Possible Brumation?

[kryptozic]

My bearded dragon 'Hercules' is currently nine months old. About a week after I got him on Dec. 3, which was starting to get cold/heading into winter, he started getting lazy/lethargic, and taking naps all afternoon. I was concerned at first, but It was probably relocation stress and I nudged it off. But now, he wasn't eating as much as he will. He only ate about 2 Superworms and 7 Dubia Roaches, and this kind of shocked me since he'll eat double this amount in one sitting. Now I see him away from his basking spot but still in the hot side, lying down all darkened and napping all the time. I'm certain now he's been is/wanting to brumation. If this is true, is there a way where I could put him into brumation? I've been reading articles about these, but none told me how, or does it just happen randomly? I been wanting to keep him up, but I decided it's best to let him brumate since it's natural. Any advice would be extremely helpful to me.

 

[KeyBlu422]

HI there, beardies usually go into brumation at over a year old or slightly younger(rarely). I wouldn't suggest letting him brumate if he really is anyway as he may not have enough fat to smoothly go through it. Instead, you can try bumping up the number of hours the lights are on. While my beardy never brumates even though I only leave my lights on for about 11 hours instead of 12-14, I've heard that bumping up the hours simulates summer which may keep them from brumating. Also, you might want to potentially bump up the temperature to further decrease the chance of going through brumation. If he does anyway, you might want to give him some waxworms for a little while to increase his fat reserves for brumation. Once he reaches a year or past, you can let him go into brumation without worry.

 

[KeyBlu422]

Also, brumation occurs in beardies I the wild since temperatures and the amount of prey insnt ideal for optimal living conditions so they do their best at waiting it out and coming out for feeding,watering, and other requirements only when absolutely necessary. When people own beardies, brumation occurs in some beardies, some beardies go through brumation for a longer time than others, and some don't enter brumation at all(like mine).