KEEPING YOUR BEARDIE HEALTHY DURING BRUMATION
TESTING FOR PARASITESAlthough Bearded Dragons brumate, in the wild, with no help from us and manage to survive just fine, the fact that they choose to brumate while in captivity does require a bit of special care, on our part, to ensure that they remain healthy while in their dormant state.
If possible, one of the most important things that we, as owners, should do, prior to the beginning of their brumation period, is to take them to the vet for a check up, to make sure that all is well, and that they don’t have any type of illness that may worsen due to their not eating while in their dormant state. While they brumate, their system slows down and they become especially vulnerable to parasites lurking undetected in their digestive tract. This can be avoided by taking a stool sample and your beardie to your vet for a quick and painless checkup. This will ensure a safe and healthy brumation period for your beardie.
While your beardie is brumating, keep a vigilant eye on the weight and top of the tail area. A healthy Bearded Dragon, who has no parasites, may brumate for months, and will only lose a few grams of weight, which is not even noticeable. If your beardie appears to be losing weight: slack skin with bones beginning to show, sunken eyes, thinning of the tail), he/she is obviously struggling with a health issue and needs to see a vet before he/she contracts other types of illnesses due to their weakness and vulnerability. This can be very expensive because special measures need to be taken to ensure that your beardie is getting enough nutrition to keep him alive until he awakens. The best way to ensure that this never happens, is to do yourself and your beardie both a favor, and have them tested BEFORE its time for them to brumate!
Tomorrow I will talk about hydration during brumation, very important!