Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all!

My beardie is about 8-10 months old. Over the past month he has been eating less and less. And crawling over to his 'sleeping corner' earlier. He has a heat & UV light that are on a 11 on/13 off cycle. There is a large window in the room and he seemed to react more to THAT than his cage light....as the days got shorter...he went to bed earlier.

Here's the rub....2 days ago he found a little hiding place he'd not used before...and hasn't moved since. I've checked on him...eyes are wide open...and he seems quite aware....but simply chooses not to come out. I do have water always available, but can't leave the veggie-based food out too long or it may rot.

Do beardies enter self-induced hibernation? He still has a basking spot that reaches 115, so the cage itself hasn't really cooled down too much....though because it is winter the nighttime temp may drop as low as 65. But never lower.

For now...I simply plan on keeping water available and leaving food every other day. I don't feel comfortable leaving crickets in the cage as they might nibble on him.

Opinions? Thanks for the help!

bearded dragons do enter a sort of hibernation like state. It's not as deep as mammal hibernation. Typically with reptiles it is called brumation.

Though most bearded dragon's don't brumate in their first year, some still do. When I had a bearded dragon, she brumated around the same age as your dragon. Providing your dragon is not showing any signs of weight loss (would be a good ideal to weigh him so you have a more recent weight to compare), wrinkly skin or skin that won't return to place if pinched lightly, or recent very runny or smelling stool he should be fine to brumate.

Your cycle of day/night is pretty close to what is used for inducing brumation (10 hours days, 14 hours night) so that could be triggering brumation. The window may as well, they seem to know when the days are shorter even if their lights are on 14 hours a day.

During burmation, you don't need to leave any food out at all. In fact it's best they have no food in their stomachs when brumating (it can rot if not digested beforehand). Leaving fresh water is a good ideal and pretty much is all you need in the tank for him. Brumation can last anywhere between one to five months. Occaisonaly every week or so, a dragon will wake up and bask for a little. You can offer a small meal (perferible something th at digests quickly, like his salad or a few small silkworms) but only small amounts. This way he has time to digest before going back to sleep.

My dragon would come out for a day or two then go back to sleep about once every 2 weeks.

After a couple months or when it looks like your dragon is staying up for several days, you can increase the daylight duration by about half hour a week, till it's back to 14 hours day.

Oh you deffinitely don't want any crickets left in the cage during this time, you are very right on that point.

Thanks for the reply!

Since I posted I have found a few articles that have described burmation just as you have.

Yes he certainly seems to be entering it in his first year. Funny...I should have seen it a long way off. There was always food available and he gained weight very quickly for the first 4-6 months (as beardies are known to do). But his appetite slowly lessened over the last month. All stools have been consistent so no probs there.

His reaction to the lessening daylight outside was very noticeable. To the point that he'd bed down a full 3 hours before his heat and UV light would switch off.

He has a full water dish about 4 inches from the opening of his hide-away, and I'm leaving food once/twice a week. Though he has basically not left his hide-away in 8 days now...he IS rotating and changing position (and looking out at me with clear bright eyes). I've turned off the UV light to conserve it, but his heat light is on 12 hours a day incase he does want to bask.

I've heard that it's good to take them out to mist them and let them 'stretch' to keep them moist...but I'm in the school of thinking that what he's doing what he's doing for a reason...and I'm NOT going to bother him. Though if he DOES come out to bask...I may mist him down...does this sound reasonable?

Thanks for your info. Good to know this stuff. But funny...considering how common it seems to be after reading up on it....it was never mentioned at the store that I got him. I told the owner the symptoms and he was like a wave of his hand and "Awww...he's just in Burmation...no worries". And I'm thinking "Yah could have told me about this!!! If you don't know whats going on it could be quite alarming!"

So thanks!

It certainly does sound lke he is healthy and with a good weight. Brumation won't be a problem for him at all. He will lose a little weight but it shouldn't be drastic. When my female brumated, she lost about 25g or so. But she was around 300g before she brumated for the first time so I wasn't worried abut the weight loss. I knew that was what she was going through as in the apartment I was in, it wasn't very well insulated and as I paid for the heat, I didn't want to have a huge heating bill each month by cranking up the heat. So that difference in temperature was what put her into brumation.

During the 4 months my female was in brumation, she would come out for a few hours or most of a day (I worked a later shift in the day so many times when I woke up late morning she was already out basking, so I don't know for sure how long she had been out). Typically she came out every two weeks or so, give or take. I don't think there is any need to dig your dragon out to mist. In the wild they won't be misted as they are not lying out in the open where morning dew or rain can reach them. They are buried in small dens, under logs or rocks etc. It is fine to give her a misting after she comes out on her own for a bit of water. Small amounts of food can be offered, but you don't want to really fill them up as you want the food to be completely digested before they go back to brumating.

Not all pet store employees know alot about the proper care of the animals they sell. Some are more knowledgeable than others. Forums like this one and online caresheets are a great reference, despite conflicts between sheets. ALot of information on the internet is accurate but also, alot are older and out of date or just plain inaccurate, as the publisher of the caresheet may not have done their research very well, if at all. Or it could be an old method that they feel has worked for them, or a new method that is working for them so far.

Also, the petstore owner may have decided not to mention brumation as not all bearded dragons do it in their first year. She/he may have felt too much information right away may be hard to remember and was more concerned you have the basic care requirements down pat. Things like basking temp, uvb etc. THis particular petstore employee seem sto know his stuff, so it was good to check in with him again about this new development in your dragon. Not sure how his other information was accurate but he was right about the brumation

The only bad thing about brumation, is you don't get to see him/her every day and interact with him. I noticed th at with my female, after a couple days of not seeing her looking at me through her cage and doing her other peculiar activities, I missed her. Even now, having had to sell her about a y ear and half ago due to moving and not having a place to keep her comfortablely for 2-3 months while I looked for a new place, I stil miss her. Eventually I wil be getting another bearded dragon. Th ey just have too much character not to have at least one in my collection of exotics.