Bearded Dragons & Brumating
Written by Bennett Greenburg, BeardieDragon.com

Brumation is like a "hibernation lite". When the weather starts to turn cold and the days get shorter, Beardies know their food supply will dwindle. In response to these changes as well as changes in barometric pressure that they can sense, many Beardies will opt to slow down their metabolism. They eat less and sleep a lot more. They are less active and may just find a dark place and sleep most of the winter. Sometimes females will slow down at the end of the breeding season as well. Occasionally they may wake up, poke their head out and even bask, only to return to their restful sleep. Because of their slowed metabolism, their lack of eating does not affect their weight to any marked degree. A Beardie may go for several months without eating and only lose a few grams.

No matter how many times you go through them, brumating it is still a worry. Is my Beardie sick? Is this brumation or is something wrong? Will my Beardie be OK for so long? Is he sleeping too long? For the most part our worries are unfounded and Beardies have been programmed by nature to do what they need to do.

There are some things we can do to relieve our anxiety and help keep our bearded babies healthy. First off get a fecal when you see your Beardie slowing down and you think it?s brumation time. A fecal can tell you what is going on inside your Beardie. If there is a high concentration of parasites, that may be the cause of the slow down in eating and activity rather than brumation. It is also not a good idea to let a Beardie brumate with High levels of parasitic infestation due to their weakened state.

Fig. 1 - Adult Beardies Snoozing away in drawers.

Once your Beardie begins brumation, you can knock the ambient cage temps down (as low as 65F), shorten the light cycle to 8 hours and if your Beardie has dug in for the winter, turn off the UV light. You may also wish to take your Beardie out and soak in a warm bath for 5 minutes once every other week just to make sure they are hydrated. This is best done if you see them up and about and can even be done more often when possible. I would be reluctant to wake them up just to give them a bath but if you do they should go right back to sleep. It is also a good idea to weigh them at the beginning of their brumation period and again intermittently. By keeping an eye on their weight you can see if anything is going astray.

I do not offer food unless I see them actively looking for something to eat. It is very important, if they do eat, make sure they poop. Going to sleep with a full tummy can lead to problems because of undigested food causing infections.

As I always say, Beardies are all different. I have Beardies that start brumation on their own time table. Even when other Beardies in the same enclosure are running around eating, they are getting ready to go to sleep. Some will sleep for a couple of weeks; some will sleep for a couple of months. In South Florida most of my Beardies go into brumation around November and they usually wake up by the end of February. Lighting and temperatures indoors and the barometric pressure outdoors can and often does influence their sleep patterns.

Generally, Beardies under a year old will not brumate but even that depends on when they were born. Those born early in the season may brumate as they are approaching their birthday when the weather starts to turn while those born in June or later will eat their way through the winter if given the chance. To top it off some Beardies do not brumate at all, ever!

My personal experience:

My Beardies under 8 months old never really brumated. Some of those that were close to a year old when winter set in would slow down and take naps for weeks at a time but would then get up and move around acting normal again, then go back to sleep.

I acquired 3 Beardies at about a year old in August several years ago. They were under 200g. They all went into brumation in November and woke up in February. When they awoke they became eating machines and by June, 2 of the 3 were over 300 grams.

Fig. 2 - Sandy sleeping away age 18 months old.

I have vision cages stacked 4 high. When I had them sitting on the floor instead of up on a platform, the bottom cages would always go into brumation first as their cage would get the cold from the floor coming through rather than the heat from the cages below like all the others.

I have not seen size or age (over one year old) make any difference in their brumating habits.

My first two Beardies were males and did not brumate at all. Last year, the juvies (born June and July) that did brumate, started late and did not go down until late December-January. This year I had Beardies doze off as early as the end of July. Most go down in November. Those that went down early didn?t generally stay down long like those going down in November. I would not see them for days at a time. Then they would wake up, eat, bask, poop (after a day or so) and then go back to sleep. They can vary greatly and I would not ever want to set a rule that they have to be a certain age or size to brumate or that they only brumate when it is cold or shorter days.

I have Beardies that break every rule. I have heard that this season has been atypical for many people so you may want to take that into account.

This article is Copyright Bennett Greenburg ?2004. Reproduced with Permission.
Accompanying photographs Copyright Cheri Smith, The Reptile Rooms ?2004.