Feeding: By the end of month four, the dragons will usually eat twice a day and continually will be able to handle larger pieces of meat. Food preparation time severely dwindles by the time the dragons are in month 5 as they get big enough to eat entire carcasses of small animals or half carcasses of larger ones. Predatory instincts grow stronger as the dragons may play hunting games and attack any insects or other small animals they manage to catch.

General Care: By month 4, if the dragons have been keeping up their exercises, the dragons are now psychically able to take small flights and may decide to do so. However, due to injuries in first group of dragons who tried to fly unsupervised, the science team discouraged any flying this early, especially without their supervision. They set the beginning of month 5 as the official starting date for first flights (although the first group of dragons started a few weeks earlier). Under supervision of the scientists with healers standing by, the dragons make their first �official� flights by running off a small platform and making a small, unimpressive flights that might consist of a few flaps and then often a crash landing. Dragons are encourage to observe how fire-lizards take off and land, and if they�re one of the younger groups, to observe how the older dragons do it. Demonstrators may be brought in to aid in teaching. Nearly every dragon will obtain scrapes and bruises during their first flights, while others may sustain injuries as severe as broken bones.

Dragons will continue working on flying throughout month 5, growing comfortable with their wings. Some will take to the air faster than others. Once running take-offs and landing are mastered, dragons will learn to take off by dropping from small ledges and springing from the ground. They will then focus on turning and ascents. Learning to fly is tiring for the young dragons, and it will take several weeks to build up stamina for longer flights, so their human partners must watch for strain and be careful the dragons don�t overdo it. Some of the more advanced flyers may work on flying together as a group, although formation flying will be a bigger focus in month 6.

The young dragons still must be bathed once a day, and oiled at least twice daily. Although growth has somewhat slowed, muscle development may cause additional skin stretching.

Size: The initial after birth growth spurt has finally ended. Dragons will begin to increase slowly and steadily in size, gaining on average one foot in length per month. The dragons will be about 10 feet, nose to tail, by the end of month 4 and 11 feet by the end of month 5.

General Life with a Dragon: The dragons by now, for the most part, have adjusted to living outdoors. The dragons are more and more independent each day. However, when they get hungry or itchy or want a bath, they still make sure their human partners know about it! Since the dragons can no longer comfortably fit indoors without bumping into walls and knocking things over, most are comfortable enough to entertain themselves outdoors while their humans work or attend class.