Hi -
My dragon just came out her 11th brumation - she’s turning 12 years old in a month - so I know the whole brumation emergence can be anxiety inducing! She went down at just under a year old for her first one - and honestly the end of burmation has never gotten 100% easier on my brain / my anxiety - even tho I feel like it should by now.
So my girl just slept for 5 and half months - and started to wake up about 3 weeks ago - she’s getting back in the game now - probably has a little more catching up to do since she’s getting old and things tend to take more time.
In my experience, what your Zarra is doing is totally normal - and it’s hard b/c one day it seems like - “cool, it’s done it’s fine it’s over, yay!” - but then the next it’s like - “ummm, false alarm okay what’s up with this”. It has always been a *process* for my dragon - i would say it takes a good month for her to bounce back totally to normality … sometimes quicker in her younger years.
For me and hopefully for you - it’s very normal for them to emerge from it in stages like that - up/down/here/there - I always try to imagine being asleep for months on end - (yours is like mine - a hardcore deep sleeper!!) - and suddenly opening my eyes / trying to move my body / figuring things out … I would totally be tired and slow and apprehensive and ugh at first - and also not having used limbs and muscles and eyes and all that for that long of a time, it’s like relearning again before back to full speed and routine again.
Good that you have started to turn the lights back on, I would keep them on for the usual on/off pattern just like you are doing now that’s she’s showing signs of activity - this is a good thing -
Water has always played an important role at the point that your girl is at right now - I always offer water often right at this point (I
hydrate by syringe, that’s how she’s always drank) and that has always seemed to help with perking up … plus they get crazy
thirsty from the whole thing. Your girl will prob take the water happily and soon start basking more, and then be ready to start eating again and get her system going - all the happy post-burmation firsts - the first movements, first basks, first drink, first food, first poop, alllll the things - the hormones might hit - and she may get energy bursts and run around like mine did when she was younger … but it’s all a process, that’s for sure. And it’s a very good sign that Zarra’s weight hasn’t really changed. Awesome.
It can be a stressful time for both parties involved (I think more for the person!) ha - but sounds like she’s on the right / normal track so far