Bearded Dragon Brumation: Signs, How Long It Lasts & What to Do

Bearded dragon brumation is the reptile version of hibernation: as the days shorten and temperatures dip in autumn, an adult dragon slows down, eats less or nothing, and sleeps for weeks or months. It's normal, it happens to captive dragons living under lights on a timer just as it does to wild ones in Australia, and a healthy adult comes out of it fine. What makes it frightening is that its early signs — sleeping more, hiding, refusing food — are also the early signs of illness. This guide covers how to tell the two apart, what to do before your dragon goes under, a simple weekly routine while it sleeps, and the single measurement that turns "I think he's okay" into "I know he is."

Signs your bearded dragon is brumating

Brumation rarely arrives overnight. Over one to three weeks in autumn you'll typically see:

• Sleeping earlier and longer — going to bed before the lights go off, and staying in the hide after they come on.
• Eating less, then not at all — insects are ignored first, greens a little later.
• Moving to the cool side and basking far less than usual.
• Hiding or digging — burrowing into substrate, wedging under decor, or sleeping in the darkest corner.
• Sluggish but alert — slow to move, but still responds when handled, still holds its head up, eyes clear.

The last point is the important one. A brumating dragon is slow; a sick dragon is weak. This table is the quickest way to tell them apart:

	Healthy brumation	Something is wrong
Weight	Steady, or drifts down by a few grams over weeks	Drops steadily, or more than ~10% of body weight
Eyes	Clear, close normally, not sunken	Sunken, swollen, crusted or discharging
Mouth and nose	Clean, closed	Discharge, mucus, gaping, wheezing
Body	Full tail base, belly not swollen	Sunken hips, thin tail, swollen belly, limp limbs
Response	Slow but lifts its head and pushes back when handled	Limp, can't lift its head, unresponsive
Last poop	Normal before the slowdown, then none while fasting	Runny, bloody, foul-smelling, or straining with nothing
Timing	Autumn or winter, adult dragon	Any season, a dragon under a year old, or right after a diet or tank change

If anything lands in the right-hand column, it isn't brumation — book a reptile vet. If everything is in the left column, you can relax and switch to caretaking mode.

When does brumation start, and how long does it last?

In the northern hemisphere most dragons wind down between September and December and wake somewhere between January and March, but the range is wide. Some sleep for two or three weeks; some for four months; some skip a year entirely and then brumate hard the next. Dragons usually start brumating in their second autumn, at around twelve to eighteen months, once growth has slowed — a hatchling in its first year normally shouldn't (see the FAQ below).

The trigger is seasonal light and temperature, and a tank on a timer doesn't fully insulate a dragon from it. Daylight through a window, a cooler room at night, and a lifetime of instinct are enough. That's why keepers with identical setups get dragons that brumate on completely different schedules — it's the animal, not the enclosure.

Because the timing varies so much dragon to dragon, the most useful thing you can do is write down the dates: when appetite dropped, when it went under, when it surfaced. Next year you'll know your dragon's personal pattern instead of starting from a forum average.

Before it starts: the pre-brumation checklist

Most brumation problems are actually pre-brumation problems. A dragon going into a months-long fast with parasites, a full gut, or an already-low weight is the one that comes out in trouble. Four things to do as soon as you see the slowdown begin:

1. Get a fecal test. Take a fresh stool sample to a reptile vet and have it checked for parasites. A low-level pinworm or coccidia load that a well-fed, warm dragon shrugs off can become serious when its metabolism drops for three months. This is the single most important step, and the one most skipped.
2. Record a baseline weight. Weigh your dragon on a kitchen scale in grams and write it down. Everything you decide over the next few months hinges on this number.
3. Let the gut empty before the tank cools. Stop offering insects once the dragon is refusing them, keep the basking spot at full temperature for another week or so, and offer a warm bath or two to encourage a final bowel movement. Undigested food in a cold gut can rot, and that is one of the few genuinely dangerous outcomes of brumation.
4. Look it over. Check eyes, mouth, vent, toes and tail tip. Anything you'd normally take to a vet, take to a vet now, not after it wakes.

During brumation: a simple weekly routine

Once the dragon is sleeping through the day and the gut is empty, care becomes light-touch. The goal is hydration and monitoring, not stimulation.

How often	What to do	Why
Daily	Glance in. Fresh water in the dish.	You're checking it's breathing normally and hasn't fallen into an awkward position — not waking it.
Weekly	Weigh it, same day, same scale. Note the number.	Weight is the only objective measure of how the fast is going. See the next section.
Every 1–2 weeks	Warm (not hot) shallow bath for 10–15 minutes, then dry and return to the hide.	Dragons absorb water while soaking and often drink. It's the main defence against dehydration during a long sleep.
Lights	Shorten gradually to 8–10 hours and let basking temps drop a few degrees; if the dragon stays in the hide all day, some keepers turn lights off entirely.	Mirrors an autumn. Never keep a fasting dragon at full summer heat — that's a metabolism running with nothing to burn.
Temperature floor	Keep the cool end above roughly 15 °C (60 °F).	A cooler tank is fine. A cold one is not.
Food	Don't force it. A few greens left in for a day is fine; remove uneaten insects.	Loose crickets bite sleeping dragons. Rotting greens grow mould.
Handling	As little as possible beyond the weigh-in and bath.	Every wake-up costs energy the dragon isn't replacing.

