Brumation or something wrong?

[jharding]

Hello, I have an adopted 3 .5 year old bearded dragon, which we've had for 3 winters (Idaho and Colorado). Every winter she will go to sleep in her hide for a month or two then wake up and be awake until next winter. This happens mostly around beginning of November and ends in December.

This year, she has been asleep since before Halloween and is still asleep. Instead of sleeping in her half log hide on the hot side, she is in the corner of the hot side. She does open her eyes and readjust her body where she either has her head under the log on the hot side or she has it resting against the cage.

Its just been a long sleep for her and I dont want to move her to see if something else is wrong. I do have the lights on (basking spot light and UVB light). The ambient temp is colder in our house in winter, but only gets down to 68 at night. During the day her ambient temp is 70-85 cold to hot.

Her color is dull from not basking, but it doesnt look like she lost a significant amount of weight (she is well fed when eating). I know brumations can be up to 4 months, just want to make sure I'm doing the correct husbandry for her in the winter time.

 

[Sadie]

Hello, I have an adopted 3 .5 year old bearded dragon, which we've had for 3 winters (Idaho and Colorado). Every winter she will go to sleep in her hide for a month or two then wake up and be awake until next winter. This happens mostly around beginning of November and ends in December.

This year, she has been asleep since before Halloween and is still asleep. Instead of sleeping in her half log hide on the hot side, she is in the corner of the hot side. She does open her eyes and readjust her body where she either has her head under the log on the hot side or she has it resting against the cage.

Its just been a long sleep for her and I dont want to move her to see if something else is wrong. I do have the lights on (basking spot light and UVB light). The ambient temp is colder in our house in winter, but only gets down to 68 at night. During the day her ambient temp is 70-85 cold to hot.

Her color is dull from not basking, but it doesnt look like she lost a significant amount of weight (she is well fed when eating). I know brumations can be up to 4 months, just want to make sure I'm doing the correct husbandry for her in the winter time.
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She should not be sleeping longer than 3 months- hot side is 85? That is not near enough heat for her to start digestion and that temp is good for daytime cool side of the tank - your dragon needs temps of 95-100 surface basking temp taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- middle of the tank 90's and cool side 80's -- ambient temp at night 65-75--- UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils --- if your using a coil I recommend you replace it immediately-- they are inadequate and will cause all kinds of health problems -- are you keeping her hydrated? Dragons should be weighed and hydrated when brumating every couple of weeks to make sure they are not losing a lot of weight that would indicate a health issue going on

 

[jharding]

She should not be sleeping longer than 3 months- hot side is 85? That is not near enough heat for her to start digestion and that temp is good for daytime cool side of the tank - your dragon needs temps of 95-100 surface basking temp taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- middle of the tank 90's and cool side 80's -- ambient temp at night 65-75--- UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils --- if your using a coil I recommend you replace it immediately-- they are inadequate and will cause all kinds of health problems -- are you keeping her hydrated? Dragons should be weighed and hydrated when brumating every couple of weeks to make sure they are not losing a lot of weight that would indicate a health issue going on

Her basking spot is 100 taken with a TempGun PE1. Where she is on the hot side is 85-90. Cool Side 75. I use a 22" UVB T5 HO for the tank.

To hydrate her, should I pull her from where she is sleeping and soak her?

Is the goal to give her more heat to start her digestion to get her out of brumation?

 

[Sadie]

Her basking spot is 100 taken with a TempGun PE1. Where she is on the hot side is 85-90. Cool Side 75. I use a 22" UVB T5 HO for the tank.

View attachment 33147

To hydrate her, should I pull her from where she is sleeping and soak her?

Is the goal to give her more heat to start her digestion to get her out of brumation?

To hydrate her you can give her a bath if she drinks from baths--- if not drop water on her nose you can use a eye dropper or your fingers I use a spray bottle and spray their heads - they lick - I have a black mat that I got from Zen Habitat that it will puddle on the mat and they will lick off that puddle till done then I dry it up - I dont use a loose substrate -- to risky for impaction and it harbors bacteria - yes the heat starts their digestion and if the temps in the tank are not on par it can cause brumation - my ambient temps on the hot side run around 100 - the basking decor piece I use has different places for them to sit ( I have two tanks) which offers a gradient heat - the heat usually pulls them out of brumation - your screen on your tank is it a wide hole type of screen or a fine mesh? The screen will block 30% of the rays -- and I would move it over to the basking side if you can- what size tank is it? Distance and placement for the UVB is determined by the screen -- how old is the UVB bulb? Also please get the digital probe thermometers -- they are the most accurate - temp guns are good but they cannot read off of certain basking material - it will throw them off -- probes are the best way to get temps

 

[jharding]

To hydrate her you can give her a bath if she drinks from baths--- if not drop water on her nose you can use a eye dropper or your fingers I use a spray bottle and spray their heads - they lick - I have a black mat that I got from Zen Habitat that it will puddle on the mat and they will lick off that puddle till done then I dry it up - I dont use a loose substrate -- to risky for impaction and it harbors bacteria - yes the heat starts their digestion and if the temps in the tank are not on par it can cause brumation - my ambient temps on the hot side run around 100 - the basking decor piece I use has different places for them to sit ( I have two tanks) which offers a gradient heat - the heat usually pulls them out of brumation - your screen on your tank is it a wide hole type of screen or a fine mesh? The screen will block 30% of the rays -- and I would move it over to the basking side if you can- what size tank is it? Distance and placement for the UVB is determined by the screen -- how old is the UVB bulb? Also please get the digital probe thermometers -- they are the most accurate - temp guns are good but they cannot read off of certain basking material - it will throw them off -- probes are the best way to get temps

I do have the digital probe thermometers so I will put those in. I'll also get her out and give her a warm bath. I got a larger bulb for the basking spot so it should warm up the ambients on the warm side as well. The screen on the warm side is the large hole type, not fine mesh. I dont have a screen on the side with the T5 light and I just replaced that light. The basking fixture is a dual fixture, where I have a flood light on the one side for heat and a CFL UVB just so I can have UVB closer to the basking spot, plus the T5 tube on the other side. Should I move the T5 tube over to the hot side with the screen just for the time being? The CFL UVB is old and probably needs replaced. I never relied on that for her UVB, I relied on the tube T5.

The tank is a 48"x18"x18" with the basking bulb 8-10" from the highest basking spot

 

[Sadie]

I do have the digital probe thermometers so I will put those in. I'll also get her out and give her a warm bath. I got a larger bulb for the basking spot so it should warm up the ambients on the warm side as well. The screen on the warm side is the large hole type, not fine mesh. I dont have a screen on the side with the T5 light and I just replaced that light. The basking fixture is a dual fixture, where I have a flood light on the one side for heat and a CFL UVB just so I can have UVB closer to the basking spot, plus the T5 tube on the other side. Should I move the T5 tube over to the hot side with the screen just for the time being? The CFL UVB is old and probably needs replaced. I never relied on that for her UVB, I relied on the tube T5.

The tank is a 48"x18"x18" with the basking bulb 8-10" from the highest basking spot

Ok so get rid of the coil UVB - they are no good and will cause all kinds of health issues ---- the UVB if it is unobstructed should be 12-15 inches directly over the basking decor - if its on the wide hole screen distance should be 8-10 inches directly above the basking decor --- if you can move it over to the basking area please do so but get the placement and distance as I posted -- get all your temps in the tank I posted and then watch her behavior - make sure your getting temps after making adjustments w/ the heat -