Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey yall,

My frilled has been acting sorta strange lately. I keep him in a very tall cage, and he usually stays on his basking branch all day, but latley I've seen him on the ground more and more. he sleeps on the ground, and doesnt climb quite as high on the basking branch. He looks fine, and is eating like usual.

Do you think he is looking for a mate? I thought maybe he was too hot, so I lowered the temp, but that didnt seem to do anything.

Thanks,
Andrew

Has he/she brumated? My frilled started acting very sleepy and stopped feeding a few weeks ago, so I put her in a box and closed it up and set the box on top of one of my warm enclosures. At first I worried that mine was too young to brumate, but when I noticed a very sleepy frilly hanging out on the bottom of the enclosure everytime I tried to feed her, I figured it was ok. I checked inside earlier and she appears to be fine, no weightloss or wrinkles, just really sleepy. Maybe your frilly wants to sleep. I usually do a weight and length check before brumating, just so I will know of the changes. Even though there usually isn't any, it makes me feel better. I hate brumation.. I miss my frilly so much.

Actually yes, he did burmate. I thought he came out, but maybe not. It probably has something to do with that.

Andrew

Is he doing any better? I'm in VA and our weather got nice for a few days, now its chilly again. My frilled is still asleep. Of course, its only been a few weeks. I really miss her.

Acually yes! Shes eating better now, and basking. I think it was just a spell. Frilles have a tendency to that i think.

Glad to hear it! How long did he brumate and did he come out on his own? This is the first one I've had to go into brumation, where they went flat out asleep and totally off of food.

Well, lets see. He went into burmation around december. He came out in the end of Feburary. If you want to wake urs up, raise the temps ever so slightly and raise the humidity like crazy!

Mine did everything on its own. But rember, raise the humidity, other wise it could be sorta dangerious.

Andrew

What the heck is brumation?

Brumation is when a reptile (usually during winter) goes in for a nap to prepare for the next mating/breeding season. They do this in nature and also in captivity, even the ones that aren't going to be bred usually do it to some extent. Its not too bad for us as their owners because we don't have to feed them, but I sure miss em. You just have to make sure that they don't go into brumation with food in their stomach, as the food could rot and kill them. So you would take the food away about a week before (they usually don't want it anyway) give them a good soak, making sure they dry off well and let them sleep it off. My dragons don't even lose weight during brumation, so its all good. Its a good idea to research brumation just so you know what to expect. Sounds weird to new owners and some think the animal is sick, but its natures way and good for them. I hope I explained it so that it made sense.

mine is on the ground all the time, but when i got him from the pet shop they had him in a shallow cage and he just got used to being on the floor, but he also like to come down off his tree and hide in a cave sometimes too