#brumation | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

phoebepheebsphibs · 4 months

Note

Let me tell you one crazy dream I had last night. Ok so I read new chapter from your fic "hide and seek." But not only that one, but also read in AO3 "the corner store" from Kicstarash.. then it got all mixed up in my head and made me think, how would Splinter and the turtles would deal with one the kids accidentally went into hibernation? Like would they think they.... :( imagine how desperate would Splinter be to try and wake them up so badly. Imagine how much angst for a first time parent 🥺 heart breaking 💔

-💙🌸

Let's tell a story...

Splinter was never really that into biology, but he knew enough about animals to know that most went into hibernation during winter. Mammals did, at least. Well, bears and squirrels did.

But he didn't know that reptiles did. After the mutation, when he'd gotten the chance he'd gone to the library to get a book on taking care of pet turtles. That was when he discovered that turtles were reptiles and not amphibians. That they were omnivores, though you should typically feed them veggies and fruits. That each of his new sons were different species, which really surprised him because in all honesty he thought that there were at max three different kinds of turtle. He was in way over his head, he realized. And then he got to the part about how they were cold-blooded. He got to the part on brumation, a reptilian hibernation, how when it got too cold their bodies slo-o-o-owed do-o-o-own... Splinter didn't fully get why this happened, but all he needed to know was that it did happen and what he could do to prevent it.

Splinter had to get heat lamps and place them all around the lair. He had bundles upon bundles of blankets. He worked overtime to make sure that each area of their sewer home was the right temperature for them all. Splinter's room was nice and cold, down in the low sixties, perfect for a hair-covered warm-blooded creature like himself. And his little babies seemed very content with the warmth he provided for them in every room. He also made sure that they had tiny pools of water waiting in every room too, just in case they got too hot and needed to cool down. Reptiles didn't have sweat glands, after all, so they couldn't cool down the same way a mammal could. But for the most part, and as a first-time parent and first-time reptile caretaker, Splinter was doing a fantastic job.

And then came their second December.

Splinter had woken up in the middle of the night from extreme chills and shivers. All of the heaters and lamps were off; a snowstorm had caused a city-wide power-outage. Splinter immediately rushed to his boys, they were just old enough to have a separate bedroom from Splinter, but they still shared a small bed. Splinter dropped to his knees and inspected the boys. Their heat lamp was off, the back-up heater too! The small bowl of water in the corner was slowly going from liquid to solid. He placed his fingers against Red's neck. There was almost no pulse... He pressed his ear against Purple's back, the tiny softshell tended to sleep on his stomach... he couldn't hear a heartbeat! Splinter panicked, grabbing each turtle and cradling them close to his chest.

"My precious boys," he whimpered, crying softly as he rocked them back and forth. "Please... please do not leave me alone..."

Splinter suddenly recalled something from the book... their bodies slowed down... they were just sleeping! Not dead! But he needed to warm them up as soon as possible...

He grabbed the blankie they slept with and bundled them together, trying to conserve their body heat. He rushed to his room and grabbed two more blankets -- one to sling around his chest like a baby bjorn, the other to wrap himself in. He made a mad dash to the generator, and after a few tries he finally managed to get it started. It took an hour for the heat to come back, and in the meantime Splinter kept himself moving about, hoping that his body would generate enough warmth for the boys...

He felt something. Something move against his shirt, slowly shuffling around in the sling... He pulled back his blanket and looked inside. Dear little baby Blue lolled his head back and forth as his eyes lazily opened. His brothers were still deep asleep, but Blue slowly tried to climb up and out to see his father's face better. Splinter held back tears of relieved joy as he lifted the little six year old up.

"...Daddy...?"

"Yes, my son, I'm here. Are you okay?"

"...Cold... tireedddd..."

"That's alright. It's still late in the night, you can go back to sleep."

Blue nodded groggily, though Splinter could tell the child was ever so desperately trying to fight the sleep. He saw his tiny eyes sliding closed, only to open suddenly as he jerked his head back, looked around, and then snuggled back into Splinter's fur. Then the cycle would continue a few more times before Blue finally succumbed.

