And then there was quiet

So all our babies have flown the nest!  Bruce is now well ensconced in his new home.  He is pictured here happy as a pig in the proverbial.  I look forward to seeing pictures in a few months time when he has grown and might have started showing some colour like his mum.

Speaking of Lolly, she and Booster have started Brumating.  As I have mentioned before, Brumation is the reptile equivalent of hibernation in mammals.  Reptile physiology is obviously very different and their bodies go through different processes during long periods of what is essentially sleep.  However, during this time, unlike mammals, it is very likely that Lolly and Booster will wake up every now and then.  They might take a drink and something small to eat and be awake for a few days.  Then most likely they will ferret around a bit and go back to sleep.

This process can continue until the days start getting a bit longer and the weather starts to warm up.  Fascinating that even in an environment where the temperature and light cycle is controlled, that their natural instincts can still kick in so strongly.  Our Dragon’s Den has very little exposure to natural light from the window on the other side of the room.  But, this has been enough for them to catch the day length cycles to kick in both their breeding and Brumation cycles this year.  So basically, I have stopped feeding Lolly and Booster about a week ago and once they had cleared their stomachs, they found a comfy spot and went to sleep.  A day or two later, I turned off the light and heat sources and left them to it.  They have been asleep ever since.  I have put the ceramic heat bulb that emits no light on a thermostat to keep the temperature at about 20C.  That should see them through the process, as scary as it is for me going through it for the first time, without any dramas.

Our babies from this year will not and should not be allowed to brumate.  Dragons should not go through this process in captivity before they are at least 12 months old and are clearly in good health.  Our Dragons did not show any inclination to sleep for exceedingly long periods until the last month or so.  Given their condition I felt as confident as I am ever going to in letting them brumate.

So as the title says, it is all very quite on the Beardie front at the moment.

Baby Boom – Issue #8 (and final for now)

This is Bruce, not Charlie.  He is our last baby Dragon. 

The others I took into our local reptile pet store about a week ago.  As you can see, Bruce is quite small, but, he is going well.  I have held onto Bruce for a work colleague who named him and who has organised an enclosure and is going to give him a great home as a pet for his child.  A great outcome indeed!

This is the final post in the baby boom series and wraps up our first experience with breeding our dragons.  All in all it has been an awesome experience that our whole family shared in.  Everything from wondering if Lolly was pregnant to the amazing day when the eggs started to hatch has been fascinating.

It will be a long wait until next year, and I have not even decided if I should let them breed again or let Lolly have the year off.   I have received solid advice that it would be ok for her health wise, but, I’ll wait and see.

So for now and this breeding season, the action is all over.  What a great time it has been.  We’ll be back to business as usual from here on in.  Although we are heading into the colder months and Brumation is on the horizon!