So whos Brumating?

[NickBrahz]

Just curious as to who's fellow Australian or southern hemisphere skinks have started to take a sleep, both of my Easterns it seems have entered into Brumation the past few days i did see one of them bask for a little bit yesterday, though my Blotchie seeing it's an Alpine i guess is more used to the cold so will take a bit longer for him to decide if he wan'ts to go into a long sleep, he has been more active then ever! he used to slowly move around now and then but now he is constantly moving in his enclosure maybe to get the blood flowing to get more warmth?

I've just bought in a few small colourful plastic plants atm so he is currently on guard with his face burried into them inspecting them.

[NickBrahz]

heres the little cheeky fellow

CAM01197.jpg

[alichamp]

No brumating yet but I did go in and get him out today after 2 days sleeping to get some food in. Even though he was the grumpiest I've ever seen it was worth it cos he ate and drank really well and is now basking. I was so scared he was going to bite me I didn't want to pick him up and put him back in! So embarrassed I got out-braved by my 8 year old daughter who promptly came to put him back in to save me. 
 

Bit worried though, our overnight temps are down to 0 C now! Keeping my temp gauges in the enclosure just to make sure I can keep those temps up to avoid brumation his first winter.

[NickBrahz]

Don't feel bad last week when i went to say hello to my bub after being away he hissed a bit and kept trying to turn and nip at me as i scratched his back, i flinched a lot and my heart was racing.

It's starting to drop to 10C or under at night now i should start to use my heat emitters, but will it bring them out of it or if the Easterns have already started is there no point to it?
This might also be a silly question but i know when they Brumate they eat rarely what im worried about is if i put food in and they decide to eat, will they for lack of a better word be to dumb to bask and go back to brumating on a full stomach causing them to be sick/die?

[wermy]

I'm keeping the heat turned up this winter, so my lil guy isn't brumating. I was advised in my earlier brumation thread that if I want to let him brumate, I should stop feeding entirely and keep the heat on for at least a couple weeks to let all the food digest and pass through, THEN lower temps to let brumation happen. So don't feed your bubs! Their stomachs need to be empty throughout brumation or it'll rot in there.

PS. That chubby leg!!

[Scotts1au]

Well said wermy. If eating they need to have heat available 24/7. I've had whites skinks die overnight after eating during the day. Learned my lesson. Recently a friend asked for a baby - I told them not to feed it until their enclosure arrived. They decided they didn't want to spend the money on an enclosure and brought the bluey back - it died two days later. Kids being kids didn't listen to my instructions .

[alichamp]

Does tha mean that if they really want to bromate they will stop coming out for food?

Scott, that must be so disappointing. You would they should decide whether to get an enclosure BEFORE they actually get the lizard. But, hey, maybe that's just me...

[NickBrahz]

For the past Couple days Louie has been out and about maybe he just wanted to sleep for a few days there because it was really really cold then not sure,
I last fed them all Last Monday, 11/5/2015 i usually feed them every 2 or 3 days but i thought i was meant to stop feeding them just wan't to clarify if i can not offer them heating 24/7 should i feed them or not?
I have a CME on the way so i can offer night heat then but not atm just don't want my bubs getting sick or dying from eating and not basking.

Edit: I just remember that i have 2 100Watt night globes and a 150Watt infrared globe i can use, so if i start to use the night globes and CME's i start feeding them tomorrow?