By morning, the boys were fine again, and Splinter made doubly sure that the generator was always working after that.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tutant meenage neetle teetles #turtle tots #rottmnt turtle tots #brumation #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt ficlet #ficlet #mini fic #cold-blooded #reptiles in the cold #tumblr asks #rottmnt splinter

31 notes · View notes

hogteeth · 18 days

Text

Haven't shown off my girl in a while, she's been brumating still even tho it's 90 outside. Girl, you've had your nap time comeon

#fantasy pacman frog #pacman frog #brumation #oc #horned frog #frog #moss fairy #potato fairy

8 notes · View notes

zappedbyzabka · 2 days

Text

Is it just me who headcanons that Jimmy is an extremely light sleeper if he even sleeps at all?

Somehow can do a backflip and cartwheel after staying up for 40 hours.

#jimmy karate kid #He hibernates instead #or what did Kreese say #Brumation #In Johnny’s hol—#who was that

9 notes · View notes

imthepunchlord · 2 years

Text

Ao3

Raph

April was excited and oh so nervous.

Today, the kind and funny giant rat called her over to their hidden home in the sewers. Her. April O'Neil, the first human to be welcomed into the home of the oddest and coolest family she ever had a chance to meet.

She could NOT mess this up.

This was her chance to be welcomed in the human-turtle home and really be their friends. And that would be the COOLEST THING EVER.

How many kids could even say they were friends with human-turtles? Not many, that's for sure.

And Kendra said she was a weirdness magnet.

There was nothing cooler than talking turtles!

So with a confident march and a straight back, she marched up to the smiling rat, saluting him. "April O'Neil reporting for duty, sir!"

Only to falter when the rat shushed. "I welcome you, Miss April, but you'll need to keep your voice down."

"They sleeping?" April asked, surprised.

"Yes!" the rat confirmed. "It's one of the colder days of winter and they get very sleepy for a few days."

"Oooooh," April uttered. She knew about this, they taught it in science class. Turtles bru... brumate? "Why am I here then?"

"When they wake up, they'll be hungry! So I need to go get food, but I don't want to leave them unsupervised. No good it they get too cold. I was hoping you may monitor them, see if they shiver, then bring them more blankets."

"I can do that!" April promised.

"Excellent! But, really, just see if they're shivering. Red, Blue, and Orange would grab you and not let you go if you touch them!"

April didn't want that, especially if they were going to sleep for a few days straight.

Then she frowned. "And uh, Donnie?"

"You must not go near Purple," the rat forewarned, "he won't trap cuddle you, he'd bite you!"

April gasped.

She definitely didn't want that.

"So just see if they shiver, and if they are, throw blanket on them."

"Ok."

“I'll be back in an hour. Here's the uh, VHS player, if you get bored. Bathroom over there. Uh, here are some of the boys’ toys. Um, any questions before I go?”

“Um,” April pondered a moment before immediately asking, “what do I do if I do get caught by one of the boys?”

“Wait until I’m back. I’ll see if I can free you.”

April had no more questions. The rat set her up with a Lou Jitsu film and she sat amongst pillows and blankets and had a timer set to go check on the boys.

The first chime went off, she paused the film, and hurried to each room to peek in.

She didn't see any shivering.

April went back to her designated spot, reset that timer, and resumed her movie.

At this time, something April didn’t know was that turtles had a great sense of smell. As soon as she had peeked into the room to check on them, even in their sleepy state, they got a small whiff of her, her new scent familiar enough that they knew she was there and felt no alarm to her small pop in.

It sparked off a sense of warmth through them, happy that their new friend was near and they settled even more comfortably in their beds.

Except for one who locked on that scent.

One who wasn’t quite used to it, not that the source was unwelcomed. What was welcoming was the clear fact that the source was a naturally warm body, one that generated heat. Heat that may be warmer than the blankets piled around him, unable to trap the small amount of heat his own body produced.

Logically, what was best was to go to the greater heat source, one that wasn’t going to just shove him back into the blankets, grumbling that he may bite.

With a blanket wrapped around him, he arose and stumbled out of his room, following his nose to the source.

The girl, April, turned to him as he came to her, looming over her and squinting at her.

She stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Donnie?” she asked.

Like some odd prompt, he flopped right on her, sending her to the ground as he lay on her, and started to soak in as much warmth as he could from her much warmer frame.

