Best Substrate For Hibernation? Hibernate as Group or Alone?

[carcharios]

Last year I filled their rubbermaid tubs up with cyprus mulch and it seemed to work well though my tegus often just lied on the top of it and didn't borrow much. However, I've read that other people use topsoil. Can you all recommend what would be the best substrate for my tegus to hibernate in?

Also, I have three tegus, two adults and one subadult. Can I hibernate them all in one big tub or should they each have their own?

 

[Toby_H]

Both winters I've had my Tegu I let him hibernate in his normal enclosure. I simply stopped provided a heat source and reduced the UVB lamp to a few hours per day (just in case). But the substrate (Cypress Mulch) remained the same.

Mixing soil with the mulch would fill in the gaps between sticks which in turn would provide better insulation. Using soil only would seem to lack the structure for them to build a hollow hide unless you compacted teh soil well. Although I'm not sure how well Tegus can/will burrow in compacted soil.

If you hibernate them together and one wakes up, it will likely disturb the sleep of the others. The benefit that hibernating as a group would offer is they can huddle together and better retain heat. Since yours will be hibernating in a controlled envoronment I don't think this 'benefic' relly helps anything.

None of the above is a solid answer, just a (hopefully) logical repsonse to a good question.

 

[JohnMatthew]

I also just let them hibernate in their enclosures which are bedded with cyprus mulch. I don't think the bedding matters much if it's otherwise safe for the GU. I had one spend half of last winter on a wooden floor with a blanket tossed over him. He'd wake up sometimes and go chill by the fire for an evening but for the most part just crawl under a bed or desk and I'd throw a blanket over him. Quiet a few times he decided to resume hibernation on my couch and would squeeze underneath me or I'd wake up with a tegu on my chest with head tucked neatly under my chin. I sleep on a couch btw, a bed takes up too much space! :doh

 

[Guest]

I sleep on a couch btw, a bed takes up too much space! :doh

See, you'd have to pry me away from our bed with a crowbar. We joke all the time that if we ever split, it'd be a sudden death match on who would get to keep the bed. :mrgreen:

 

[carcharios]

I can't let them hibernate in their enclosure because it's a dog kennel outside and even though they have a hide with cyprus mulch in it, it gets way too cold here in MD to let them overwinter outdoors. If I could dig down deep enough into the soil, there would be a slim chance but I have netting on the bottom of the enclosure to keep them from digging out so that won't work. I'm going to have to bring them in.

I guess I'll just use cyprus mulch again like I did last winter. They seemed to do fine with it. I just wasn't sure if I should use some topsoil too.

As for letting them brumate together or alone, I may try together - at least with the two bigger tegus. I'd love to put my smaller one in there too but I worry that they may wake up and go after him, even though I doubt this would occur. My smallest one, Diego, appears to be an extreme and I don't want to lose him.

 

[brutus13]

In my enclosure I mixed jungle mix ( which has the texture of top soil) cypres mulch and some moss. That covers half my cage. On the other half I use repti-carpet and that's where there water/food dish and there blanket. My one tegu loves his blanket. Everynight he tucks himself to sleep in it. My other gu loves the other side and burries himself everynight. I guess my point is your gu did fine last year so why change? If it's not broken don't fix it

 

[carcharios]

Good point. Cyprus mulch it is. The one change is whether or not to hibernate together or separately. I did not have Kimo (my big male) last year so the only two tegus I hibernated were Diego (my young extreme) and Frieda, my adult female. They were not hibernated together. However, Kimo and Frieda live together in their outdoor enclosure and get along very well. I was thinking of hibernating these two together since they're lying on top of one another most of the time anyway. The question is, do I hibernate Diego with them (he's about half their size) or do I keep him separate. Diego has never been introduced to the two larger tegus. I was fearful that Kimo or Frieda would go after him. However, Diego has grown big time this summer. I don't doubt that they could still kill him if they so chose to but he's definitely more capable of defending himself than a year ago, when he was 1/3 his current size. I'll have to post some more recent pics to give you guys some reference. I guess the safest thing to do would be to just house Kimo and Frieda together and Diego separately.