Beardie Brumation

[welshgaz]

OK my male dragon is going into a brumation state the little bugger! He's stopped eating and is sleeping loads.. My problem is that my female has just laid and looking on the thin side. I want to build her up and not let her go into brumation as well...

Question is as they are in the same viv' is the one brumating going to effect the other? any tips on how yo keep her out of brumation?

I'm not going to reduce the temps or lighting.

Also if they do both go is there a way to 'wake' them up? Is it still worth putting salad etc in there?

This is my first winter with them so I'm learning all this new sorry!

Thanks
- welshgaz

[DeanThorpe]

not gona be much help here to be honest.

I think your spose to keep the bask on incase they do wake up altho drop theoverall temp, also i think food should be kept availabe but thast all i know...or think should i say.
I reckon one going into brumation will cause the other to do the same, or atleast influence it.
I am suprised though as i though they only do so if the temps and light etc do get put down... i hope ours dont

[welshgaz]

Its a bitch ain't! The temp's are still normal and light hasn't change at all... I just want my female to put some weight back on first.

My male weighs around 175g, female is only 110g! Gonna keep an eye on there weights at least

[tombraider]

from what age do they start doing this? Ive noticed mine more sleepy too lately but they are still active at feed times and then go back to sleep Ive not made any changes to the temps or hours of lighting so maybe their just having a couple of lazy days.

[Becky Wheeler]

Hey my male Peanut is doing this too and i thought he was being miserable cos i put him with a different female? He's got darker and more sleepy?? His appetite is right down and i thought it was cos i took him away from Snoopy.

He sits in the same spot all day and my other female is trying to be extra friendly to him, bless her and he's not bothered?

My other male Dude who is 3 years has been acting the same. But The rest are o.k?

Like the rest of you, I have not changed the temps or lighting times etc? but the are close to a window! And i'm wondering if they've noticed that it's getting dark earlier? Silly i know, but they must do this in the wild?

[welshgaz]

Well guys this seams all normal from what I've been reading. They more intelligent than we give them credit for i think. Apparently they sense the decrease barametric pressure as well as day night cycles. I guess even though there inside uv is on it still gets adrker outside i.e. we use artificial light.

Sure signs of brumation are a lack of appetite, digging around, longer sleeping hours and hiding out in teh cooler parts of the viv'

My only worry now is getting some weight back on my female before she decides to stop eating! I'm not worried about my male now he's fat enough ..

Heres some good reading material I've found....
http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections...90-page-1.html
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/res...BDbrumate.html
http://www.georgiabeardeddragons.com...age/757936.htm

[Becky Wheeler]

Garreth,

You mentioned digging! My male has been doing this all week! same spot too! Well maybe you can fatten up your female by increasing her feeds from say once a day to twice a day.

Feed her extra crickets and give her some waxworms, I'm worried now cos Peanut is with my female who had just laid and she's still a bit thin so i'm going to do the same thing by uping her feeds.

[DeanThorpe]

Drago our male gas always liked to dig, but goldie gets priority cos of her nest [altho as said she has never laid and may have never even had eggs afterall]
however, goldie has been digging again and the other night i thought she was dead, was all buried in the sand and didnt appear to be breathing, even when i picked her up it took about 30 secs for her to open her eyes and start to breath heavily enough for me to notice, now im thinking maybe both our beardies are getting ready for brumation as they are both eating almost nothing, goldie some insects once every 3 days and drago a bit of salad every other day and insects on the other day but very little.

Drago will always eat wax worms though and usually mealies but havent wanted to let him too much as he has gone off his crix [i say 6 crix to one mealie and dont like to break it]
However if they are i think ill let them eat whatever they want.
I will be very sad and dreadfully worried if they do though

Dean

[DeanThorpe]

welshgaz, cheers for the links, the first one was particualrly handy.

[tombraider]

So do they sleep in tunnels in the sand when they are brumating? Mine are only 5 months and i dont use sand as substrate so should i add a sand box just incase?