April for her part didn’t panic when the turtle child flopped on her, though she was nervous that he may bite her as Splinter warned. But after a minute of laying still, she slowly got up and Donnie just shuffled and semi laid in her lap, as curled up as possible.

April stared down at him a little starry eyed, feeling like she just got honored with something very rare and special. A happy warmth rushing through her, she pulled the blankets close around them, beaming away as Donnie pressed against her and allowed her to cover him.

For a turtle that seemed the most distant with her out of the four, she was happy to know he liked her enough to cuddle.

Though when Splinter came back carrying a lot of food, he had a start to find the mutated soft shell turtle came out on his own to cuddle up to April. Of his sons, Purple disliked being touched the most, yet here he practically in the child’s lap, not minding her arm set on his soft shell. He actually looked quite content. One of the reasons Splinter got nipped was a lack of being comfortable cuddling with him.

Setting the food down on a near table, Splinter came to stand over them, April tilting her head back to peer up at him, watching him rub his chin.

“I might have you come by more often during winter. Until the boys can handle the cold better, you can at least help Donnie keep warm.”

April gaped up at him. “I would love to.”

“Excellent! Now, do you know the number to your parents? You might as well spend the night. Or few. I don’t think Donnie’s going to let you go. Unless the cold eases up...” As Splinter mumbled to himself, he wandered away, leaving April alone with the turtle.

She glanced down at him, that happy, special feeling now replaced with one big concern. If she was going to be staying here keeping Donnie warm, what about going to the bathroom?

#rottmnt #rottmnt fic #drabble fic #Punchie writes #fluff #childhood #april o'neil #donnatello #splinter #cuddles #brumation

216 notes · View notes

nights-flying-fox · 7 months

Text

Till the Cold Pass

Splinter learns something new about his sons when winter cold arrives.

DAY 4: Warmth

Guess who wrote half of this for whumptomber but didn't finish it until now lol Anyways, I wanted to write a brumation fic for a long while now. It is not exactly what I planned but eh im very tired and its almost 2 am so all i say i hope there arent any mistakes (feel free to correct me!!) and that you like it!! <33

ROTTMNT || 1079 words || Splinter centric || click here for ao3

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Splinter never had liked the cold. This year this fact didn’t change, only that he hated it even more.

Now he was a father of four. He wasn’t sure how the cold would affect his sons, so he worried. He wasn’t able to reach much information about turtles, not being able to get the few resources most of the time too, only some about childcare. He also was struggling with finding enough sources for them. Food, blankets… the essentials.

Waking up and seeing snow made his fears worse. But on the other hand, he could show his sons it. He had to get even warmer clothes for that though.

His sons were still sleeping, even after the sudden cold. All of them in their shells, under the blankets, Splinter didn’t have the heart to wake them. But he had to, for they had to eat breakfast and have a healthy schedule.

He shook gently them, softly calling their names. “It is morning, my sons.”

But they didn’t get out of their shells. They didn’t reply either. So, he shook them again, still gently but with a bit more force. Still nothing. He was starting to get worried.

No matter what he did his boys didn’t wake up. Splinter watched in fear as he hardly could hear his boys’ soft snores. He tried more and more, shaking them and calling their names, but nothing worked. Panic rose in his chest. This couldn’t mean good. Was it because he wasn’t able to provide enough for them? Was it the lack of food or the unexpected cold weather. It didn’t matter, he had to figure out this and help them. He had to. They were his everything, he couldn’t lose them. Not when he was the one responsible for them. They were his sons.

He opened the books he had “borrowed” a while ago, trying to find any information that might be helpful. Sadly, there was nothing that could help this situation. But all his books were about babies. Human babies. Parenthood and such. None of them were about turtles—

Splinter cursed to himself. He should’ve had grabbed that book about turtles while he had the chance. He could’ve returned for the other stuff he had found that day.

There was a library not far away, but he couldn’t afford leaving his boys alone. He quickly wrapped them in blankets, then wrapped his jacket and held them carefully. He wore the hat he had found a short time ago and did his best to look as human as possible. Maybe people wouldn’t notice them with his disguise.

