Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a year and a half old Rankins Dragon, and I've noticed some behaviors only a couple fo times, but I thought I would ask about them anyways.

1- right now, my rankins doesn't have much of an appetite, and she just chills in her cave pretty much all the time. I take her out every week to make sure she gets exercize and I put her in her little bath and stuff, but I was wondering if this was due to some kind of hibernation or something?

2- The other night when she was out, she did this thing when she closed her eyelides, and then they start to puff out really big, almost like she pushing her eyeballs outwards. 10 or so seconds after that she returned her eyes to normal, and opened them and was fine. What is that?

3- When I put her in her bath, after a little while, she scratches herself, kind of like a dog would scratch behind its ear with its hidleg. Is this somethign I should worry about?

1 - probably brumation which would be normal. it is kind of like hibernation

2 - puff the eyes is a sign of upcoming shedding. its loosening the skin around the eyes

3 - same a 2. probably going to shed shortly

"brumation" - that means that she's in heat, right?

should I be looking for a partner for her?

Read the previous poster's message again. I'm not sure where the confusion was, but brumation is the reptilian word for hibernation, not going into heat like a dog. I would highly suggest not getting your Rankins a mate unless you want tons of babies and you are willing to do a large amount of research on the subject and ready for the financial costs of keeping the babies alive. A female should only be with a male for enough time to breed, which means you would need a set-up for each one. If they are housed together the male will constantly try to mate and with the female, eventually stressing and degrading thier healths.

I suggest going and reading up on the many care sheets on the web. Most of them explain brumation and alot of other care issues which you may or may not be aware of. A couple of good places for care sheets are:

www.reptilerooms.com
www.beautifuldragons.com

Also come back here with any questions you have. Good luck.