How long is too long?

[Qwerty3159]

So I believe he was put down on the 1st or the day prior. Temps have stayed at about 57, and the few times I peeked on him he was poking out of the hides- he sure has made a mess of his tank!

How long should he stay brumating? He looks fine but I've really only seen his head and "neck" these past three weeks.

[Albert Clark]

Glad to hear from you that he is alert and managing through the brumating period. The time frame for brumating depends on you and your plans for him. If you are just trying to reset his feeding clock a short period is fine (60 days). Longer if you are planning on breeding him (90 days).

[Qwerty3159]

Gave him some water today and he was fine as usual. I'll probably take him up around mid February.

[Qwerty3159]

Took him up last weekend because he was getting a bit too skinny for my liking.


Silversides and rodents were turned down, so today I'm going to get some live fish or nightcrawlers. He doesn't seem interested in eating at all and was actually more aggressive towards the silversides than anything else.

[Albert Clark]

Well, it may take awhile for him to get acclimated again to the normal temps and lighting. He probably has breeding on his mind at this point after coming out of a "cooling" period. Don't sweat it. Are you planning on pairing him with a female? If so, be prepared for more refusals. If not, then just offer food on your normal feeding interval until he accepts food. I would minimize any handling also until he's taken a few meals for you.

[Qwerty3159]

Thanks!
I've been leaving him alone and he's pretty much just been basking and pacing around the tank the past week. He didn't eat any of the minnows last weekend so I waited until today to offer him a pinky. He struck at it and held on, even ripping it from the forceps. I held completely still so that I didn't freak him out or anything, but he just randomly spit it out and crawled away. I left it in there for a while but he wasn't interested.
Oh well- next week!

[Qwerty3159]

It wasn't much, but at least he ate something.