Beardie Help

[Sofoula88]

Hey all, so I need some advice on my beardies... They sleep alot and don't want to come out or stay out long if they do,they don't seem interested in food..probably have like 3 crickets each after days of not eating..I try taking them out early in the morning but they jst wanna sleep and if I wake em up they jst try n go back to sleep and look for a place to hide..they've been doing this a while now..I thought it was brumation but they've been like this for ages..I dnt think there sick because they dnt seem lethargic when there out..I'm Not sure if it's coz they've gotten older or if somethings wrong..they've been together since they were babies in the same tank..they used to eat way more crickets when they were younger and stayed out twice as long..now I'm lucky if I can get them to stay out for more than an hr before they look for a hide..I'm not sure what could be wrong if there is something wrong becasue like I said they've been in the same "environment" there whole lives.. I've had em for nearly 2 years now..the temps in the tank are kept at around 35 average during the day and I try not to let it get below 25 at night...again been like this since I got them so yeh I dunno if I should keep trying to wake em up or leave em..I've left them before and they will sleep for days..sometimes they will be awake but won't come out.. So need to know if there's anything I can do or should be doing
thanks

 

[JAS101]

whats the basking area temp ? im pretty sure we have been over this with u in the past ?

 

[JordanG]

wat age are they, i'd say they are brumating

 

[LizardLady]

Hey Sofoula88!

My first guess, considering the temps you're running, is 'brumation'... An awful lot of captive reptiles have been in the same "position" yours are in for a couple of months now, due to the change in weather patterns.

If your animals have enough condition on them, and THEY want to go down, let them (won't matter what you do anyway, THEY set the rules!). Just drop their enclosure temps gradually over the next few weeks, and they'll do the rest!

Hope this helps!

Best,
Carolyn

PS - Not too sure I like the sound of them living in the same enclosure - I can give you 100 reasons why, but that's another story!

whats the basking area temp ? im pretty sure we have been over this with u in the past ?

copy&paste: "I've had em for nearly 2 years now..the temps in the tank are kept at around 35 average during the day and I try not to let it get below 25 at night..."

wat age are they, i'd say they are brumating

copy&paste: "I've had em for nearly 2 years now..the temps in the tank are kept at around 35 average during the day and I try not to let it get below 25 at night..."

If she's had them for nearly two years, they'd be adults...

 

[SYNeR]

Yea, I guess they've aged enough now to brumate.. I wouldn't worry too much.
Last year my two (pygmy beardeds) buried themselves in sand for around 3 months.

 

[JAS101]

35 for basking is too cold , kinda why i asked what the basking temp was and not av temp .

 

[Sofoula88]

I have the probe sensor right at the basking area (which they hardly go to now) and it hits around 37-38 on my thermometer.. Ao proba hits 40 right under it I'd imagine.. I thought this was brumation 2..the problem is at some point they stop right?..well they've been like this for a long time since the last cool season..I got advice to cool them on here when they were around 8 months because they were like this.. I later discovered that because it was cold they wernt coming out so once I bumped up the temps I saw a change but then they jst went back to being weird..I'm trying to understand if it's something to do with environment but it dosent make sense to me coz they've been like this since babies and nwver had a problem til they hit about 8 months ...there about 1.5 yrs old now.. So I dunno maybe there just different..I know once beardies reach adult hood they slow down abit but I dunno if that's what it is

There are some days when I'll wake up and see one of them basking and she wakes herself up..and sometimes will eat around 8 crickets...but my other beardie dosent do that..and again this rarely happens

Right now my smaller one is sitting on the cool side awake..but jst sitting there and my other one is asleep..if I leave him/them..they probably will stay that way all day

Jas101 - not sure if u have been over this with me before or not but I'm asking again because nothing has change since then and obviously the advice I got last time only made things worse.. It's basically like there in a permanent brumation...that's what it looks like to me or how I can describe it.. I lower the temps they don't do anything..I higher the temps same thing happens.. Except then they climb the walls and frantically search for a hide.. Once they get under the basking area and heat up there ok sometimes..but again they have no interest in getting warm or food.. All they seem to want to do is sleep and sit there n not move..sometimes they will eat if it has been a couple of days.. Other times they will look at the crickets but won't try n chase them ..

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Ok your way of speaking is confusing me. You are saying that last year you cooled them and then all this summer they have barely come out and now it is winter again??? and they are still not coming out? Please give dates if possible.

 

[Sofoula88]

Basically yes... Since they were 8 months which was last winter I think they have been acting like this,lowering the temps or "cooling them" as someone recommended made it worse..so I keep the temps how I always have them now but the majority of the time they do not want to come out or stay out..I dunno if it's coz there adult now...they seem to interact well which is good,they sleep together and stuff but jst don't want to eat alot or stay out ..basically always want to hide and I'm not sure what's causing this or if it's normal or not and I should jst let them do there thing..dosent seem normal to me though..maybe I'll jst leave them to come out in there own time

 

[GeckPhotographer]

If they have good condition on them at the moment then you should cool them for now. Leave them a week without feeding to let them poo while still giving them some warmth. The gradually lower there temperatures. Once this is done they should sleep and you should let them, do not go waking them up (Don't let them freeze though). They may come out every now and again to drink so keep water available. Leave them this way for several months at least until early spring.

When spring comes gradually warm them up to a basking spot of about 40 C, replace whatever you are currently using for UVB at that time too, these things wear out after a time and you may as well replace it. If the beardies do not wake up after you have raised the temperatures (wait a little while just to be sure) then check the temperature that the hide they are sleeping in gets to in a day, it is possible they will not be feeling the effects of the raised heat from there.

Beardies require both adequate heat, a basking spot of about 40 C and ample UVB to function at their most active and healthy, it may be one of these is not sufficient in your cage.

If they do not have good condition on them and you want them to stay awake over winter (Please not it may effect the longevity of the animal if you do not let it rest over this period of time although this is far from proven and for young animals it is often recommended to keep them warm), then you should replace your source of UVB now, you should make sure this is not diluted by glass, or plastic and is directly accessible to the lizard. If you are using a compact fluoro place it near your heat lamp. Also slightly raise the wattage of your heat lamp for slightly higher temps, beardies love and are most active at high temps even into the low to mid 40's.

 

[Sofoula88]

Thanks for your advice geckphotographer ..I think seing as it will be summer in a couple of months I will probably not cool them,honestly I am happy to cool them if that's what they need I am just worried because that's what I did last yr and they have been like this since then..unless I did something wrong.. But yeh I'm gonna replace the uv and am working on fixing up the whole tank and adding some basking platforms to get near the uv because they don't get very high close to it atm...

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Sounds good hopefully you will be able to get them active and happy again, just remember it is advisable to cool them off most years once they are adults.