Reptile & Amphibian Forums

concerning weight.
I have a good scale, and over the last 3-4 months she started packing on some serious weight.
She had stalled at around 500 for a few months.
Then started eating almost every green I put in her cage, and would beg for more superworm, with misc other worms as weekly treats.
She now weights 64* and has stopped chasing after her food.
This has been just under a week, she still ate 75% of her diet if I hand fed her. I kinda assumed she was just happy at this weight.
She has never been very active, but has slowed and and now started to hide, although when I got home tonight she was sleeping in her basking site(110).
Brumation?

Thanks

Bask 110
High 90ish
Low 80ish
Rough Tile
2 hides
MVB 22"up
4x2
18month female
19"

It's tough to say since there is a lot of variation between animals. My rule is this time of year I don't encourage them to eat so I don't hand feed unless they are normally active. It's always better if they brumate to do it without a full stomach. It's always best to be sure, no one can give you the right answer here since we don't have experience with your particular animal. My recommendation is to have a vet check and fecal done. You should have one done once a year anyway and this seems like a good time. My 2nd recommendation is to weigh her every week for her entire lifetime. I do this with all my animals. It is a tremendous help over the years when I can go back and see what they did last year or the year before, etc. I weigh each animal every Sunday unless they are brumating and have a sheet that I record it on. Then next year you will feel confident knowing when brumation started, how long it lasted, and what her weight trend does. Sick reptiles lose weight fast, healthy reptiles can go months without eating with very little weight loss.

Great thanks.
About 4 months ago I had her at the vets.
Fecal and Bloodwork was done, A-ok.
I will stop assist feeding her.
I weigh, not on a set schedule, but every week or two I will set her down on the scale.
For the last few months it has been a steady 8-10g gain per week.
But only a 2 or 3 grams this week.
I will watch her, and find some reading to do on brumation.
Last year she was still a juvie at this time, but did hide out for 2 weeks early this year.
So this would be her first real bru...
Ill do some reading, and maybe work another vet visit into the budget for my next check.

I often see the misuse of the terms "assist feeding" and "force feeding". Normal feeding is putting food in the enclosure and the animal goes and eats it. Hand feeding or playing with food in front of the animal would be encouraging them to eat. Opening a sick animals mouth and putting food in it by syringe or whole is "assist feeding". I assist feed 2 handicapped dragons that cannot or will not eat on their own. Force feeding is tube feeding. I had to tube feed a Tegu that was so calcium deprived he could not swallow.

Ok, so I should have used 'hand feed'
I now get the differences, thanks.