I've had my beardies nearly 4 yrs. And I've seen them slow down eating in the winter time before. But never like this. They just don't eat at all from what I've seen. I give them their veggies every day and worms are always in their dish, but they show no appetites for anything, not even their favorite things like wax worms, grapes, and squash. My male ate a couple worms and so did my female, but that's been it for weeks. I'm wondering if this is normal? Does anyone else have their beardies just stop eating completley? And how long can they go on like this?

I have a female doing the same thing...I have thought it was her form of brumation although she slept a few days and now is awake...I don't know but if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it too, Take care all Beth

 What you're going through is quite normal for this time of year. They slow down on their own and start to sleep a lot. What I do is to give them a week without food then I give them a good soak to make sure that their digestive track is empty. Once their gut is cleaned out I shut off their lights for 6-8 weeks. I'll pull them out after three to four weeks to check their health. I offer a bit of water and put them right back in their cage. If I see a dragon moving around their cage several days in a row I turn their lights back on and put them back on food and water. If they've gone the full brumation I turn their lights back on regardless. Sometimes it make take some time for them to show interest in food, but that's normal. As long as they aren't getting thin I don't worry.

I hope that this helps.

Rich

I have three beardies and one of them is starting to eat less and sleep more... I was worried at first but its been going on for almost a week and a half now and he still seems healty just a little sedated. Mine are all juvie still though.

RichBeasley wrote:  What you're going through is quite normal for this time of year. They slow down on their own and start to sleep a lot. What I do is to give them a week without food then I give them a good soak to make sure that their digestive track is empty. Once their gut is cleaned out I shut off their lights for 6-8 weeks. I'll pull them out after three to four weeks to check their health. I offer a bit of water and put them right back in their cage. If I see a dragon moving around their cage several days in a row I turn their lights back on and put them back on food and water. If they've gone the full brumation I turn their lights back on regardless. Sometimes it make take some time for them to show interest in food, but that's normal. As long as they aren't getting thin I don't worry. I hope that this helps. Rich

 

That helps a lot. Thanks very much!

So do you provide any heat while the lights are off?

As long as the room temperatures are in the mid to upper sixties you should fine. If you give them heat you'll increase their metabolism and they'll start to loose weight. That's not good.

That is interesting, I have never heard of just shutting things completely down for the brumation.  How long have you done this?  I am really curious, this is the second year of brumation for my girl, and we want to breed her this coming spring/summer.  I definitely want to do things proper, she is a hypo-leucistic and would love to have some good clutches.
Thanks
(sorry Oroborous, I am not trying to take your post!  )