So is brumation something they go through no matter what?
Or do you drop the temps to encourage it?
Is it something that you will only do if you are planning to breed them?
I don't ever plan on breeding. I will just have mine as a pet. I never have been comfortable with dealing with breeding any animal. If I can just leave their lights and heating as is and not worry about it that would be great.
yeah, you could leave the lights and colors as is. It is just a natural instinct. Some do, some don't. I have never heard of making them go through it you want to breed, so you don't have to. If yours starts becoming really lazy, and not eating, just let him go to sleep. If yours stays active all day, just like normal, your fine. If you want to make him go into brumation, then I would suggest turning down the lights, giving less food. If he doesn't take the bait, then he more than likely won't at all. You might as well give up then, and return to a normal schedule.
When males come up from brumation you'll notice a higher activity level that's because after brumation is when it's the natural time to mate. however males will try all year round...as far as lighting I turn all my lights off after he goes down. I do leave a low wattage light going on the timer so he still knows day from night.