my aft does this in the winter time, we thought he was dying at first then the vet informed us that they do this. hes well and active again now though, eating like a horse!

i have a 9mth old female beardie who over the last week or so has started to go asleep really early! my temps are fine at both ends and she is eating but not as much as usual! it feels like she may be going into Brumation and in the summer too!! the lights are on for 13 hours, they come on at 8am and off at 9pm, she was very active over the winter months and the lights were on for 12 hours

is this normal

so advice would be greatly appricated

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Hi,

This is really interesting I was getting really worried over my male beardie he keeps going and hiding under a log in the cool end and wants to sleep all day and hasn't eaten for about a week.

My female is still as active as every so was getting worried he was ill.

Could this be signs of the brumation you are talking about and what do I do about the temps etc if the female is still active?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

It is possible that he's thinking about brumating although I'd have thought it was a little early unless your weather is really bad. Ours guys usually go down in May when the weather is the equivalent of your September/October. If he's digging in to the cool end or hiding under something there all the time then it is possible that he wants to brumate. If you can't separate them then you'll have to leave him be and maintain the temps or lower them slightly (by around 5C assuming your basking temp is around 39C) which should keep them both happy.

Rick

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Rick (That guy from Aus.)

i have heard of this. for snakes and lizards but surely this would be for the wild caught herps. i think i read about it years ago in some old herp keepers book. i know that herps do naturally slow down but any captive bred species surely does not need to brumate as they would be accustommed to being in a viv environment. i also think if you look after your herp in the correct way then i dont think brumation will in anyway prolong life. like i said i think this was meant for wild caught herps. but everyone to their own and if you feel happier doing this then it cant hurt.

This was not meant for wild caught - a few million years have hard wired this in to them and thirty years of in-breeding won't remove it! You'll see that I've mentioned that some don't slow down but others do and so you should follow their natural rhythm. Why do you think there are so many posts in Autumn about beardies sleeping/not eating? They're not wild caught unless they're all illegal stock!

Rick

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Rick (That guy from Aus.)

hi there ,i have 3 eastern collards, 2 girls an a boy, the male is still lively but the 2 femalesspend all day curled up in the corner , ie had them out for s look and they seem fine , and yes i no its the middle of summer , but they did this last year and got me bothered , they get 13 hours of light and this remains the same allyear , wot do you reckon ?

I'm afraid I don't have any experience with "exotics" as we're only allowed to keep native fauna in Aus. However it is quite possible that you are seeing the early signs of brumation - someone with experience in this type of lizard really needs to answer.

Rick

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Rick (That guy from Aus.)

Unfortunately mother nature doesnt take the captive environment into consideration. She intended for animals to roam free and built INSTINCT into their DNA. Regardless of whether an animal is CB or not, they are not just sensitive to temperature, but to air pressure and humidity (and more). Regardless of whether the temperatures allow or not, they will often try when the seasons change and sometimes there is nothing can be done to prevent it

Brumation or hiberanation isnt just about climbing into a dark hole to escape the winter. There are other factors involved too. For "cold blooded" animals it allows for healing, the generation of reproductive hormones, and a well earned rest after a busy and tiring summer too. Brumation is not all black and white. I have lizards that will ignore all attempts to keep them awake until its cold enough to put them in the shed and lose weight because the temperature is high in the viv and their metabolism is up, they starve themselves in order to empty their own gut ready for the big sleep so I have no alternative than to respect their wishes and turn the lights off. Tortoises are a good example too....

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this is very interesting information thanku for sharing