigh. I'm just a slave to my sweet bb dinsaour. They are confounding little creatures sometimes.