Please Help. Baby Tegu hibernate in August?

[Guest]

Hey all,

I just got my first tegu in July. She (according to the guy at my local pet store) is an argentine black and white. She was good for about a month and a half. She'd be out digging and eating pretty normally.

I had her in a 30 gallon in my room. I use air conditioning and i think the humidity stayed too low for two long because i believe she started to hibernate in august.

Its been three months and she still never comes out except once every like 3 to four weeks and i try to catch her for those few hours and feed her. She's only eaten like 2 or three times since august and it shows because she hasnt grown and is still very tiny.

End of august i moved her to a big tank and put her in her own room and now keep it nice and warm and mist her tank once a day. she still went back into hiding/sleeping and has continued until now. i woke her up and took her to the vet mid september and he checked her out and said she seemed healthy but im still very worried.

Is it bad that she is never out?

If she is hibernating is it bad that she is doing it this young?

Is it possible that she hibernates too long and wont make it?

Please any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I would love to see her grow and be healthy.

 

[tora]

Leave the poor thing alone! You're doing more harm than good by trying to make her eat and digging her up and whatnot. Hibernation is natural, don't freak out over it. When they're hibernating, they barely grow. How long they are down for varies GREATLY as well. I've heard of some being down for like 7 months but they wake up and eat like a monster and grow like crazy. Leave her to sleep and just make sure there is fresh water at all times, but the lights can be off if she's asleep. Just turn them on if you see her out. Humidity has like nothing to do whether she hibernates or not. Warm temps or not, if she wants to hibernate LET HER. If she wakes up every few weeks don't try and feed her. If she has too much food in her system and goes back to sleep it can rot inside her and possibly kill her. If she's awake for a few days then you can feed her. The person that owns this site is a very well known long time tegu breeder, and he says all his tegus hibernate end of august or so, including the babies that were just born june-july.

To sum it up, she knows what is best for her. She isn't going to kill herself. Take cues from the animal, and don't force anything on it.

 

[Toby_H]

^^ I agree with Tora...

My Tegu hibernated uninterputed for 5 months it's first winter and was quite inactive for 4~6 weeks before and after that period... He did great, grew normally and continues to impress me. At 2.5 years old he's over 4' and 12 lbs.

When a Tegu hibernates it's metabolism slows down greatly. Thus it does not use calories or need to eat. They also do not grow very much at all. Also, waking up a Tegu from hibernation forces it to be active while it's metabolism is inactive. This is quite stressful.

As mentioned, when a Tegu is approaching hibernation it does not need to eat. If it does go into hibernation with good/waste in it's system the food/waste can/will rot in it's gut. When I feel my Tegu needs to 'empty' itself when it's sleeping I pour warm water on it's hide. This wakes it up gently/peacefully/slowly. The warm water also sparks a need to 'go'.


The best advice I can offer anyone is... Your Tegu knows what it needs far more than you or I do. So follow it's lead. If it's sleeping, provide the parameters for it to sleep. If it's active, provide the parameters for it to be active.

 

[Guest]

ok sounds good.

Yeah i havent bothered her in a while now but i just didnt want anything bad to happen. I didnt know i could shut off her lights though.

It gets pretty chilly in my house though so should i at least leave her red heat lamp on?

Also if she comes out from time to time and she is hungry is it ok to feed her?

Should i continue to mist her cage regularly if humidity doesnt matter?

Thank you guys so much for your help. Ive been stressing out and apparantly stressing her out over all of this but im better now that i know its normal. This is my first tegu so i was unaware of the possibility of quick and long hibernation.

Armed with this new info i promise i will not bother her until she is ready to wake up :-D

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[tora]

Yea like I said don't try and feed her the second you see her awake, they might just be taking a quick 'break' to drink or bask for an hour. If they're up for like 2 days in a row go for it.

As far as temps gooo, I'm not 100% sure but so long as your house doesn't drop into the 50's you're ok. If you feel the need you can use the red light. I think the ceramic heaters work better though. It might just be me, though, I don't like night lights, lol.

Mist every once in a while to keep some humidity, but it's not a huge deal to get that perfect shed humidity.

Here's to hoping your baby wakes up soon, I know it sucks to get such an awesome pet just to have it go to sleep. :fc

 

[Toby_H]

Yeah i havent bothered her in a while now but i just didnt want anything bad to happen. I didnt know i could shut off her lights though.

When my Tegu is in hibernation, I put the UVB light on for 2~4 hours a day. This is just in case he wakes up and wishes to 'bask'. I do not use a heat lamp though as I don't want to kick start his metabolism until I'm convinced he's ready to wake up for the season.

It gets pretty chilly in my house though so should i at least leave her red heat lamp on?

I really really doubt anyone with electricity would let their home get "too cold" for a hibernating Tegu.

Also if she comes out from time to time and she is hungry is it ok to feed her?

My theory is, in winter months, I only feed my Tegu if/when it is 'active' two days in a row. I define 'active' to be out of the hide for at least a few hours and to spend at least some time exploring his enclosure. Just coming out and laying under a light for an hour or two isn't 'active' in my book.

Also, keep in mind after your Tegu eats he/she will need to relive him/herself. But if everytime it wakes up to poo you offer it another meal... you will be ensuring it will again have to wake up to relieve itself. As you can see this can become a neverending domino effect.

Should i continue to mist her cage regularly if humidity doesnt matter?

I wouldn't word it "humidity doesn't matter"... instead I would say that there is a very wide range of acceptible humidity. It can get 'too dry' to the point the Tegu becomes dehydrated. Yet it can also be 'too wet' where the substrate molds or mildews. Keep in mind the hidebox of a hibernating Tegu doesn't get much air flow.

Thank you guys so much for your help. Ive been stressing out and apparantly stressing her out over all of this but im better now that i know its normal. This is my first tegu so i was unaware of the possibility of quick and long hibernation.

We have all been there. I was a nervous wreck my Tegus first winter and he slept solid for 5 months. I would commonly open his enclosure and just smell the inside in fear he was dead and rotting... but I refraned from interfearing and he woke up as healthy as a horse.