A couple of stupid questions about brumation...

[cjorex]

Hi! I'm currently going through my first winter with my juvenile (8-9mo) Eastern Blue Tongues, and just had a couple of questions regarding their care at this time. Mainly:

a. Is it normal for juveniles to enter brumation by themselves in their first year?
and b. What temperature should I be keeping the enclosure at while they are doing so? I'm currently keeping the cool end of the tank at around 15C (~60F) and they seem to be doing fine, however if they should be warmer or colder I would very much like to know. Eastern BTs happen to be native where I live, so I'm not worried about the enclosure getting too cold; I'm mainly just looking for advice on if there is an optimal temperature to keep the enclosure at.

Thanks in advance for any assistance, I'll add any other questions as I have them.

[IvanDanko]

Hi there,

As someone from Melbourne I have had my blotchie for the last year and four months since he was 7 days old. What I have experienced and understood from research is they will modulate their own brumation process with or without you - In my case I can say he has only partially brumated in his first winter and not yet in his current second winter (I have not reduced temps for either season). I believe you can leave your lamp temperatures as is and they may still brumate or they may not. However if you want to simulate it, you slowly reduce the temperatures over time to something like 25 degrees celsius on the warm side in conjunction with not providing food until they have emptied their systems. Hope this helps.