Brumation Questions

[Tsuhei]

Hello everyone! I'm still new to being a BTS owner and I've only had him/her since July 09, 2012, but I'm a bit nervous about this whole brumation "thing".

When I originally purchased Mortimer, he/she weighed in at 36 grams and grew to a respectable 220 grams as of the beginning of October. However, at the near mid/end of October, he began to hide more, eat less, slow down, and brumate. Since then, he/she has maybe eaten three or four meals between mid October to early December. He has not eaten anything more even though I offer it.

I'm sure this is normal, as I've read in many topics here, but I'm wondering how many grams of weight loss is "normal". I did a quick check up on him today after not handling him for about a month. He's definitely slimmed down visually, and weighs in at 209 grams instead of 220 grams when he first started slowing down. Is this weight loss okay? Also, how much longer will it take for him to snap out of brumation and start chowing down like he used to?

I read in the brumation topic that it's 4-12 weeks that they're konked out, but seeing that he's been out since near mid October, I'm starting to get a little concerned.

Does anyone have some insight for a big worry wort?

[hurricanejen]

Sounds pretty normal to me. The weight loss you describe looks about like the weight of a good poop or two... 11 grams is not much weight loss at all.

My skinks start to slow down around October/November as well, and while I have started waking mine up, they are not quite ready yet, and a couple of them are still spending most of their day sleeping. They know when they want to wake up, and with such minor weight loss with yours, I wouldn't really worry.

Do you have the lights cycled down? If not, you could try shutting them off completely for a couple weeks, then turning them back on to normal. That works for the majority of my customers here at the store with brumating beardies and skinks.

-Jen

[Tsuhei]

Thank you very much for the reply! I'm glad to hear that losing 11 grams isn't a big issue for the time period he's been brumating.

I haven't changed anything with my lights at all, actually. The temperature of my room hadn't even dipped much since I've had him, either...maybe one or two degrees lower than usual. I guess if he wants to brumate, I can't really stop him.

I'll definitely use the light suggestion, though! I just turned off my lights today - I'll flick them back on in two weeks and see what happens. Thanks!