My new tegu won't come out of his hide - it's been 5 days now

[Monkey Girl]

Hi everyone, I'm new to tegus and in dire need of some clarification regarding hibernation or post hibernation behaviour (please).

We just received (5 days ago) our male Argentine Chacoan tegu (yearling). The breeder took him out of hibernation a couple of days before shipping him to us. We have been allowing him to slowly get used to daylight by slowing increasing his UVB exposure (starting at 8hrs with a break in the middle) until we reach 12 hrs of UVB exposure. The problem is, he refuses to come to the surface and all he wants to do is sleep. Even with the advice of another highly reputable well known breeder (our breeder has yet to get back to us) to gently remove him from his hide box and give him a nice warm soak (I did this on day 3), he still remained pretty inactive (sleeping in the tub and once out and dried off, sleeping on me or on the floor). He has walked around a little on the floor but only to find a hiding spot so he can sleep. We offered him some scrambled egg, strawberries and grapes after his bath, he did take notice of the food but then turned away. He has since returned to his hide and we have not seem him since.

Is this normal for a tegu just out hibernation or is he still in hibernation? I realize being in a new home is stressful as well. How is he suppose to get UVB exposure when he's constantly burrowed? What about him staying hydrated? Will he eventually come around or should I do what the breeder said and help him wake up more by removing him from his burrow, handling him a bit and perhaps putting him under his basking light? I always thought the golden rule was: NEVER REMOVE YOUR TEGU FROM THEIR HIDE BOX OR BURROW?

Or am I worrying over nothing?

**I've posted on other threads (with pics) . I'm hoping someone will provide some advice


Here is his set up:

Basking area is 95-105 (on rock).
Cool side (hide) is 75 - 85

Basking Lighting:
1 - UVB 10 Repti Sun compact
175 watt clear infrared

On other side of enclosure is:
1 UVB 10 tube style

Humidity:

Reptifogger controlled by a hydrotherm controller @ 70 - 80%

Hide is filled with coconut husk medium & sphagnum moss

Substrate is 75% coconut husk & 25% Ecco earth

Temp enclosure is glass terrarium (front opening) 5' X 3' X 2'

 

[Aardbark]

Hello and welcome to the site.

I would not worry. For one your tegu is brand new and as you said its stressfull moveing to a new place. Its not unheard of for a tegu to stay in their hide for a few weeks after a move to a new home. For two if your tegu is hybernating, this is completely normal behavior. You cant wake a tegu up from hybernation after a day of basking or soaking. Its just like if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. You wake up, do your buisness, and then go back to sleep. Its the same for a hybernating lizard, only that they can be awake for a whole day before going back to sleep. Your tegu knows what he is doing, if he gets thirsty or hungry or wants some sun, he will do it himself. Do not worry, he is being completely normal.

As for forcing them out of hybernation, Im not sure how to do that or if its a good idea. But it would take multipule days of forcefully waking them up and making them bask.

 

[Monkey Girl]

Thanks for your reply.

It's been 10 days and he only came to the surface once on his own. When he saw me he turned tailed and burrowed under his basking rock never to be seen again, that is, until I gave him a warm bath with water and pedialyte (in case he has been dehydrated). I did gently remove him for this. I noticed he was much more alert after his bath and he ate a couple of grapes (only food he's interested in) and explored the room for a while. I left him alone for a couple more days (he was a no show on the surface again), but woke him to weigh him today (at our breeders request) he weighs 834g (not sure what range that is on the growth chart). After he was weighed my husband picked him up and cuddled with him on his lap. He fed our tegu (Vinny by the way) 4 grapes today from his hand. This was the most he ate to date. Vinny is now basking on his rock, with us in the room. We left his enclosure open and gave him his space. So far it's been 30 minutes and he hasn't disappeared under his rock yet (he is not into his hide at all so beneath the rock is his go to place). I'm hoping this is the start of him coming around, I can't wait until his appetite kicks in, it will be great to see him grow!

 

[Aardbark]

It takes them a while to come out of hyberntion, even if he is awake one day he may go back to sleep he next day. Hes looking really good though Make sure to feed him more then just grapes.

 

[Monkey Girl]

It takes them a while to come out of hyberntion, even if he is awake one day he may go back to sleep he next day. Hes looking really good though Make sure to feed him more then just grapes.

Well - we had to remove him from underneath the rock again today. This time he ate one egg yolk, ground turkey with ground chicken, hearts, liver (a few mouthfuls). Then he basked for only 10 minutes before disappearing under his rock. He ate in my husband's arms and then we placed him on the floor so he could eat his turkey/chicken combo.

One day at a time !

 

[Roadkill]

This is somewhat a very common phenomenon - people get their first tegu and expect it to be "exciting pet #1" from day one. Thing is, they easily get stressed and hide out during the best of times, and being a reptile, it can take them weeks to settle in, not hours. So be patient

Now, looking through your set-up description, there's a few things that come to mind.
Temperatures are a little cool, which is actually not bad as you have indicated that this animal was in hibernation, and this is perfectly fine for coming out. As it becomes more active, you'll want to look at raising those a little.
Lighting: you've made a point of specifying UVB exposure yet seem to talk about photoperiod (this can be the same, they can also be distinctly separate). If what you're talking about is a general photoperiod, then you are strongly enforcing a winter response. We (being Edmontonians - yes, I currently live in the same city) not only live in the northern hemisphere, we live quite northerly and have a very skewed idea of seasonal photoperiod. We experience seasonal changes in photoperiod that astound people from other regions, particularly those from South America. While South America (where the tegus come from) is typically seen as residing in the southern hemisphere, it is actually predominantly equatorial, meaning most of it doesn't experience a huge change in photoperiod over the seasons. At the most southern extent of their distribution, tegus experience a daylength of about 10.5 hours at the shortest in winter - so with an 8 hour photoperiod you're basically saying "psst, buddy, you're in the Antarctic, better hunker down for a sleep".
Just an aside: EcoEarth IS coconut husk, so you've got 100% coconut husk substrate
As for things like "NEVER REMOVE YOUR TEGU FROM THEIR HIDE BOX OR BURROW", this is advice from people who are fearful and really don't know any better. Waking your tegu up, bringing them out of hibernation, picking them up, these are not going to harm your tegu. Depending on how you go about it, it may help form a bond with you, or reinforce the notion you're not someone to form a bond with, but it isn't going to cause them cardiac arrest or physiologically hurt them because you interrupted their hibernation period.
Fortunately, we live in the same city so if you'd like a little more in depth discussion and one-on-one interaction, let me know and I can see about arranging some time.

 

[Josh]

Hope things are improving still! Be sure to keep us updated as to how your tegu is doing!