It is normal. I actually cut all the bottom leaves that touch the ground soon enough after transplanting, when new grows started and bottom leaves start to turn yellow. They do not get enough sun when new leaves open up, so plant stop feeding them. And as soon as you cut them plant starts grow more new leaves.

First off, take them out of that peat-based mix. They are probably getting root-rot. I grow mine in half potting soil/half perlite in clay pots with 3 inches of pebbles or perlite in the bottom. Drainage is EVERYTHING to a desert rose! Take them out of the soil, wash as much off the roots as you can, and cut away any rotten roots or rotten spots. Dust the wounds with sulfur. Lay the plant gently on its side indoors and let it dry for at least a week. This won't kill it. It stores water inside, and I've left cuttings curing for months without losing them. Repot it in a clay pot that is just wide enough for the root system. Mix the potting soil like I said, and put stones or perlite in the bottom. DON'T plug or cover the drainage hole, just put a coffee filter or some screen over it. In fact, I grew a couple in orchid pots with screen covering the holes on the sides and they did great. The rain won't hurt them if they are up off the ground and planted in soil that drains easily. I always put my pots up on bricks so they could drain. Since this plant is stressed, after you repot it, don't fertilize it for at least a month. I'd try some SuperThrive to feed it in the meantime. That will get it back to health.

Hey Chris, You should probably start a new thread to ask your question as this thread is very old! LOL! In answer to your question, it's hard to say. Forget the 'I don't have a green thumb' excuse. It's all about learning what conditions your plants need and doing your best to provide that. You need to monitor the temperature in your family room. When you say 'very cold' are you talkin' 60s? 50s? 40s? 30s? So it could have gone into shock, could have gotten spider mites, or root rot from too much water, or even stress from not enough water. It's too hard to say without knowing more about your growing conditions. In Spring do NOT set the plants out until nights are reliably above 55 degrees and days at least in the upper 60s to 70s. Ideal coniditions for these tropical beauties is lows in 60s/70s and highs in upper 80s/low 90s with some humidity and lots of bright sunshine and breezes (think Hawaiian beach!). The further north you live, the harder it will be to supply these conditions. They like a long growing season, and a short dormancy. In the North, our dormancy periods are quite long and plants get stressed with too long a dormancy period. If you have an extended cold and rainy spell, bring the plants inside or put under an eave or in a garage. Plants with no leaves do not like to be cold and wet for extended periods. You risk them getting rotted roots or blackened tips.

@cari, yes, I will work on acclimating it so it doesn't get shocked. I use pebbles on top of most of my other plants and will do that here too. @rina, I don't know a ton about growing succulents and was trying to err on the side of not being too wet. (Most of my other plants are ferns that I water with mindless abandon and they couldn't be happier. I know succulents need to be treated differently.) I read that succulents absorb water through moisture in the air around their roots, which is why it was important to have coarse soil. Is that incorrect? Mostly I didn't think about it being difficult to rewet until Cari asked, and apparently I was somewhat overconcerned about accidentally drowning the plants. I plugged up the drainage hole last night and have it a long, slow watering to completely soak the soil, and then opened the hole again. Should the echeveria completely dry out until the soil is bone dry before I water again (provided it doesn't croak) or can it be watered when it's just a bit damp still? I was thinking of seeing how the plant does with more water before trying to repot. What are your thoughts? Here's a picture of the soil mix I used. The white bits are pumice. I'd say that picture makes it look like there's more pumice in the mix than there is (meaning more has settled toward the top), but there's definitely a lot more in this than there is vermiculite (I think) in "normal" potting soils. Also this is a pretty small bag, maybe a total of two gallons, just to give some scale to the size of the pieces. Thanks!!