Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am nearing th end of my brumation. I am in the middle of week 7. does this plain sound ok. also, is 56 degrees for malis and geyri too cold. what is the coldest they can go to safely. right now they are at 56 degrees. Also i had the first 4 weeks of brumation kind of warm (65-75) and they would bask the second the light went on then after it went of they would go to sleep. so they would be active for about 4-4.5 hours per day. Is this normal. Now they are in a constant sleep at a temp of 56 degrees. is 4 weeks of 65-75 and 2 weeks of 56 degrees an ok brumation. Next year i will put them in the frige and skip the 4 week step. All the steps are listed below. if i have it too cold please tell me and i will adjust it. Also, at these temps do you think they will breed in the spring.

1-2 (2 weeks) week of slowly turing the lights down
3-6 (4 weeks) weeks of constat 60-75
7-8 (2 weeks) weeks of constat 56
9-10 (2 weeks) weeks of bringing up the temps
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Mike
1.1.3 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Brown, Green, Orange)
0.1 geyri (Flame)
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/ Lab/ ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

Personally I think anything under 60 degrees is too low. If the temperatures temporarily drops to 56 at night and then is boosted into the 60's during the day possibly, but a constant 56 degrees sounds risky. Are you making sure to raise temps up to 85 or so for a couple hours a day to boost their immune system? How long have you had these Uro's in your care?

Peter

I have had them since the begining of last april. They are wild caught so when i got them they started to breed and the female produced a clutch of 9 eggs, but only 3 hatchlings were produced out that clutch of 9 eggs. my lighting takes 3 weeks instead of 2 weeks which i had posted above. Also, for the first 4 weeks of deep brumation the basking spot would hit up to 85 degrees. Since they started losing weight i feared i had the temps too high so i put them in the frige at a constat 56 degrees, ever since then they have maintained the same weight and have gone into a deep brumation. Sould i not disturb them, or should i have them bask a few times during the week at 80 degrees. Also, at agama international they said morocco has a chance of frost for 4 months, so wouldn't malis and some other uros be able to handle it.
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Mike
1.1.3 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Brown, Green, Orange)
0.1 geyri (Flame)
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/ Lab/ ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

You could be right...it's all a guessing game at this point with these animals. One thing I do know however is that even when there's frost on the ground a hole 3 feet under will stay relatively warm, so they aren't actually subjected to freezing temperatures. I personally would not subject them to temps below 60 and would raise their temps for a couple hours a day just because it's more important to me to have healthy lizards than to be absolutely positive they will breed. As it was said before, deep brumation is a risky process. Deer Fern Farms explained that by raising the temperatures a couple hours a day to spark their immune system they had fewer casualties. You may not get them to breed at 65 but you may not get them to live at 56, I guess it all depends on what's important. Please look at the link below, it is a collection of actual temperatures from Israel at different depths underground. As you can see, at 100 cm the temperatures never falls below 20 degrees C (68 degrees F). Anyway, take this information as you may and I wish you the best of luck. Keep us informed how it works out for you.

Peter
Israel Ground Temperatures