Female Self-Cooling?

[RoflGecko]

Has anyone every experienced one of their females to start cooling themselves?
I have a female who has recently (the passed week or so...) been hanging around the cool side hide, since breeding season is just around the corner, my assumption was that she decided to brumate? Realistic guess?

If anyone else has experienced this, what do you recommend I do? Keep offering food? stop handling, and just let her be? etc

Any input on how to handle this situation and if this has every happened to anyone else is helpful!

 

[acpart]

Yes, I have had it happen often. Two years ago I was going to be out of the country for a few weeks, and, while I had a caregiver coming periodically to feed, I didn't want to overwhelm her so I just had her not feed the geckos that went over to the cool side. This year, some are on the hot side and some on the cool side. Only a few of my adult geckos are eating any significant amount though they are being offered food every 3 days. One of my males hasn't eaten in about a month and when I weighed him last week he was still 112 grams! I'm currently out of town for 5 days and my caregiver has been instructed to feed the babies and just water the adults.

The most important thing is to provide water in case they need it. I don't think it's necessary to turn off the heat and I doubt that the ambient temperature in most homes in the winter is low enough to cause true brumation. You can offer food periodically if you want, but you can also hold off and try feeding her again in Jan.

Aliza

 

[RoflGecko]

Thanks.
How long does it usually last?

 

[Khrysty]

She should come out of it when the days start to get longer again - - around February-ish

 

[RoflGecko]

That long eh?
Is there a way to get her out of cooling sooner?

 

[Taquiq]

You could always raise the temps. Are you planning to breed her?

 

[RoflGecko]

Thanks. I havent decided if Im going to breed. But im seriously considering it.

 

[acpart]

I would just let her do what she's going to do. I was a little disturbed last late winter/early spring when the geckos took a really long time to start eating, but everyone eventually did and they're all fine now.

Aliza