Yes they are.

I disagree. I believe this is what one would call it. You may not be spinning it up and tearing it down nightly, and you may consider it production, but it is still your home lab.

Insert bell curve meme:

Low IQ: I treat my production instance as a place to experiment

Mid IQ: No, production must evolve slowly, with big changes only running in dev

High IQ: I treat my production instance as a place to experiment