Beardies

[MissSkittles]

Interesting that all 3 of our beardies are doing similar things around the same time. Even though their temps and all are maintained and they are lacking natural weather changes, their internal clocks are seemingly telling them to change their habits.

 

[AmandaS]

Interesting that all 3 of our beardies are doing similar things around the same time. Even though their temps and all are maintained and they are lacking natural weather changes, their internal clocks are seemingly telling them to change their habits.

Exactly what I was thinking!!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Spike has been spending more of his mornings inside his hide and I’m wondering if we’re getting geared up for brumation again.

Opal has been laying under her hide and sleeping a lot. I have been wondering the same thing!!!

Likewise, but just the odd day here & there. It seems too early. Last year he didn't do the big nap until Dec-Mar.

I think it is a natural behavior. Mine has gone into his plant and just sat. I have read many reports of Beardies going up into trees and sitting for days, but that is to avoid the heat on the ground. I think we just get to see some lingering bits of this behavior. We don't get it hot enough for them to need to do this so I think it is a once in a while.

He does laps through his plants when doing his "randy rounds" (lookin' for lady dragons ) but in 2 years, this is the first time he's camped out in there for a whole day+

He has plenty of opportunity to climb his log, and usually perches up there for the night unless on top of his mountain.

As long as he's not sick (and I can't imagine how/why he would be)...

I have noticed he's becoming a bit of a chonk (huge bug belly), so I've cut down on his bugs. Needless to say, he is not happy about that.

Thank you all! One of his (unofficial) vets will be here in a couple of hours (social call, and to see the 2 newest—Ol' Grumpypants & Ol' Mitch). In anticipation, we went out & got home Covid tests for everyone—we're negative.

 

[summerseeking]

Not sure what's going on here...
Yesterday, Ol' Stinkeye decided to lay on his plants (the pothos in particular).

View attachment 310679

View attachment 310680

He's been there over 24 hrs now; hasn't moved more than 2".
He slept there all night, and hasn't basked yet today.
He hasn't gotten into anything. He had a bath 2 days ago—everything came out fine.

Any thoughts?

What are his basking temps? My guy had a day similar to this, when I checked his temps, they were too low. Turned up his basking light and he was back to normal the next day/

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

What are his basking temps? My guy had a day similar to this, when I checked his temps, they were too low. Turned up his basking light and he was back to normal the next day/

They're the same as they've been for almost 2 years.

 

[summerseeking]

They're the same as they've been for almost 2 years.

My temps changed because I added vent fans to his setup. Brumation coming?

 

[DocZ]

Does anyone vary their photoperiod and temps through the year for their beardies?
for my leo, I vary the photoperiod from 14 on and 10 off in the summer to 10 on and 14 off in the winter changing the times about every 3 or 4 weeks by 15 minutes on the on and off times. I also change his basking temp twice a month based on average temps in their natural range. He gets down to about 78F in Mid January and then up to the high 90s in June

 

[kinyonga]

Does anyone vary their photoperiod and temps through the year for their beardies?
for my leo, I vary the photoperiod from 14 on and 10 off in the summer to 10 on and 14 off in the winter changing the times about every 3 or 4 weeks by 15 minutes on the on and off times. I also change his basking temp twice a month based on average temps in their natural range. He gets down to about 78F in Mid January and then up to the high 90s in June

Because I live in Canada, my temperatures always varied during the seasons to some extent since I didn't have airconditioning. Of course the day length varied too.

 

[DocZ]

Because I live in Canada, my temperatures always varied during the seasons to some extent since I didn't have airconditioning. Of course the day length varied too.

The nighttime temps vary through the seasons as well
I would be really uncomfortable here without AC in the summer

 

[kinyonga]

The nighttime temps vary through the seasons as well
I would be really uncomfortable here without AC in the summer

It was either cool the air for me and heat it at the same time for the reptiles...or put up with the temperature the reptiles needed! We did finally get an airconditioner for the bedroom and that stopped all the temperature problems for almost all the days! There were a few days that the reptiles got hotter than they liked and we'd turn off the basking lights on those days.

 

[MissSkittles]

Does anyone vary their photoperiod and temps through the year for their beardies?
for my leo, I vary the photoperiod from 14 on and 10 off in the summer to 10 on and 14 off in the winter changing the times about every 3 or 4 weeks by 15 minutes on the on and off times. I also change his basking temp twice a month based on average temps in their natural range. He gets down to about 78F in Mid January and then up to the high 90s in June

I try to keep everything the same year round and with central ac for most of the year, I have very little fluctuations. The only changes that I’ve made that do seem to effect my beardie is moving his uvb from inside his enclosure to on top. When I did this last year, he went into brumation. This year I did it again recently due to a bulb change and new hammock spot and he’s looking sleepy again. My leopard geckos naturally seem to go into a seeming type of brumation in the winter months (less active and won’t eat).

