Brumation

[Khrysty]

For those of you who routinely brumate your leopards: what temperature do you eventually go down to, what is your light cycle, and could you explain your process as far as time frame, equipment used to maintain temperature, etc?

I'm not sure I'll ever attempt to brumate my groups, and I certainly won't this season, but I'd like to be educated on the subject just in case.

Thanks a million

 

[Jordan]

sorry this isnt really helpful for you, but just wanna say thanks for asking this, because i think il be interested in knowing too. lol thanks.

 

[ddkgeckos]

i dont brumate mine as such but what i do is not heat the room they are in and the air temps drop. i keep the floor heat the same so they can still digest properly. I find that mine barely come out of there hides for a few months and lose hardly any weight they eat once or twice every 2 weeks although i offer food every 3 days. Jordan living in sheffield you should be able to do this like i do as we will have basically the same weather conditions. What i have found doing it this way is that all my females start ovulating in late december early january. I think the natural seasons help them now what they are doing rather then being the same temp all the time.
Mine have gone into this state now and have been for a few weeks it gets very boring though and i cant wait for january.

 

[Glass_]

I have a question, if you don't brumate them then when will they start ovulating?

 

[Khrysty]

I have a question, if you don't brumate them then when will they start ovulating?

Mine ovulate, like clockwork, every January/February. They just do it without any outside interference when they are at that point in their life.

 

[Quantumhigh]

For my collared lizards it was a 1 to 1 1/2 week cooldown time. First stop feeding them, then just shed the light cycles down to 5-6hrs of daylight over the 1 to 1 1/2 weeks before turning off completly. I then had temptures in mid 70s f. If you dont need to brumate then I wouldnt suggest it. Other health issuses can pop up quick like respiratory infections. Guessing leopard geckos would be pretty much the same process. Hope this helped.