Brumation

[jerrymb]

My gecko is under extreme brumation. He stopped eating about 2-3 weeks ago. He hasn't left his moist hide in about 3 weeks. When I take the cover off of his hide he looks up at me and seems to be ok. No weight loss. This all just seems kind of odd to me. I'm just wondering how long he can go without any food. Should I continue to leave him alone or should I try something to get him out of his hide and active.

 

[grboxa]

What are the temperatures in your tank?...if im not mistaken brumation happens only if you let steady temperatures get low enough ..theres a chance something else can be going on. If temperatures are fine, 90-95 warm 70-80 cool, I suggest you fill this out http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=70912 and make a post in the Health section so we can help. They do slow down a bit this time of the year because of winter....but I dont think 2-3 weeks without any food at all is normal. Im assuming hes not producing bowel movements?

 

[Desdemona]

I have one gecko that does this, and like yours in the wet hide. I don't have my wet hide in the warm part of the tank so that may have something to do with it. None of my other geckos will brumate, just the one. Since they all have pretty similar setups I leave mine be. If I remember right they are pretty short cycles compared to other lizards... mine brumates pretty lightly as well. Will wake up if I bug her (which I did last year).

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk

 

[jerrymb]

What are the temperatures in your tank?...if im not mistaken brumation happens only if you let steady temperatures get low enough ..theres a chance something else can be going on. If temperatures are fine, 90-95 warm 70-80 cool, I suggest you fill this out http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=70912 and make a post in the Health section so we can help. They do slow down a bit this time of the year because of winter....but I dont think 2-3 weeks without any food at all is normal. Im assuming hes not producing bowel movements?

The warm side is around 95F but the cool side at night this time of year probably drops down to around 62F. I have only 1 thermostat in the house so I can't raise the room temp where his tank is without heating the entire house and that's too expensive this time of year. I do have a red heat lamp that I turn on in the evening but I turn it off before I go to bed. Should I leave the heat lamp on 24 hrs a day?

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

The warm side is around 95F but the cool side at night this time of year probably drops down to around 62F. I have only 1 thermostat in the house so I can't raise the room temp where his tank is without heating the entire house and that's too expensive this time of year. I do have a red heat lamp that I turn on in the evening but I turn it off before I go to bed. Should I leave the heat lamp on 24 hrs a day?

Depends on the temp, ur goal is. Around 90 no higher than 95 on the hot side and over 75 on the cool side. I wouldn't worry to much if he hasn't lost weight, geckos not eating for a couple weeks isnt extreme during cold winter.

 

[jerrymb]

Depends on the temp, ur goal is. Around 90 no higher than 95 on the hot side and over 75 on the cool side. I wouldn't worry to much if he hasn't lost weight, geckos not eating for a couple weeks isnt extreme.

I would just like to see him come out and move around for awhile. It's no fun having him be in the hide around the clock. I've had reptiles before and even in the winter I never recall this type of behavior. Never had geckos before but I've had snakes,turtles,chameleons etc.

 

[grboxa]

I do agree with carlos on the fact that if he hasnt lost any weight that you shouldnt drive yourself to crazy about it,..I just thought 3 weeks is quite a long strike but like tosha said they share the same experience, mabye others will chime in aswell. just continue to monitor I guess. 62f is quite low, even though in the wild it gets cooler at night like some will tell you, raise it to atleast 73-75 at night and 80 during day for to the better of there immune system...I would invest in a blue bulb, they produce less heat then a red bulb and can be used for nights since it dosent interrupt there night cycle

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

The main reason why he is so lethargic is because the temp is 62during the day. Geckos arent like cats and dogs people sometimes forget that. Try raising the temps like i said but he will still slow down. Keep trying to feed even if he only eats a lil. Read this, its from a article about the behavior of geckos during these months and will helpe you understand.

November

The last leopard gecko eggs hatch the second week of the month. I’ve sold another 5 geckos and am making plans to attend a larger show 4 hours away to try to move at least 10 more. By Thanksgiving all the males have been removed to their own enclosures. The heat in the house is coming on most evenings, but temperatures during the day are in the low to mid 60′s. Except for 3 geckos, most of the leos are barely eating. The fat tails and the Coleonyx continue as usual, but I’m slowly lowering the temperatures this month because I’m planning to cool them from December first till mid-January. Oskar has stopped eating.
December

We’ve had the first snowfall, though it didn’t last. The geckos are lethargic and some have retreated to the cool side of the hide. They are barely eating and even the “babies” (some of whom are approaching 50 grams) aren’t that hungry. Even so, no one has noticeably lost weight. The fat tails and Coleonyx are sleeping away in their cooled enclosures, though I worry that the cages are too near the heat vent and that they won’t be cold enough. At any rate, I’m not feeding them. The female leopard geckos have been reconfigured in their groups for the coming season. I’m counting the days till January 15, when I re-introduce the males, but glad to have a break from their breeding.
Oskar’s nostrils are plugged.

 

[jerrymb]

The daytime temps are not 62F. That's the nightime temps. The daytime temps are around 75-80F on the cool side. 95 on the hot side.

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

The daytime temps are not 62F. That's the nightime temps. The daytime temps are around 75-80F on the cool side. 95 on the hot side.

oh,well its still low even for at night,try 80 for more activeness.