 

[DocZ]

I try to keep everything the same year round and with central ac for most of the year, I have very little fluctuations. The only changes that I’ve made that do seem to effect my beardie is moving his uvb from inside his enclosure to on top. When I did this last year, he went into brumation. This year I did it again recently due to a bulb change and new hammock spot and he’s looking sleepy again. My leopard geckos naturally seem to go into a seeming type of brumation in the winter months (less active and won’t eat).

Last fall my leo slowed a bit around this time of year, but was actually pretty active in the winter even with basking temps in the high 70s. He has spent more time on his cool side this fall but is still usually out on his rock all day either in the basking lamp or nearby, but his temps are still low 90s right now

 

[MissSkittles]

Last fall my leo slowed a bit around this time of year, but was actually pretty active in the winter even with basking temps in the high 70s. He has spent more time on his cool side this fall but is still usually out on his rock all day either in the basking lamp or nearby, but his temps are still low 90s right now

Just wondering how you heat your Leo. I use heat mats but as they’ve got bioactive substrate I need to ensure there’s very little substrate in their warm hides. I had to give one of them a standard set up recently due to pinworms, and the reptile carpet doesn’t seem to let much heat thru. I’ve added a ceramic heat bulb but wondering about heat emitters. I don’t want to bake my poor little guy, but do want him to have a cozy warm area.

 

[DocZ]

Just wondering how you heat your Leo. I use heat mats but as they’ve got bioactive substrate I need to ensure there’s very little substrate in their warm hides. I had to give one of them a standard set up recently due to pinworms, and the reptile carpet doesn’t seem to let much heat thru. I’ve added a ceramic heat bulb but wondering about heat emitters. I don’t want to bake my poor little guy, but do want him to have a cozy warm area.

I use a Halogen bulb on a herpstat thermostat
This time of year his basking spot is in the 90s, it’s 80s on the hot side, and mid 70s on the cool side during the day. Nighttime varies with ambient temps but usually high 60s/low 70s

I use a loose sand/topsoil mix, probably not totally “bioactive”

 

[DocZ]

I’ve bought into the benefits of infrared A for heating them and halogens do a good job of providing IR-A

 

[MissSkittles]

Very interesting! While my leos have uvb and plant lighting, I haven’t thought that they would use a basking light/area. I’ll have to give that a try with my little ‘pinworm’ guy, who also came to me with some mbd, among other things. He’s the only one who I see occasionally sleeping outside his hide and taking advantage of the uvb.

 

[DocZ]

Very interesting! While my leos have uvb and plant lighting, I haven’t thought that they would use a basking light/area. I’ll have to give that a try with my little ‘pinworm’ guy, who also came to me with some mbd, among other things. He’s the only one who I see occasionally sleeping outside his hide and taking advantage of the uvb.

I use UVB light and LED plant lights as well
Larry comes out and sits directly under the basking bulb most mornings and then sleeps most of the day on top of the cave on the warm side just outside of where the basking bulb warms the top of the cave
He’s usually out all day long sleeping up there and then cruises around in the evenings after lights go off and is usually in one of the caves in the morning until his basking bulb really starts to heat up. I have the basking bulb on a two hour warm up/cool down cycle each day

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

My temps changed because I added vent fans to his setup. Brumation coming?

I hope not. Last year, he brumated from Dec to Mar or so (it's further back in this thread). If he begins this early, he could be down for 6 months. Not cool.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Does anyone vary their photoperiod and temps through the year for their beardies?

I did that first year, and I believe that may have triggered that first brumation. After Stinkeye woke up, I reset the lights to 12/12, and have kept them there since.

Several articles (and discussions on the beardie forum) theorized that keeping the climate constant may prevent them from going into brumation at all, which is what I'm going for.

 

[DocZ]

I did that first year, and I believe that may have triggered that first brumation. After Stinkeye woke up, I reset the lights to 12/12, and have kept them there since.

Several articles (and discussions on the beardie forum) theorized that keeping the climate constant may prevent them from going into brumation at all, which is what I'm going for.

I’m not surprised that keeping things constant helps keep their behavior more constant
In these discussions, was there an advantage or disadvantage to avoiding brumation?
Other than you don’t get as much interaction