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I stopped feeding the adults to prepare them to brumate. Wednesday the 15th was the last day I put any food in for them. On Saturday the 18th I found three crickets running around that I had missed and have not seen any since. Otis is losing weight rapidly. His tail looks ok, but his belly is gone, and his abdomen looks very thin by his back legs. The girls were fatter to begin with and they still look ok. They always scarfed whatever food was available to them while Otis seemed to have figured out he didn't have to and that there would always be food coming. I am guessing in the wild Otis experienced a decrease in food before natural brumation, but is it ok to let him go to sleep this skinny? If I don't let him brumate, will he shoot blanks at breeding time? Thanks for your help.
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Valerie

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

vrk.photosite.com

it seems pretty early in brumation to be that skinny. i have never brumated walter and he fertilized some eggs this season. i am no expert though but i think i would wake him up slowly
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

All day long the 3 of them run the front of the glass, try to crawl up it and give me looks that say "Dammit woman!! We're hungry!!! Feed us!!" Otis looks a lot skinnier when he is doing that as opposed to just sitting. Sam had not seen them for a while and didn't think he was as thin as I do. The girls look a little thinner too, but they were both pretty fat to begin with. They always ate a lot every day, where Otis would not, he seemed to know more food was going to appear daily. None of them have pooped at all for a couple of days but are still passing urine, so I think I am going to shut the fountain off, then start reducing the heat in the next day or two, and give brumation a try. I'll just have to keep a close eye on them and bring them out of it if their tails look skinny. I shut the heat off to the spare bedroom and it has been staying in the 50's in there, so I guess that is where they will go. The babies are still fat and happy. I have been leaving them in their own cage since the big one is a no-food zone and they are not real thrilled about that, but soon they will have the run of it, all to themselves. Hermes is supposed to go to a new home about Valentine's Day, around the time I am planning to start waking the adults up.
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Valerie

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

vrk.photosite.com