 

[jerrymb]

oh,well its still low even for at night,try 80 for more activeness.

So should I leave the red heat lamp on all night?

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

So should I leave the red heat lamp on all night?

I am not sure, you dont want to overheat the gecko, use a digital thermometer to record the temp if it goes hotter than 84 then you should try something else

 

[gecko4245]

The warm side is around 95F but the cool side at night this time of year probably drops down to around 62F. I have only 1 thermostat in the house so I can't raise the room temp where his tank is without heating the entire house and that's too expensive this time of year. I do have a red heat lamp that I turn on in the evening but I turn it off before I go to bed. Should I leave the heat lamp on 24 hrs a day?

If you house is 62 at night he must be freezing without the heat bulb. Leave it on. He will still have the cool side if he wants to move.

 

[Desdemona]

Just make sure the bulb is the type that doesn't inturpt them... I don't remember the exact colors, but it would probably say so on the box. The lizards still think it's "night" but they are warm.

 

[grboxa]

some people said there leos noticed red light, some say they dont. I noticed my gecko star gazing at the light when I had the red light on at night, thats I mentioned to purchase the blue bulb to be on the safer side.

 

[acpart]

The main reason why he is so lethargic is because the temp is 62during the day. Geckos arent like cats and dogs people sometimes forget that. Try raising the temps like i said but he will still slow down. Keep trying to feed even if he only eats a lil. Read this, its from a article about the behavior of geckos during these months and will helpe you understand.

November

The last leopard gecko eggs hatch the second week of the month. I’ve sold another 5 geckos and am making plans to attend a larger show 4 hours away to try to move at least 10 more. By Thanksgiving all the males have been removed to their own enclosures. The heat in the house is coming on most evenings, but temperatures during the day are in the low to mid 60′s. Except for 3 geckos, most of the leos are barely eating. The fat tails and the Coleonyx continue as usual, but I’m slowly lowering the temperatures this month because I’m planning to cool them from December first till mid-January. Oskar has stopped eating.
December

We’ve had the first snowfall, though it didn’t last. The geckos are lethargic and some have retreated to the cool side of the hide. They are barely eating and even the “babies” (some of whom are approaching 50 grams) aren’t that hungry. Even so, no one has noticeably lost weight. The fat tails and Coleonyx are sleeping away in their cooled enclosures, though I worry that the cages are too near the heat vent and that they won’t be cold enough. At any rate, I’m not feeding them. The female leopard geckos have been reconfigured in their groups for the coming season. I’m counting the days till January 15, when I re-introduce the males, but glad to have a break from their breeding.
Oskar’s nostrils are plugged.

I'm the one who wrote the article quoted above (about the seasonal changes --by the way, when quoting an article it's a good idea to give the source, which in this case is www.geckotime.com). At the moment I have 15 adult leopard geckos who are offered food every 3 days. The range of responses includes:
--eats at least 3-4 superworms every time food is offered
--eats 1-2 superworms most times food is offered
--eats 1 superworm once in awhile
--doesn't eat at all

Some of the geckos have moved themselves to the hides on the cool side (the hot side remains in the low 90's and the air temp inside the hides is probably similar) and have essentially brumated themselves. Things may have been different if I had a room where the ambient temps were in the 80's all year round, but my "reptile room" is my living room and my house is in the low 60's during the day in winter.

Some of my geckos will probably not eat for several months. Oskar, mentioned above, is the most extreme and usually doesn't eat from Nov-May, though he did take 3 superworms last night. He usually loses about 20 grams during this time (he's 85 grams during the summer). Other geckos of mine virtually don't eat and don't lose much weight at all.

I would say that if the gecko is maintaining a reasonable tail size and weight, don't worry about it. Offer food a few times a week and let it do what it wants to do.

Aliza

 

[brillobee]

I've noticed my adult females have taken to sleeping more on the cool side or moist hides lately too. Not coming out for food. Maybe it's the year, first time the females have done this. Both are nice and fat so we'll see what happens. The youngins (less than a year) are still just as active and hungry.

 

[Big Red One]

I have similar ambient winter temps to low 60s and occasionally less. For the last few years this has had a slowing down effect on the Leo's.
A winter 'rest period' is something I believe is beneficial, Leos seem to respond to shorter days and cooler temps by slowing down accordingly.
I continue to maintain a normal 90f or so warm end and leave the cool ends to drop to room temps. Leopard geckos won't suffer in these conditions, it's kind of a natural range.
They do tend to then respond in early spring to the longer days and increased temps and usually this kicks off breeding cycles. I'm sure that a natural cycle of seasons certainly won't do any harm.....

Some Leos will go off food, I have maybe 30 percent currently significantly slowing/stopping and the rest are either as they were or just easing up on food.

I'm easy with whatever they choose, unless they show other signs or lose weight rapidly I am not going to be concerned. Most of those that cut back over winter soon make up for it in spring......

 

[jerrymb]

Update: He hasn't come out of his hide now in about 5 weeks. No eating. Pooping and peeing has stopped. But he looks fine. No weight loss that I can see. He's awake when I lift the lid off of his hide. This is just kind of wierd.

 

[acpart]

Sounds like about a third of my adults.

Aliza