UPDATE: Day 9, No Poop!!! (young brumation)

[bayoupig5]

Emmalee is 9 and a half months old, and in brumation. Not full brumation, she does get up everyday, but does not bask anymore, or at least no for long, 20 minutes maximum. She has eaten little, and I have stopped force feeding. She eats maybe 1 feeder per day, and sometimes nothing at all. I know she has some poop in her, but it is not moving.

I have been bathing her 2-3 times per week for 20 minutes with massage, nothing. The last two days she was given olive oil, nothing. I tried wrapping her in a heating pad under supervision to keep her warm for metabolic function, nothing. Does anyone have any other suggestions? How long have your beadies gone without poop?

 

[cadjockey]

Did you try to slightly warm up the water?

I find if I give a bath in lukewarm water...sorry not sure of the exact temp, Harold will not poop in it, but the minute I add a cup of slightly hotter water (not hot that it burns your hand), the bowels just let go....

 

[bayoupig5]

Thanks for your response

Yep, warmer than usual was tried.

Finally, after all I did, one more bath/massage did the trick. Her urate looked a little off, pure white normal urate first and then urate that was harder and coated in the poop sack, maybe that was causing the constipation.

Poor Emmy, this brumation thing is so hard to deal with, she goes back to the vet on Wednesday for another check, as he is now concerned about her not eating at all, the last three days.

 

[dragonfanatic4454]

I have one dragon down in brumation right now and he has barely ate anything the 2 months hes been down. I don't think the not eating for 3 days is anything to worry about, what kind of baffles me is that your dragon is brumating itself under a year old. :? She should still be growing at 9 months.

 

[matteo62]

your better getting your vet to do a fecal test for parasites, because that sounds very similar to what my dragon was doing, he had pinworms and coccidia , its not good and needs fully cleaning out as soon as you find out, i used septrin for the coccidia and panicure for the worms. The worms went within the first prescription, but the coccidia is the harder one to battle. Then after all this probiotics are needed to get his gut back up and running, and also keeping them well hydrated. Good Luck.

 

[bayoupig5]

Thank you for all your responses.

Here is the update. Emmalee has been on a gradual slow down since mid October. I keep a close eye and records on her daily/weekly such as weight, length, how many feeders she ate, poop schedule, etc. This is how I noticed something was up to begin with.

I took her to the vet on the 23rd of November, and she checked out a being very well, despite not eating well. Fecal check revealed a happy outcome, no pin worms and one of two parasites gone (as side note Emmalee was diagnosed with pin worms and two parasites +4 back in May, but she was too little to medicate). So it seems her immune system was taking care of itself. The vet found nothing wrong with Emmy at all except for the trace of the last parasite, everything was in the clear. So he sent me home with her and told me to up her ambient viv temps to 80F, to try to break her out of what he though might be brumation.

Two week with raised temps did nothing Emmy got slower, ate nothing for four days, and of course was constipated due to no basking. I increased bath temps, massaged twice a day, gave olive oil two days, and then tried the heating pad under supervision. It finally did the trick.

Emmy went back to the vet yesterday because she refused to eat now for 5 days, but that morning she was trying to dig her way to nowhere under her bonsai tree, scabbing her leg. I threw in a box, and she went in, and never came out. Vet still needed to see her so we took her in box and all. This fecal test showed zero parasites/worms. ZERO!!!! Weight showed no loss. It was official Emmalee is in brumation, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

So yes she is young, she was 9 months on November 20th, but I hear that happens from time to time. I am worried that it will affect her overall growth, but other say it doesn't, and no, no parasites/worms to worry about, just plain, ordinary brumation.

This is my first go at it, and I gotta tell ya, it's quite worrisome, especially cause she's still a a baby, but I'm sure she'll be ok.

So on the 20th on December she'll be 10 months. Her last length was noted December 6 at 16 3/8 inches, and weight was 353 grams.

Who ever thought I'd be dealing with this so soon :shock:

 

[matteo62]

Hi, that is strange to see them so young to start brumation, but she's a good size and weight, cause my male is roughly 16.5inch and weighs 380g and he has just turned 10 months. He has been on and off medication for the past 3 month with the parasites which i presume may of had an effect on his actual size but there's no sign of brumation at the moment and hopefully not until next year. I also see that your in kelowna, i have relatives other there. and they also make nice wine i'm told . Good luck and keep us all updated with the brumation and how long they actually sleep for.

 

[bayoupig5]

Hi, that is strange to see them so young to start brumation, but she's a good size and weight, cause my male is roughly 16.5inch and weighs 380g and he has just turned 10 months. He has been on and off medication for the past 3 month with the parasites which i presume may of had an effect on his actual size but there's no sign of brumation at the moment and hopefully not until next year. I also see that your in kelowna, i have relatives other there. and they also make nice wine i'm told . Good luck and keep us all updated with the brumation and how long they actually sleep for.

Ahh, Kelowna, beautiful here, and yes we make award winning world renowned wines. We have over 150 wineries in the valley. Not sure where you're from, but you should come and see us up her sometime. But wait until summer, cause winter is kind of chilly. Today -8C or 21F, BBBRRR, a little snow, a little ice. No wonder Emmy is down.