Fastly, he left the lair, heading to the library. It was hard to run with the snow, cutting his speed. He shivered as he moved on. People passed next to him, the city as alive as always. It was all going okay until he almost slipped and fell. He lay towards the display window next to him and managed to keep his balance. He quickly checked his sons. They were still wrapped safely, all four of them. Splinter sighed in relief. Then he noticed the shop he was next to—

Eastman and Laird’s Pet Shop.

Now that could’ve help.

He stepped in the shop. Various animal sounds filled the place. There was a man around his twenties, standing behind the register. Splinter walked towards him, “Excuse me.” He called. The man turned at him. Splinter continued. “I was wondering if you could help me with my- uh- pet turtles.”

“What’s your problem, man?” The man asked lazily.

“They won’t wake up.” Splinter said, voice a bit shaky with worry.

“Ah, of course.” The man said, not interest at all.

“What do you mean?” Splinter asked, trying to keep calm.

“We get this all the time. People keep buying without knowing a single thing about turtles.” He explained, with a bit of annoyance slipping into his tone. “And to answer your question: that’s a turtle thing. Brumation.”

Splinter blinked, “Brumation?”

“Ya know how bears sleep when winter comes and it’s called hibernation, this is brumation for some of the reptiles. It’s a bit different but basically its that.” The man said.

“I see. Is there… anything I can do for them?” Splinter asked.

The man explained how he should treat them quickly. Splinter listened to him carefully before leaving.

The next months he did as the man told him to do. He kept them warm and kept water by their side. He always kept an eye on them.

He had relaxed a bit after learning what was going on, but still, he couldn’t help but get anxious over it. What if he wasn’t able to provide for them? What if he failed them in a way? What if he made a mistake?

Meanwhile, he managed to find some more blankets and clothes. Whatever that was possible to keep them warm. He didn’t care if he froze as long as his boys were alright.

Then one day, when the days weren’t as cold as before, one of his boys yawned and then whined, “'ts hoooot!”

Splinter laughed with joy and relief. He held Blue in his arms, “Good morning, sleepyhead. Don’t you like warm?”

Blue shook his head, still yawning. Splinter didn’t care, he was keeping them warm till summer came if needed. He hugged his son happily.

Then one by one the rest of his boys woke up. Purple, Red, Orange. They all were okay. Splinter had managed to keep them healthy and good. He sighed with relief.

Still, every year he still got a bit worried. As years passed and they grew, he got used to. At some time, they met with April. Once she learned about brumation she was eager to help and gathered all the knowledge and help she could for them. When Purple started making his gadgets and made a heath lamp for the cold days and then provided warmth for their lair, he was both proud and relieved. Then they grew even more. Purple made even bigger lamp, he provided even more of a warmth. They still brumated when weather got too bad, but they learned their limits and got careful, taking precaution when needed.

When they bumated, they still lay together in a pile. Splinter still would keep an eye on them. And when they woke up, at least one of them would whine about the room being too hot. Splinter didn’t care. He had never liked the cold anyways.

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt splinter #rottmnt turtle tots #comfortember #comfortember 2023 #brumation #nighty writey #hello person reading tags #i hope you have a nice day #:] youre awesome

14 notes · View notes

longsean22 · 1 year

Photo

brumation- noun broo*mae*shun defintion: a state or condition of slugishness, inactivity, or torpor exhibited by reptiles (such as snakes or lizards) during winter or extended periods of low temperature. I learned something today. Now all of you did too! Ilia Amitola: Hater of the cold, but lover of warming up.

#rwby #ilia amitola #faunus #chameleon #rabbit #brumation #hop on spots

61 notes · View notes

omg-snakes · 2 years

Note

Winter is approaching and I'm worried for my little snake's health. We can't use the heater here at my home and I was wondering if its overkill to use both a under tank heater and a heat lamp.

The air gets to be about 65°F in the mornings and night, and don't rise above 80°F during the day.

Hello!

You can do this if and only if both the lamp and the UTH are controlled by dedicated thermostats with the probes appropriately placed. Without a thermostat, the combination of heat lamp and heat pad are at massive risk of overheating and injuring your snake, or even starting a fire!

