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Is my lizard trying to brumate?

kephy Dec 06, 2003 09:48 PM

He's a 2 1/2 year old beardie. I live in Texas, where it stays warm pretty late in the year. Last year he never tried to hybernate. He has always remained active. We just noticed him laying on his belly scratching like he was trying to bury himself, but he's on shelf liner so there's nowhere to go.

I really don't know much about brumation. Does this sound like normal behavior? If this is the case, what should I do to make him comfortable for the winter?

Replies (3)

Christyj Dec 07, 2003 12:18 AM

Does he have a hide or half log he can go in on the cool side?
If you think he is brumating, you can slowly cut the light hours down to 10 on, and 14 off.
Some people shut the lights all the way off if the dragon goes in to a hidey. Some leave the cycle as is. The bottom line is, if your dragon wants to brumate, he will, no matter what. But you can make it easier by providing him a place to do it in.
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Mattman Dec 07, 2003 11:38 AM

He very may well be looking for a place to curl up for a brumation period. He is the right age for it. I live in the north east though so with the colder nights and shorter days I did not have to make much changes in temp other then the natural change that the ambient temp in the house is for them to start brumating. When I knew they all were looking to brumate I did offer them a shaded, much cooler spot in their enclosures by just angleing a piece of cardboard for them on the far wall, and cut back the light from 14-10 hours (every week cutting back an hour). This shaded spot cooled the temps in that spot to the ambient house temps which is 70 were they stay most of the time coming out every 5 days or so for water and a short time in the basking spot. When they do come out I do offer food just incase this is their wake up time, but most of the time they take a nibble at most drink and head back to the hide. I also use the shelf liner substrate, but some of my dragons never had the sand or other particle substartes. The ones that did I just did the same with the angled piece of cardboard making a cubby hole against the wall and shredded up some paper towels for them to crawl under. I think for the most part they are just looking for a shaded secure spot to sleep.
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kephy Dec 07, 2003 03:21 PM

Well I did as you both suggested and made him a little hidey spot in the corner. I used cardboard and paper towels. So far he's back to basking, but I'm hoping next time he gets uneasy looking for somewhere to hide, he'll find it. I was gonna buy him a half log or cave at the next reptile show on the 13th, but I guess he just couldn't wait that long!

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