Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't plan on brumating any of the beardies unless they decide to do so on their own. I was thinking though that if they had decided to I might move them to boxes so that I can do a really good clean out on the cages(I of course do clean frequently, but these are large wood cages). I mean maybe spray them with a light bleach solution, scrub them down. I of course can't do this unless the beardies aren't in them for a while. I have two that will be entering their second winter, and one dragon that was a winter baby. I expect the oldest two to brumate, but the little one I can't be sure of. Wow, I got really off my point. Anyway, does anyone move their beardies out of cages for brumation? Any special things you do for them? What temps do you keep them at? When do you return them to the cages? My thought was that I would clean the cages and keep them out for two weeks to be completely sure everything was good and clean and any fumes would be gone. Then I would put the boxes in the cages and allow them to come out on their own.
I had babies last winter so I had no worries about it. Last time I left the dragon to curl up in the corner of his cage. I put the lights on for less hours. I left food every few days and if he ate I put him in his basking spot. He was in a smaller lighter cage though so major cleaning wasn't as big an issue.

last year it was August I think. She is a very social gal so she was in a busy part of the house. I wanted her to rest well so I moved her to a sterlite plastic tub, stuck a old sweatshirt in it and put her in the closet (only another reptile person can understand sticking your pet away in the closet for a few months!)

I did check her every few days peaking in and offered her water once a week with an eyedropper, she drank a few droppers full but never opened her eyes. She actually gained weight sleeping!!!

Another one went down early and was down for almost 5 months at the cool end of her tank in an upside down box stuffed with papertowels, she shared the tank with another girl who stayed up and the lights and times remained the same, she would come out for a bit every few weeks and drink, decide she was not missing anything and went back to bed again. She did not eat the whole time and she did lose a little weight, but put it back on within a week once she started eating again which was like another two weeks AFTER she woke up and stayed up, then she ate twice as much as she ever did before and presented us with 6 infertile eggs.. which totally bewildered her and us.

Here is Sandy going down for her snooze

When my female went down last year (2nd time for her, so I knew there was no reason to panic... this time...lol) I bought a big plastic tub that was right around one of them 52 Qt. Size and filled the bottom with wheat bran. I then took a shoebox and cut out the bottom of it and made a little opening in the side so she could get in and out. I then put the lid to the shoebox back on so she had a roof. I could then just take the top off and peek at her without having to move her at all.

I took her from her “real” home after she had been sleeping for about a week straight. I then covered the tub with a piece of cardboard and left it open at one end to get some light/air in there. She slept in the tub for 3 ½ months straight. About every week or two I would open the shoebox and give he a little nudge to make sure she was still “kicking”. Then one week, I peeked in on her and she was peeking right back at me. I then took her and her shoebox and put it in her real cage. Took a week or two before she was wide-awake and hungry.

Good Luck!

Thanks. I think I will remove the two big ones from their cages for cleaning barring any illnesses. Of course if they should get sick i'll be stuck trying to keep them awake. The little guy who will be a year old in December is a different story, and it will depend on his size. He's around 15 inches now, so i'm not too worried about his size. However, he hasn't really picked up a lot of weight yet (at least when I look at him). I just put him out in the big cage a few weeks ago, so I think that will help him. I moved the other one to his big cage and he started picking up weight pretty quickly once he was adjusted to his cage. We ship lots of stuff so there is no shortage of boxes to put them in.
As for having no dragons to play with, i'll be alright. I have my rankins who will definetly not be ready for brumation. He'll also be a year old this winter, so I could spend all that time fighting him to stay awake. I'm sure the one dragon I don't want sleeping will be the one that does.