I would also suggest a ceramic heat emitter or a radiant heat panel instead of a lamp since heat bulbs generally won't work with a pulse -proportional thermostat.

Depending on the species you keep, you might consider allowing your snake to brumate instead of keeping them up through winter. Most North American colubrids will power down or reduce activity for winter anyway, whether you let them or not!

#snake #snakes #reptile #reptiles #reptiblr #snake keeping #snake care #snake husbandry #snake enclosure #brumation

20 notes · View notes

kurtkunkleismybbg · 11 months

Text

THiTR SPNAU

Grymmid!Dean holds a special place in my heart like-

He’s so fun to write about!

Like he turns into a Boelen Python², which is fucking huge btw, and it totally freaks out Sam the first time he sees him shift, bc ‘wholly shit that is a bigass snake’.

But it’s just Dean with that derpy little look pythons have. And Zephyr eats it UP. Even though Grimics are reclusive (which makes Grymmids exceedingly rare), they know that as a species they are hardly likely to attack.

That's not to say he's not badass- bc he totally is!

Despite his derpy little face, he is a deadly efficient hunter, doubly so in his snake form.

He can hear demons from miles away due to low vibrations they emit. Angels emit higher vibrations, but they are strong, and it rattles his bones in a way that is most uncomfortable.

Regular monsters are no match for Dean, bc his reflexes are as quick as a pythons' and his grip is near impossible to escape with the way he constricts.

He also brunates!

When fall begins, he starts sleeping longer and deeper, depending on where in the USA they are. By November, he's waking up less, but a few hours can be coaxed out of him if they bury him in blankets and warm clothes.

And by the time December rolls around he only wakes up once every 48-36 hours to sip some water before falling back asleep.

Sam absolutely loses it the first time it happens, despite both Dean and Zephyr saying that it'll be over when the weather warms up.

Speaking of angels; let's mention one of our favorites: Cas!

While he doesn't get the chance to raise Dean from hell, he does get to meet the Winchesters and Zephyr.

Heaven sends him to spy on the brothers and help figure out what went wrong and how to get things Back On Track.

Zephyr and Sam are immediately suspicious of this rookie hunter that no one's heard of wanting to join them but Dean? Dean is takes to him instantly.

Ofc, it's just before brumation, so Sam sends him up to Bobby's so Cas doesn't notice him sleeping like the almost-dead all winter. The moment the frost melts, Dean is raring to go, and totally not because he's looking forward to see Cas again, nope!

Sam and Zephyr still don't trust him that much, but Dean still likes him just as much as he did before brumating, if not a little more.

As Dean sees it, Cas is warm like a perfect rock to sun on, he tastes like thunderstorms, and his voice is the most perfect thing he's ever heard. Who cares that he's probably a spy?

This leaves Zephyr and Sam baffled, because loverboy and Dean just don't correlate well together. It's to the point that Zeph flies back to Fearielynd just to ask her half brother's mom what's going on. (they may be Destined)

Gabriel also gets to meet Dean, but his experience isn't as fun as Cas's.

The moment they get to the same town the trickster's in, Dean just shifts (higher ranking angels are loud, which gives humunoid!Dean headaches) without an explanation.

Poor Gabe gets his own just desserts from the 8 foot long python in the form of tricks and scares.

¹ Grymmids are half Grimic (a creature I created) and you can read about them here:

² Grimics look like snakes and function similarly, so I use snake terminology.

(for reference)

3 notes · View notes

thefarfield-s5s · 1 year

Text

winter meltdown

3 notes · View notes

is-the-snake-video-cute · 1 year

Note

I live in an area where temperatures fluctuate a lot around this time of year (earlier this week it was 70 fahrenheit and today it's snowing) and I was wondering how the reptiles here handle it? I've seen my local anoles out earlier in the week and I'm worried about them.

The cool thing about reptiles is that they're great at handling these kinds of situations!

Reptiles will generally brumate when temperatures drop below like 55 F or so. Brumation is often explained as the reptile version of hibernation, but it works pretty differently. They're not asleep, they're just slowing their metabolism in response to the cold.

So in situations like in your area where temperatures fluctuate wildly in the spring, the snakes will come out of brumation when it's warm, get a meal and some basking in, and then go right back to nappin' when it gets cold again.

