Questions about my bearded dragon's brumation

[BeardedDragon65]

My male bearded Dragon (Squishy) has been in brumation for around 3 months now. First off, how long is brumation? Isn't It suppose to start in october? His began around november. Next, his brumation almost seems like hibernation. The first two months he would sometimes come out during the day, now I always have to wake him up, in fear of leaving him starving and dehydrated. Then, he won't poop anymore. I tried bathing him more, that usually makes him do it, but the water irritates his eyes. Then randomly stops taking salad. It feels to me as if he has some sort of desease, and is quite worrying. I have another beardy who didn't go into hibernation, and she is the exact same age (brother and sister). The female seems to be active until 9 pm 3 hours after lights out. She also takes salad better than he does. It just seems so odd for one to start so suddenly acting different and one to stay as normal. Any help would be nice, I will take him to the vet if there are any problems, but I didn't think anything was really wrong until just a few days ago.

 

[Hdrydr31]

My male bearded Dragon (Squishy) has been in brumation for around 3 months now. First off, how long is brumation? Isn't It suppose to start in october? His began around november. Next, his brumation almost seems like hibernation. The first two months he would sometimes come out during the day, now I always have to wake him up, in fear of leaving him starving and dehydrated. Then, he won't poop anymore. I tried bathing him more, that usually makes him do it, but the water irritates his eyes. Then randomly stops taking salad. It feels to me as if he has some sort of desease, and is quite worrying. I have another beardy who didn't go into hibernation, and she is the exact same age (brother and sister). The female seems to be active until 9 pm 3 hours after lights out. She also takes salad better than he does. It just seems so odd for one to start so suddenly acting different and one to stay as normal. Any help would be nice, I will take him to the vet if there are any problems, but I didn't think anything was really wrong until just a few days ago.

Ah the question we all ask Only your beardie can tell us the answer, and it can vary from year to year and from dragon to dragon, some don't brumate.. Typically it usually happens between the winter months Oct-Feb.. My Izzy is just under a year old and she slowed down in Nov, stays in her cool hide unless I take her out.
Under my signature line you'll find a couple of links in the general info I've talked about Brumation so you can have a look see..
An adult dragon can sleep days to months I think I've heard of 1 sleeping for 5 months!! If they are awake offer them food, leave greens out during the day in case they come out when you don't see them so in case they are hungry they can grab some..You want to give them a 20-30 min soak once a week or twice if you want just make sure they are safe (some don't even wake up in the bath!) dribble water on their nose, they will absorb some thru their vent/skin. Avoid getting it in his eyes if it's irritating. If he's not eating he won't need to poop. A healthy dragon shouldn't loose much weight during this process as they use their fat reserves in their fat pads, so if he's looking sickly take him to the vet as if they are sick some don't wake up sadly..
Like I said each dragon can be very different.. Please keep us posted and if your worried trust your gut and get him checked..

 

[BeardedDragon65]

Ok he might not be pooping because I keep waking him up to feed him. And 5 months?! holy crap. That sounds more like a hibernation. I dont feed him unless he wakes up on his own right? It is just so stressful to leave everything almost alone all day. I'll take him to the vet to check for deseases and such, but I just got him checked about a month and a half ago for almost the exact same reason, and everything turned up normal.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Ok he might not be pooping because I keep waking him up to feed him. And 5 months?! holy crap. That sounds more like a hibernation. I dont feed him unless he wakes up on his own right? It is just so stressful to leave everything almost alone all day. I'll take him to the vet to check for deseases and such, but I just got him checked about a month and a half ago for almost the exact same reason, and everything turned up normal.

Yea I was shocked when I saw 5 months wow!!
It is hibernation but in reptiles it's called brummation here is a good link https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/brumation/
Correct if he wakes offer food..but put in a salad in case your not home and he gets up that way there is something in there..
If you took him last month and all is good then he may be just fine.. Have you weighed him at all? so you can see what his body is doing.. When my Izzy started to slow down I started weighing her so I could have something to look back on.. even though she isn't fully brumating she's awake under her log so I bring her out and let her choose what to do she will bask she will eat but alot smaller amounts and she poops in her daily bath (that's where she prefers to go) then I let her bask and she goes back to her warm hide for the day then moves to the cool one in the evening.

 

[BeardedDragon65]

I thought brumation was a form of hibernation when they didn't completely go to sleep. I am very confused on how all this works, as no beardy of mine has ever acted the same during brumation lol.

 

[Hdrydr31]

That's the problem all beardies are different and then what they do from year to year can change they even can do it not during the winter months.. It's 1 giant puzzle that I don't even know if they know what they are doing.... Our job is to make sure that they are as healthy as possible and keep them safe while they slow down, while they sleep or whatever they choose to do
yes it's very frustrating.. lol

 

[PatsyB]

Nobody will fully understand this. My boy went down in September! But he only went to sleep for 2 days woke up and then went back to sleep for 2 days, he did this for about a month. You need to let him do what he wants to do. Offer salad every day in case he wakes up he'll have something to eat. Baths once a week and see if he will eat some protein. He's not pooping much because he's not eating much.

How old is he?

Also one important thing that I've learned with keeping reptiles is there are things that we don't understand that freak us out but there is another thing that is under that, something in the gut that tells us something isn't right. If you get that feeling, schedule a vet visit. It doesn't hurt and it's better to be safe than sorry.