Brumation: A Reptile's Winter Get-Away
- Kelpie admin
- Feb 21
- 2 min read
If you’re a reptile owner like us, perhaps you’ve experienced the heart-stopping moment of not seeing your pet for months or watching your reptile go weeks without eating or moving—only for them to suddenly resume activity as if nothing happened, leaving you to wonder if you were mourning them for no reason.
That period of disappearing for weeks at a time is a state called brumation. Similar to hibernation but specific to reptiles and some amphibians, brumation occurs when ambient temperatures drop, signaling the animal to slow its metabolism to conserve energy. In the wild, this helps them survive periods when food and heat are scarce (Kruzer, 2024; NPR, 2024). Even in captivity, with warm and stable conditions, reptiles might still brumate because their biological clocks kick in (Kruzer, 2024).
(However, it's important to note that true brumation only occurs when ambient temperatures drop. In captivity, inducing brumation requires lowering temperatures, suppressing the immune system, and making reptiles and amphibians more vulnerable to illness. Since they rely entirely on their environment for regulation, their conditions must be carefully controlled. For this reason, brumation should only be done under veterinary guidance and is not recommended for beginners. Many captive reptiles and amphibians actually experience a lighter dormancy period influenced by light changes rather than a full metabolic slowdown. For the rest of this article, we're going to keep referring to both true brumation and this dormancy period as "brumation".)
During brumation, reptiles don’t eat, drink, or move much for the entire period. When they finally emerge, offering them plenty of hydration and high-quality, easily digestible food is important to help them recover.
Let’s take a look at three popular reptile species- ball pythons, bearded dragons, and leopard geckos- and dive into their brumation habits: when and how long it lasts, how to support them during the process, and tips for post-brumation care.
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