cooling period

[varanus69]

what temperature and for how long should beardies be cooled for? should they be offered food during this time?also can anyone tell me the approx. age of a 17.5 inch male beardie

[Phox]

what temperature and for how long should beardies be cooled for?

Im not sure what you mean by that, but In your beardie enclosure you should have a cool side that is at about 80-85 degrees. The basking site can be anywhere from 90-120 degrees, it just depends on your dragon. Not sure about the age of your dragon.

[eyespy]

Very few people induce brumation in beardies, it really isn't necessary. I just set my light timers to mimic natural daylight hours and the shorter photoperiod lets them have a change of seasons and decide if they want to brumate at all.

If they do the big sleep and are totally inactive I will turn off the heat lamp but leave the UV on. But most will get up every few days on their own to drink some water and nibble at a salad and if that's the case I leave the lights and temps exactly as they were. I don't feed any bugs or pellets in these cases, just greens as they are easy to digest when the metabolism is in a slowdown.

Sizes vary so widely with beardies it's tough to say with any accuracy. A few rare individuals can get to 20 inches in 6 months with good genetics and husbandry but many take 1-3 years to get to 17.5 inches.

[drewlowe]

I tried 1 year no brumation or cooling and the 2 year i did. I only "cool" them for breeding reasons. The first year that i did nothing for the winter months i got all infertile clutches of eggs. So the next year i went for a cool down and i recieved one good clutch of eggs so i will be doing the same again this year.

I "cool" them down by dropping the day/night time light cycle for summer months i do 14 hours day and 10 hours night and for winter it's 10 hours day and 14 hours night. I acheive this by slowly dropping or rising the times the light is on every week or two. For an example the begging to middle of october i start dropping the times the daylight is on by say 15 mins. each weekor every other week. then towards the middle of october i drop it by 30 mins. ( i usually break it up 15 mins. day/ 15 mins. night). I do this until i reach the desired day/night ratio. During this time i also try to drop temps in the cage by a little bit each week. The only good thing about living in a basement is the temps drop in the winter time without me having to change bulbs. I drop it down to no lower than 60 F at night and no higher than 90 F (for a basking spot)durning the day.

I just reverse it for spring...

I don't do a complete brumation for them cause i don't feel there is a need for it. I do notice they get groggy during the "cooling down" time and as soon as i start bringing them out they go strait into major eating and they are ready to mate.