Hi guys, I'll be happy to offer my input, I know there are a ton of videos, posts on various forums etc. It's truly understandable why it would cause confusion and anxiety to most owners.
My experience with my own dragons is what I go by.....my first ones were back in the 90's and I would see them get sleepy as the change of weather caused cooler nights and the dragons would mostly sleep. So for most of the years I've had dragons I did the whole " turn off the lights + let them sleep, but just check on them. These dragons really slept. They would stay in the same spot, metabolism slowed way down and not active in any way for the most part. No food was offered at all, and for the first 10 or so years at least [ maybe more ] I didn't even offer water for the brumaters. The temps. were around 60-63 or so. I think what happens at that low temp. and because of the metabolism slowing way down they don't require any sustenance. I would usually not allow more than 2-3 months in this condition but would turn the lights back on and they came out of it at that time. Within the week [ I don't remember exactly ] they would resume eating + drinking.
The other way some of my dragons do it now is just to sleep with lights on for part of the day [ not the full 14 hrs. ] at about 63 F for the nights but they do come in + out of it, eat just a little and drink about every 2 weeks, the old drip/spray on the snout until they've had their fill. I actually feel safer giving water that way rather than put them to soak while they are so sleepy, plus it can take their scales a while to dry thoroughly after being submerged.
So both of those methods have worked for my dragons. I'm amazed + have seen that they are TRULY hardy when they are healthy and because it's part of their instinct, it is built in them to be able to handle it. Oh, and I agree that your guy just looks sleepy, he might like a more private ,darker hide or a shorter amount of light during the day.
My experience with my own dragons is what I go by.....my first ones were back in the 90's and I would see them get sleepy as the change of weather caused cooler nights and the dragons would mostly sleep. So for most of the years I've had dragons I did the whole " turn off the lights + let them sleep, but just check on them. These dragons really slept. They would stay in the same spot, metabolism slowed way down and not active in any way for the most part. No food was offered at all, and for the first 10 or so years at least [ maybe more ] I didn't even offer water for the brumaters. The temps. were around 60-63 or so. I think what happens at that low temp. and because of the metabolism slowing way down they don't require any sustenance. I would usually not allow more than 2-3 months in this condition but would turn the lights back on and they came out of it at that time. Within the week [ I don't remember exactly ] they would resume eating + drinking.
The other way some of my dragons do it now is just to sleep with lights on for part of the day [ not the full 14 hrs. ] at about 63 F for the nights but they do come in + out of it, eat just a little and drink about every 2 weeks, the old drip/spray on the snout until they've had their fill. I actually feel safer giving water that way rather than put them to soak while they are so sleepy, plus it can take their scales a while to dry thoroughly after being submerged.
So both of those methods have worked for my dragons. I'm amazed + have seen that they are TRULY hardy when they are healthy and because it's part of their instinct, it is built in them to be able to handle it. Oh, and I agree that your guy just looks sleepy, he might like a more private ,darker hide or a shorter amount of light during the day.
