6 month old blacksoil dragon to young to brumate ?

[wayneobro]

Hey all , was wondering if anyone may be able to help me out ? I have two six month old blacksoil dragon fatso n slim ( for obiouse resons ) . I have had them for three months now n I love them to bits but as of four days ago slim seems to be wanting to brumate ( I think ) he has just slowed right down n gone sleepy ? Constantly wanting to go back into his hide ? He ate about six crix last night but was the first time he had anything infour days he dose not have any of the symptoms of being impacted and also deficated a little yesterday , all temps n humiditys are fine n stable , my question is would he be berumating or not ? And is there anyway I can stop him other then raising the temps ? While on the otherhand fatso still pumps down 20+ crix day n poops like a machine n is bright as a spark ??? Just got me so confused ?? Any help would be sweet , cheers

 

[Funkstaa]

I'm far from an expert but my understanding is that it's a natural reaction to the winter, all 5 of my blacksoils have been out like a light for the last month and they're prob around 10 months now, like you I was hesitant and tried bumping up the temps but they are just doing their natural thing, I found it was too hard to fight instinct...
I was getting a little paranoid as a couple of mine are a bit undersized and picked one up ( I'm naughty i know lol ) but I got a sleepy half eye open responce but he seemed fine, so don't stress to much they know what they need to do, I suppose the best thing is keep monitoring them ..Hopefully someone more expierienced will give more info, but good luck!

 

[Chris1]

is it possible that slim is feeling intimidated by fatso, the bigger the size difference the more likely it is,..?

its not a good idea to let an underweight dragon brumate, and unless its a large and robust 6 month old i would try and stop him,....night time heat might do the trick,...

 

[FAY]

It probably is a natural thing, BUT who knows how many actually survive in the wild if they do this?
I personally feel that you should keep them eating through the winter for at least their first year.

 

[wayneobro]

Hey ,
They have lived in the same tank all there life ( so far lol ) n they both eat well at the same time together , the crix that one misses the otherone will chase down and suck up lol the only real diff is fatso also eats alot of veg where slim hates them , I have night time heat in the way of a heat cord under the sand as it has been getting down to like 5c around here lately ...

 

[J-A-X]

i keep pygmies and this thread may help with some of your questions, i put a response on there that i am too lazy to retype LOL

 

[J-A-X]

sorry, would have helped if i'd added the link

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-lizards-5383/beardie-brumation-pt-2-a-139936

 

[willett]

It probably is a natural thing, BUT who knows how many actually survive in the wild if they do this?
I personally feel that you should keep them eating through the winter for at least their first year.

I agree with Fay, I keep em heated and eating the 1st winter and let em cool from their 2nd.

 

[wayneobro]

Dam , kept the heat nice n high now all day but still nothing ??? my uv lights are only three months old , but if I got a dud would no uv cause this ?

 

[imalizard]

What are you temps during the night?
My little guy was trying to brumate and was unsure why, I had correct temp but still he wanted to have a long sleep. I got some advice from another keeper to try and heat them at night. Within a few days he was back to his normal self

 

[J-A-X]

this one may help too

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-lizards-5383/brumating-beardies-139422

 

[Jeannine]

every couple of days i get my BD out and offer her some water via a eye dropper and she happily has a long drink, i also offer her some crickets or woodies, she keeps her eyes shut but opens her mouth wide and when i put something in there she scoffs it down...then i put her back in the enclosure under the heat lamp and light and she goes back to sleep

am i doing the wrong thing by offering her food and water? i look at it as so long as shes still interested and taking water/food then i should keep offering it to her? but is it the right thing? i am only doing it every second day is that ok or should i wait longer between them? i must confess to being worried she will get dehydrated

 

[Chris1]

jeannine, as long as shes warm enough to digest her food its ok, the problems start when a dragon goes to sleep in the cold with a full tummy and cant digest the food, the food starts to rot, and the dragon gets really sick,..so as long as ur making sure ur girl is warm enough after eating and shes still pooing she'll be fine.

try popping salad into her mouth see if she opens her eyes in horror, lol,..!!

 

[Jeannine]

try popping salad into her mouth see if she opens her eyes in horror, lol,

:lol:

actually thats a good idea, might try some finely grated carrot next time

yep she is sleeping directly under the heat lamp, in fact she hasnt move from it at all

 

[wayneobro]

Ok just n update , no poop now in 8 days , once again had a few crix three days ago , I put it in the basking hotspot n he just flops himself off n scurries off into it's hide , buuuut it has now started rely digging n trying to burry itself iv kept temps up , warm baths , still no outward signs if impaction n the fact that it has in the last week lost a far bit of weight has me worried , think a vet check may be on the cards , even if I do look like a stooge .. If it is brumating no matter what I seem to do it's wanting to do it also fatso has started going into the hide part of the day n appers to be ( I know how dumb it sounds ) GUARDING the hide entrance ? Very very strange behavior ??

 

[FAY]

Wayne, Blacksoils can be notorious for dominating their cage mates so they don't eat. Especially having 5 together.

I suggest you seperate the one that is losing weight.

It may/or may not pick up.

 

[Fireflyshuffle]

Hey all. Most Black soils will brumate alot quicker than the centrals as there smaller in size, hence harder to seal in the heat, so they tend to want to brumate every year during the cold, where as some centrals just wont sleep because they store more heat. Well this is what i have found.
If you have your dragons temps on the hot spot at around 38 to 40 degrees and they are still asleep, they are too far gone and will have to be left untill they feel its warming up. They know what the weather is doing out there, regardless of being in captivity so unfortunatly sometimes it just cant be helped. What i have found though, is the only way i have been able to keep a dragon awake is keep them warm litteraly 24/7. So at night dont let it drop under 25 and you should find after a few days they will pop back out. Thought that may help and fay is right, if you have a dragon dominating, hence you have one thats smaller, seperate! I also need to add. If you have 5 in one enclosure, im guessing its not massive like a mansion but im guessing you only have the one basking spot which is no good for 5 dragons, hence the main reason for dominating in my opinion, and probably why they are cold because they just cant get warm enough with 5 in there. Id seperate and have 3 in one 2 in another with the cage having 3, id put two basking spots. Just my opinion. Cheers

 

[wayneobro]

Hey all , I don't have five only two I have tried seperating them at feeding time by giving fatso his fill of crickets taking him out for a while n then trying to feed slim , I get him out of his hide n he just watches the crickets run underneath him ? Befor the weather chilled out a bit here they were both feeding like crazy at the same time ? I have a basking light and compact uv on during the day ( and the heatcord on under the hide now that slim is in there most of the time ) then of a night time I have the heatcord on and a red nightlight the last few days the temp in the cool end has not dropped below 20 but still nothing ? Fatso is about shed today but slim is losing condition and liking pail concerned

 

[wayneobro]

Anyone ?? Lol

 

[Fireflyshuffle]

I thought i gave you some useful info. (apart from misunderstanding you had 5 not 2) If one is noticably smaller than the other you should seperate and get your cool end higher than 20.. Try to keep the whole environment around 25 at night and during the day make sure its approx 35 deg. They may come out of it but if your finding one is losing condition and pail, it should already be seperated and probably a vet visit if it doesnt pick up after a couple of days.
Before you do that, go to the vet and get a tin of Hills A/D its in a small tin just ask reception, get 10ml syringe and a 2ml syringe. Put some a/d in the 10ml syringe and drop some on the smaller ones lips untill its starts to lick it up and gently feed small amounts by mouth. This will boost your beardy dramatically if its whole system is down. Try that once seperating. If it doesnt pick up after 2 days - vet