Odd Unresponsiveness Near Bedtime

My ~5.5-month-old beardie lay down where it seemed he wanted to sleep tonight. My wife thought it was odd since he's never slept there before. When I looked at him, his eyes were still open, so he hadn't gone to sleep yet. I didn't immediately notice breathing (though I know their breathing slows down when sleeping), so I touched him on the nose. He didn't react to the touch, so I gently lifted his head a little bit. My wife lifted the obstacle he was lying under and he immediately sprang to life and b-lined it for a wayward cricket that had been hiding.

This all indicates to me that he's just fine, since he was then plenty mobile. But the fact that he didn't react to me touching his nose struck me as a bit odd. Does this seem like odd behaviour? Or am I overthinking how much he might want to react to a boop when tired?

That behavior doesn't sound too unusual for a tired dragon. Food is more likely to elicit interest over boop as you saw. Do be careful about leaving bugs in the tank because they can hide and attack while your dragon is asleep. I find it best to offer bugs in small batches at meal time so they are easier to track and just repeat until they've had enough.

Thanks for the reply. We definitely try to never leave bugs in overnight for the exact reason you stated. This little cricket just had managed to find a hiding spot. They're crafty, sometimes.

The beardie seems to be perfectly normal today, which is great. We've booked for a vet checkup anyway, just to cover all bases.