How much weight should a bearded dragon lose during brumation?

Almost none. This surprises people, but a brumating dragon isn't burning much — its metabolism drops with its temperature and activity. A healthy adult typically loses a few grams over the whole sleep, and a well-hydrated one can end brumation within one or two percent of where it started. The number keepers and vets use as a red line is around 10% of pre-brumation body weight: a 450 g dragon that drops below roughly 405 g needs a vet visit, and so does one that is losing steadily week over week even if it hasn't reached that line yet, because the trend is the warning.

That's why the weekly weigh-in matters more than any other step in this guide. A dragon that looks fine can be quietly shrinking, and a dragon that looks alarmingly still can be holding weight perfectly — you can't tell by eye, and you can't tell from a single weigh-in. You need the same scale, the same day each week, and the numbers in one place.

This is the specific job we built Beardie Days for. Each dragon has a profile with weight in grams and a growth timeline, so the brumation weigh-ins sit on the same chart as the rest of its life and a dip is obvious against the long-run curve. Care notes attach to any entry — "went under Oct 12", "bath, drank a lot", "first greens Feb 3" — so next autumn you have your dragon's own dates rather than a forum's. Everything stays on your device, exports to CSV, and it's free for your first dragon. A notebook and a kitchen scale work too; the point is to write the number down every week, whatever you write it in.

Waking up: what to do when brumation ends

Waking is as gradual as going under. You'll see the dragon out of its hide more, basking for short stretches, drinking. Over one to two weeks:

1. Restore lights and heat gradually — back up to a 12–14 hour day and full basking temperature over several days, not in one jump.
2. Offer water first, then greens — a bath and a dish of fresh greens for the first few days.
3. Reintroduce insects slowly — a few at a time once the dragon is basking properly and has passed a first stool. Appetite usually returns with a vengeance within a couple of weeks.
4. Expect a shed — many dragons shed shortly after waking. Baths help.
5. Weigh it and compare to the pre-brumation baseline. A dragon that's within a few percent and eating is done; one that's well down or not eating after two weeks of full heat needs a vet.

Then write down the wake date next to the sleep date. Two or three years of those pairs and your dragon's brumation stops being a mystery and becomes a calendar entry.

Frequently asked questions

Should I let my bearded dragon brumate?

For a healthy adult, yes. Brumation is a normal part of a bearded dragon's yearly cycle and there's no evidence that preventing it does the animal any good. The two exceptions are a dragon under about a year old, which is still growing and shouldn't go months without food, and any dragon that is underweight, sick, or hasn't had a recent parasite check. In those cases keep the lights and heat on a normal schedule, keep offering food, and talk to a reptile vet before letting the slowdown run.

Can a baby bearded dragon brumate?

Juveniles sometimes try to, especially in their first autumn, but most keepers and vets discourage it under about twelve months. A baby needs steady food to build bone and body mass, and a hatchling that stops eating for weeks can end up stunted or dangerously thin. If a young dragon starts sleeping more and eating less, keep temperatures and lighting at full daytime settings, keep offering food, weigh it weekly, and see a reptile vet if it keeps losing weight.

Should I turn the lights off during brumation?

Not all at once, and not while the dragon is still eating. The usual approach is to shorten the light cycle gradually — from twelve or fourteen hours down to eight or ten — and let basking temperatures drop a few degrees, which mirrors an autumn. Once the dragon has emptied its gut and is sleeping in a hide all day, some keepers turn the lights off entirely; others keep a short cycle running so the dragon can bask if it surfaces. Both work. What matters is that the tank is never warm enough to digest food while the dragon isn't eating, and never cold enough to be dangerous — most keepers keep the cool side above about 15 °C (60 °F).

Should I wake my bearded dragon up from brumation?

Generally no. Waking a dragon repeatedly stresses it, and a healthy adult will wake on its own after a few weeks to a few months. The cases where you do intervene are weight loss beyond about ten percent of its pre-brumation weight, sunken eyes, discharge, a swollen belly, or a dragon that was never checked for parasites — those are vet visits, not brumation. Otherwise leave it, keep fresh water available, offer a warm bath every week or two for hydration, and weigh it on the same day each week so you can see the trend rather than guess at it.

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Related: Bearded Dragon Care Guide and Bearded Dragon Growth Chart. This article is general husbandry guidance, not veterinary advice — when in doubt, a reptile vet beats a forum. Questions? Email us.