#not a rating #reptile behavior #brumation

61 notes · View notes

sindumpster · 2 years

Note

Random question but i just started randomly thinking about this; how does hibernation work? Like for dragons or even other creatures like demons if they would do that as well (yes i know it would pretty much depend on your own imagination and shit but like i wanna hear your take lmao i like your rambles)

Oh pff no worries. I mention the imagination thing nearly every time as more of a disclaimer. Since yanno, with worldbuilding you can pick and choose and modify things, and as much as I love musing, I never want people the think I’m making the rules lol.

But I guess to start I’ll mention some general things about hibernation. And if you wanna skip the rundown and biology facts stuff I’ll make a separation further down with a bunch of “===”:

—The term “hibernation” is kinda complicated. It refers to an extended period of torpor, or slowing down of the metabolism (energy consumption, heart rate, breathing, etc) and lowering of body temperature to conserve energy (some can get really cold, but on average body temp drops about 5-10° Celsius/9-18°Fahrenheit). While it is kind of like a deep sleep state, it is not synonymous with sleep. Animals that hibernate still have waking and sleeping cycles. They do have to occasionally wake up, either to warm up, to defecate, drink, or even eat (though those needs vary depending on species). This waking up (called arousal) can take hours, and about 80% of the animal’s energy goes to arousal.

—Hibernation can last from days to weeks to months depending on the species. Animals that hibernate usually prepare themselves beforehand, like how bears need to put on as much fat as possible since that’s their main source of energy while hibernating.

—Hibernation is voluntary. While it is triggered by hormones as a reaction to environmental changes, animals can also choose not to hibernate, like in the case of a warm winter or abundant food.

—also, confusingly, torpor can refer to short-term metabolism slowdown and lowered body temperature. It either lasts a few hours or is part of a day-night cycle (it has to last less than 24 hours). Torpor is involuntary, and usually is part of the animal’s sleep cycle. Lots of rodents do this, along with some bats and marsupials. Hummingbirds are probably most famous examples of this, and it’s how they manage to sleep/stop eating by night and not die. And while technically not hibernation, I’m gonna include it because it’s a similar process. But note that some animals I list later undergo torpor, not hibernation.

—and in case it wasn’t confusing enough, there’s also estivation. Which is pretty much a fancy way of saying “hibernation but in really hot temperatures”. And if you’re cold-blooded, you undergo brumation. And yes, there’s some weird specifics to brumation that make it different, I’m gonna be a bitch and lump those with “hibernation” too. Also hibernation can be triggered by a lack of food or water, it isn’t always temperature or a seasonal thing. Nature is full of weird exceptions to every rule.

—Anyways I already alluded to this but “hibernation” is fairly common among mammals. Bears are probably the most famous, but lots of small mammals do it too. Like ground squirrels, chipmunks, hamsters, dormice (and many other rodents), monotremes (echidnas), hedgehogs, bats, skunks, raccoons, badgers, and many more. There’s even a species of lemur that hibernates.

—Birds do not hibernate. Many do undergo torpor though, like hummingbirds, chickadees, swifts, poorwills, nighthawks, doves, among others.

—Many reptiles and amphibians “hibernate”. Desert toads can bury themselves for years to wait for water (estivation). Many frogs hibernate underwater, but there’s also that magical antifreeze frog that decided it needed to flex and turns itself into a popsicle every winter. There’s also a decent number of salamanders and their cousins that do it too. Garter snakes “hibernate” in colonies during the winter, but most snakes are loners. Lots of tortoises “hibernate”, as do lizards.

—oh and if you thought it ended with reptiles you would be wrong. Insects do it too. Ladybugs, bees, flies, some mosquitoes, some wasps (usually the queens who repopulate the nest come spring), some beetles and many more do the hibernation. There’s even the Upis beetle which also freezes itself in order to survive the Alaskan winter. Also some arachnids like spiders “hibernate” too.

—and nope. Still doesn’t end there. The fish do it too. Not as many but koi and gobies have been observed entering a slowed metabolic state after burrowing into soft sediment. Lungfish are famous for estivation, or waiting underground for years until their water source returns. One species of Antarctic cod goes almost completely dormant during the winter, and is the closest fish equivalent to true hibernation.

