Out of brumation already?

[Lauriek]

Hi All, Haven't been on this site for a few months. As always, Life gets in the way.
It's mid winter here in Melbourne although today is mild.
Solomon (shingleback) has decided to come out of brumation and wants to bask.

What do I do? Do I turn on the viv lights and heat?

That will mean that Sheba (shingle) and Bailey (blotchie) will also wake up as they're in the same cage.
The two other blotchies are sound asleep. Sensible skinks.
But not Solomon. He obviously thinks it's spring. Silly skink.

Normally all my skinks start coming out around August - which by the way is supposed to be our coldest month.

[Richard.C]

Its been an odd 12 months weather wise,do you remember when they started brumation,mine went bang start of april,indoors and out,oddly thats when one of the blotchies had babies to,was a late baby season here

When i cool my indoor stuff,the stumpies often move around a fair wack and go to the basking site,no basking lights on of course,but there suprisingly active buggers,i normally just make them wait it out but in saying that i dont col them for super long,usually only for 4 to 6 weeks starting june 1st,after wake up there still not at full pace and usually hold out till mid spring before theu mate,october usually due to cold ambients,so no harm in waking them now,with a reasonable size cage and cold ambients,some will stay down cool end brumating even with heat returned,joys of melbourne weather i guess,lol

[Lauriek]

Thanks Richard. In April they went into brumation. He wants to bask but I haven't turned on the lights. If he's out tomorrow, then I'll turn on the lights. He's obviously getting restless. Mind you we've had a mild day today here in Melbourne and the days are getting longer, but it's not that noticeable yet. Maybe he thinks it's just time to come out!

[Coomassie]

Coomassie did that a couple of times this winter. We were going through the whole "polar vortex" craziness and he would wake up when it was over 0 degrees. He always went back down. He went down really late this year and as I recall, woke up early. The weather is doing wacky things to all my reptiles.

[Lauriek]

Well Solomon has gone back inside his hide and is not coming out. I suspect it was a "let's wake up and see what's happening and maybe I'll have a drink of water" kind of thing. It's sunny here again today but the wind is very cold. It will be interesting to see if they all start waking up towards the end of July.

[Lauriek]

That silly skink. Solomon's out again so I think I'll have to turn the lights on. It's a cold overcast windy day here in Melbourne. Solomon obviously thinks it's about time to wake up. Obviously an early riser !

[Richard.C]

There oddballs like that stumpies,especially males