Concerns during First Brumation

[McBoredFace]

My NBTSkink was brumating in October and November and is now in December becoming very active. I’m a worried first time skink mommy...

Full details:
It’s my Northern blue tongues first year brumating. He didn’t Brumate his first year of life. Anyway, he started showing signs of brumating VERY early.( At least what I thought was early. I thought they brumate for about 6 weeks and wake up in February? So is October/November too early?) And now its the beginning/middle of season and he’s been like super active lately. Before maybe beginning and mid November he’d sleep a lot and every couple days he’d come out and drink lots of water, bask for a bit, drink more water, then continue to sleep for another few days. Totally normal brumation from what I’ve read. But for the past couple weeks he’s been extremely active!

He hates water and he was soaking and running through his water dish all of this one day Last week but I realized he was just shedding. I felt so bad for him. He looked so uncomfortable and itchy. I never help him shed ever but I did reach my hand in there and pet him and gave him some pets to help the itch which he loved. He kept rubbing up against my hand. (I say what sounds like useless information because in a few articles I’ve read it said he shouldn’t want to be bothered and not to bother him. But he didn’t seem bothered at all.) Anyway, after the shed I spot cleaned and gave him fresh water. So I thought he’d go back to sleep. He’s still been very active.

Now He only burrows and sleeps at night, and during the day he chills above ground, watches tv with me, basks, and just hangs out as opposed to sleeping for days and coming out once in a while to drink and warm up. He’s even showing signs of wanting to come out of his enclosure and interact with me again! I’ll open the door to refill his water and spot clean and he’ll crawl out onto me and want to hang out with me. I know I’m not supposed to bother him but he seems to really want it. Not all the time though. The days he’s just chilling and watching tv he moody. But the days he’s running around his enclosure he’s all “take me out and let me explore woman!” I’ve tried offering him food maybe once a week. Whenever I see him the most active I’ll offer him something but he takes a couple bites and isn’t interested.

Is this behavior normal? I’m just worried cause he’s so active and wants to hang out but I’m reading everywhere I shouldn’t bother him. But he’s kinda asking for it? lol anyway, any advice?

Also I’d like to add he looks very healthy. No weight loss, his appearance is fine. It’s just this weird active behavior I wasn’t prepared for during brumation. He still has half his heat sources on too, but only for 6-8 hours a day because it gets very cold in my house during the winter so even with the heat sources the temp goes down to about 69-73 cool side 75-78hot side. I know I was supposed to slowly turn them off but when I did that he was obviously looking for a warm spot and It just seemed too cold.

Did I mess up by leaving it on? I know they’re supposed to be cold but I was afraid it would get too cold.
Was I also supposed to move his enclosure to a quieter room? Maybe the fact that he’s in the living room was too stimulating for him to relax, with the tv on, my bf and I on our phones all day with videos playing, us being loud and hanging out? Could that also be the problem?
And if I did make mistakes with his brumation is it too late to maybe start the brumation process over? How can I continue from this point?

Again he seems healthy, and I know all skinks brumate differently. I just want to make sure I’m not negatively effecting him in anyway by acknowledging his active behavior and not just leaving him alone.

Thank you very much for sticking through my ramblings and worries of a first time skink mom. Please be kind to me. I’m trying my very best but there’s only so much reading articles and watching videos can get you until you actually learning hands on. So please be kind. Thank you

[Janella]

Honestly it all sounds normal to me :-)

[McBoredFace]

Thank you so much. I’m a huge worry wart, so I’m really glad to hear that. Thank you.

[splashy07]

First of all, there is no need to brumate them if you're not breeding. If he chooses to brumate, by all means let him do so but there is no reason to cool down if you're not going to breed. What you are describing seems like typical male behavior, he doesn't care about hanging out, he wants to find a girlfriend. Males get extremely restless when in season, and mine do not eat at all. Four to eight weeks sometimes longer is what I have witnessed as brumation periods. My easterns go down around mid November, and wake up and breed in January. Northerns around the same time and breed in February. They usually start around Valentine's day (Awww!) They let me know when, I do not force brumation. When they retreat to their hides more than not and I seldom see them anymore, then I turn off the lights. Last year it was around Thanksgiving, a bit earlier this year.

[McBoredFace]

Thank you so much really

I do have a side question..

Now since I’m not doing brumation typically how you would if he was going to breed, what would happen if I did introduce him to a female? Would he not breed with her? I don’t understand the whole point really of turning his lights off and leaving him alone if he’s just brumating regardless and doing his thing.

[splashy07]

There needs to be a cool down period for males to produce viable sperm and for females to be able to ovulate. If you're not breeding, no need for cool down. They may mate regardless but nothing could come of it. They may not mate regardless simply because they are incompatible and just do not like eachother.