=========================

TL;DR: hibernation takes many forms, but refers to a long-term slowdown of an animal’s metabolism (torpor) in response to seasonal changes (winter, dry seasons, etc) or food/water shortages. That said, hibernation and related forms of torpor are very diverse within the animal world. Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, arachnids, fish all have species that undergo some variation of torpor. Some species take it to the extreme.

So as much as I kinda hate to say it, it kinda does go along with my usual “anything goes” disclaimer where you can imagine hibernation in fantasy animals taking just about any form, be it short term torpor or extremes like allowing themselves to freeze. Hell, if you wanna make your creature as durable as a tardigrade, nature’s already given you a base to build on lol.

That said, my canon dragons do not naturally hibernate. But since I see them as magical creature which are all about body mods (allowing them to live in just about any environment), I’m sure there’s some that have altered themselves to undergo torpor or full-on hibernation (or brumation?? Whatever you call it when you’re semi-warm blooded). I reckon some would go about it like bears, and bulk up during the months prior and then go through extended torpor. Or maybe desert dragons bury themselves like the desert toad, only emerging when conditions are right. Or a dragon with an ice affinity that allows itself to freeze. You could even take it further, like what if the mythos about certain dragons awakening from stone is just another form of extreme, magically-aided hibernation. Or dragons associated with volcanoes, who go dormant for centuries only to emerge when said volcanoes erupt (like, tied to an old ramble about dragons modifying themselves to have really unconventional dietary requirements, where maybe this one feeds on lava or ash, or needs the chemicals from those poisonous gases. Or just needs extreme heat to function.)

Or you could do similar to what I do, where while my dergs do not hibernate, cold will slow them down. Partly because they’re this weird in-between of being warm and cold blooded, so lower temps make them sluggish but they can still produce some body heat. But if it gets bad enough they will eventually enter a sleep-like state (but unlike true hibernation, they can’t sustain it long-term). If they don’t find a heat source within a few days, they will expire, so it’s very much a last resort (and they will not wake up without heat). It’s an “I’m trapped out in the snow and my options are either to die within a few hours or go to sleep and slow down everything in the hopes that it either warms up or someone helps me within the next few days” level of desperation.

It’s part of the reason why Jake hates the cold. It slows him down and makes him sleepy, but also lowers his energy requirements (aka: he gains weight because if anything he eats more during the winter months, not less lol). Which also means you could totally weaponize your thermostat to fuck with him.

As for demons, I feel like they’re the ultimate extreme of “do what you want”. Nature’s rules do not apply to demons imo, though personally I still like using nature and biology as a base for how demons function. But there’s a lot that can go into it too, like what is the nature of your demons? Do they exist on the same plane or do they have their own realm? What is that realm like? Do they need to feed, and if so, on what? What happens if they don’t feed? Not to mention there’s so many types of demons, and you can just as easily make your own custom types too lol.

I feel like there’s plenty of mythos justification for it too, like stories of monsters and demons that visit during certain times of the year. Demons/monsters that emerge every X number of years, or centuries. Maybe even millennia. Or stories of demons who have gone dormant but with vague threats that they may one day wake and cause havoc again. And like dragons, how they hibernate can take on any form. It could be a short torpor when they don’t have sustenance. It can be hibernation due to the environment of earth being too harsh compared to their own realm. It could just be natural periods of dormancy. Hell, if your demons live for thousands of years, or are immortal, maybe short-term torpor is a few years. Compared to that lifespan, a year or two is a blink of an eye, even if it feels long to us.

But yeh, I guess what I’m saying is that nature does the “hibernation” in so many diverse ways that you can’t really go wrong coming up with your own version. It might already technically exist. But even if not, it’s fantasy. Have fun and go wild lol.

#fantasy ramblings #canon ramblings #hibernation #torpor #asks #anonymous #long post #estivation #brumation #dragons #demons #spec bio #Jake #Kurt #at some point I oughta start sourcing these but I’m lazy #but hope this is what you were looking for lol #and to fellow bio nerds yes there is some oversimplifying here #but I didn’t want to throw in too many things and make it even more confusing lol

3 notes · View notes