I will keep you posted, I wish my dragon was more like yours and would have waited until next year to do this, but we can't always get what we want. Hope your dragon does well, and gets parasite free!

 

[cadjockey]

What are you talking about....-8 degrees cold...that is warm!!!!! At minus eight, some people around here still wear shorts (me excluded). :shock: I could handle a winter of -8 degrees every day, no problem.

Cold is the temperature saying -8 but with the wind chill it is actually -27 degrees. :twisted: :evil:

Know what is scary. We are only 6-8 hrs away from each other. Gotta love Canada...all four seasons in one country at the same time on some days. :wink:

 

[bayoupig5]

What are you talking about....-8 degrees cold...that is warm!!!!! At minus eight, some people around here still wear shorts (me excluded). :shock: I could handle a winter of -8 degrees every day, no problem.

Cold is the temperature saying -8 but with the wind chill it is actually -27 degrees. :twisted: :evil:

Know what is scary. We are only 6-8 hrs away from each other. Gotta love Canada...all four seasons in one country at the same time on some days. :wink:

LOL!!!! :lol:

That's true it is not quite as cold as up there, but you gotta give me some credit. I'm afraid I'm a cold wimp, I grew up in the Hawaii of Canada for 30 years. Yep, Vancouver, so in perspective this is cold. We have got down to -20's but it only lasts a couple weeks. Strange, but the other poster has family here, and I had a brother in law who lived in Prince George for 8, so I am all too familiar with actual cold, but I choose to ignore that, LOL!!!

 

[matteo62]

Hi, -8 sounds pretty cold to me, i live in the UK were its wet and cold all year round , but not -8 :? . As i said my cousin lives in Kelowna, and he's always telling me to come over for the great wines . So if i do come over i'll pop round to see your beardie. My cousin's originally from Edmonton, apparently its quite a bit colder up there. :| .

 

[bayoupig5]

Hi, -8 sounds pretty cold to me, i live in the UK were its wet and cold all year round , but not -8 :? . As i said my cousin lives in Kelowna, and he's always telling me to come over for the great wines . So if i do come over i'll pop round to see your beardie. My cousin's originally from Edmonton, apparently its quite a bit colder up there. :| .

Hope to see you in the summer!

Edmonton is brutal today temps were -45C, covert that to F!!!! EWWWW!!!

UPDATE: Emmalee was down for the count for two days, she did not move out of her box. Definite brumation. She woke three days ago and since had eaten one super, no veg. AARRGGHH! This brumation stuff is very stressful but she seems to be doing just fine. Weight was measured today and she has lost zero grams this week. In total however, since November 15 she lost a mere 5 grams.

 

[bayoupig5]

I am really struggling with this semi brumation! I worry! :dontknow: '

Well, here is the latest update on Emmalee's brumation progress. After waking from a two day sleep on the 11th, she has eaten 3 super worms and a bite of veg. Now I know there is not much poop in her, but there is something and after all the baths, massage, there is no sign of poop. Yesterday being day 9, I gave her two mls/cc of olive oil to see if that would get things moving. Oh, boy and was that a fight, I got nipped in the process, so at least Emmy is as feisty and strong as ever!! Yesterday was a day that she also went back into her cave for an all day sleep.

So here I am again struggling to get poop out of a lizard before she decides to go down again for a bit. I am now thinking that it would be an easier brumation process if she had just gone down completely. At last I would not have to worry about digestion. You see Emmy eats, but she does not bask, she sits on the cool side, and I know that is doing no wonders for her.

I am still trying to use the heating pad under supervision to get her internal temps up, but lately as soon as she vents, she leaves the pad! :x I am trying desperately.


Anyway just wanted to give a recent update for anyone to follow. And if any of you could tell me, What is the longest your dragon went between poops?

Good news in all of this is that since November 29th, she has only lost 1 gram. And of course, she is parasite and worm free

 

[Erika]

My bearded has brumated yearly since he was about 9 months old. Once he starts refusing to bask I stop feeding him, since if he is cold he is not digesting and it is just no good to have food setting in them. I would weigh him weekly to make sure he isn't losing any weight and would leave him alone otherwise.
At this point, mine hasn't pooped since September, but also has not eaten anything since his last poop and is maintaining his weight.

 

[bayoupig5]

My bearded has brumated yearly since he was about 9 months old. Once he starts refusing to bask I stop feeding him, since if he is cold he is not digesting and it is just no good to have food setting in them. I would weigh him weekly to make sure he isn't losing any weight and would leave him alone otherwise.
At this point, mine hasn't pooped since September, but also has not eaten anything since his last poop and is maintaining his weight.

Thanks for the advice. Emmy has lost about 10 grams since November, I expect they do lose some weight. Of course, this is being monitored by a vet. It is good to hear from another person who has experienced the same thing though. To date Emmy has 1 worm left in her to poop out, after that, I was thinking along the same lines as you...stopping food for a bit. Although, I feel torn because if I offer her something and she wants it, I am apt to let her have it, although the pooping business is difficult.