Congrats on Dewys first brumation ... just kidding, brumation can be so frustrating!!!
But seriously i think its a good sign of a healthy dragon
I can share my experiences, ive had some crazy times with my first dragon i ever got, Blue.
She is a tricky one. She went into her first brumation fairly young, at 7 months.
I was freaked.
Now, having said that, when Blue brumates, she eventually goes down FULLY. No movement, all sleep, DEEP sleep, and this year she brumated for almost a total 5 months, sleeping without movement for 95% of that time.
She beings by staying on her cool side, and low interest in food, then total ceasing to eat, then the sleep beings.
Its good that they do it this way, they are smart, and nature kicks in. They save all their fat
and slow their metabolism down verrrrrrrrry much so that they CAN have enough fat reserves to live on without losing much or no weight while in brumation, Blue lost a total of 2 grams in 5 months. Barely nothing!
She is fully awake now, and has been for quite awhile.
Some tips that i can give you are basically, if your dragon is healthy, is do not disturb.
BUT - thats my personal theory. Everyone is different. Some people force a bask every now and then. Some people leave the lights on, some offer food, some people greatly shorten the lights on hours. With Blue, i shut everything down once she is asleep. My problem with food is that there is that BIG chance they will slip right back into brumation, and they have that food on their tummy.
I check on her every other day, and i the only time i disturb is to give a warm water soak - i had reservations about doing that at first - i was doing it too much simply out of worry that she would dehydrate. It was a normal fear to have, but not so.
Now that i have become more comfortable with her brumation, its a rarity that i do that. very very rarley do i do soaks during her brumation, but i do it.
Im not paranoid like i was when she had her first three!
i was a mess. worrying non-stop, questioning my moves, wondering what to do.
Once she is down, i shut off everything, maintaining a steady temp at about 65 -70 so i do not warm her up too much while she is trying to sleep. I dont like the idea of lights for her while she asleep.
i just shut it down and let nature take its course.
When i see some movement, like her changing position, i know she is starting to come out.
Once she begins to do this, that is when i turn the lights on for a few hours a day.
This lasts for a while.
If i see more movement, see her eyes start to open, or hear a rustle in the viv - thats when i increase the lights.
Once she beings to move around and is awake, i being the 12 hours on/12 hours off regular schedule.
She beings to basks, her hormones start raging, and she starts to eat ... LIKE CRAZY. She is restless and all over the place for the first month after waking up.
She has slept and is ready to eat and mate. eat and mate. she can eat all she wants, but no mating Blue!!
After the first couple weeks of her being a total spaz and a hormonal nut, she starts to calm down and relax and just starts being chilled out Blue again, basking, eating (alot!), alert, normal, happy
Now, this is just my personal expirience, how Blue does it, and how i handle it.
Some people do things very differently.
Some dragons never go fully down.
One thing to make sure of, is to get all the poop out before they go into a sleep or a reclusive stage.
You dont want food in that tummy that could sit there and possibly harm them.
Try to get the poop out by using a nice warm soak after that last few feedings. You want them to clean out before they slowwwwww down.
I dont keep a water bowl in her viv, so the only time she is offered water is if i do mid-brumation soaks. If she is going for a long time, i will do that. Usually she is so deep into it that she will not take a drink or even open her eyes during a soak, but i know that some water is being absorbed into her vent.
When she starts to wake up, i increase the soaks, and she will open her mouth for water.
Blue is not a big drinker like my other dragon Lexi. Lexi is a drinker!!! Blue is not. BUt after a long brumation she does hold her head up and open her mouth some to take in the water.
Its a slow increase in activity, and i let things progress as naturally as possible.
I cant let my other dragon Lexi go into brumation, she was a rescue, and has alot of health problems. She just isnt the kind of dragon i can let go full on.
against my better judgement, i did let her sleep for about 2 - 3 weeks this year.
I slowly woke her up and she began to come to.
I had reservations about it, and i my gut told me to begin to wake her up, and i am very glad i did.
But like i said, she is in a TOTALLY different circumstance than a normal healthy dragon going into a normal healthy brumation
Takes a while to fully come around and be alert after such a long sleep, it would me too!
I hope this helped?? i know i rambled, but to me every little detail can possibly be the one thing that you can connect with.
So, everyone does it differently.
I personally choose this method because it works best for her.
I think you have to go through one or two brumations before you get comfortable with it ... for a first time, it can be a really uneasy and uncomfortable experience for us! Scrambling in our brains, "ahhhhhh what do i do?? i dont understand you, silly dragon!!"
You will get a feel for what your dragon needs and how to being to handle things.
Try different things until you find a groove that you are ok with.
One thing i do recommend is check on them quietly but very often.
You never know when they will decide to "come back to the land of the living" and you want to be there for them when do.
Really keep an eye on your Dewy and see how he is acting, reacting, eating, and sleeping. Remember that this is natural, and they know what they are doing, they are acting on their natural cycles. Its us that dont know what they are doing ha!
I hope that Dewys brumation goes well!!! Do let us know whats going and how things are progressing! Help is always here, and maybe someone else can offer you a different point of view
TAKE CARE and hope to hear from you!!!
