Hi,
I've a 4 year old male Tegu who's quite friendly but seems to have been on Argentine time until recently.
For those who don't know we had horribly hot weather for a while down here recently - and temperatures in the flat got above 32c even after midnight. So, I regularly gave Priscus a bath which he seemed to appreciate - snoozing happily until he wanted to climb out, using me as a climbing frame.
Before all this he seemed odd in that he'd seem to be in hibernation mode in summer and be much more active in winter - he'd plod out to bask about 11am, bask for a while, wander around for a bit then curl up and snooze. He seemed much less lively in the summer but if I took him outside on the rare days he'd pop up he'd be happy as Larry.
I hadn't realised but he had a shed that hadn't really happened - and the baths really freed it off. So I helped him shed (I do this for all my animals) - it was a bit like peeling a 5kg wriggly banana with claws and he seems much happier and more active.
But here's the weird thing. For the last 2 weeks he's been waking up at 3-4am, completely alert, toddling round the flat examining everything like he did as a baby - for about 2 hours - toddling off to either bit of the lino in the flat, peeing (which he has never done before, and was never trained to), toddling back and going back to sleep. He's much more affectionate than before - tolerates being picked up better, will use me as a nice warm basking spot (underneath me with his back feet on my hands and head by my knees (think a warm human cave, also think dead legs) and just generally seems like a different animal. I thought the timing might be to do with mating season - but then why's he so friendly?
He's always taken food by hand but has never been this friendly before and I haven't done anything other than help him shed - and before when I did this it didn't have this effect (nor was it immediate).
He's currently ~42" and 10lb 2oz in weight.. His heaviest being 10lb 8oz (when he was more greedy about 4 months ago)
Anyone have any ideas?
I'm more than happy that he's more active & affectionate but I have sleep problems at the best of times and it's getting tiring - walking around after him at 4am in case he tries to get somewhere he shouldn't (have you ever seen a Tegu lift half a double bed with his head? I have). It's almost like someone has nicked my Tegu and replaced him with a different animal - the change was that fast.
I've a 4 year old male Tegu who's quite friendly but seems to have been on Argentine time until recently.
For those who don't know we had horribly hot weather for a while down here recently - and temperatures in the flat got above 32c even after midnight. So, I regularly gave Priscus a bath which he seemed to appreciate - snoozing happily until he wanted to climb out, using me as a climbing frame.
Before all this he seemed odd in that he'd seem to be in hibernation mode in summer and be much more active in winter - he'd plod out to bask about 11am, bask for a while, wander around for a bit then curl up and snooze. He seemed much less lively in the summer but if I took him outside on the rare days he'd pop up he'd be happy as Larry.
I hadn't realised but he had a shed that hadn't really happened - and the baths really freed it off. So I helped him shed (I do this for all my animals) - it was a bit like peeling a 5kg wriggly banana with claws and he seems much happier and more active.
But here's the weird thing. For the last 2 weeks he's been waking up at 3-4am, completely alert, toddling round the flat examining everything like he did as a baby - for about 2 hours - toddling off to either bit of the lino in the flat, peeing (which he has never done before, and was never trained to), toddling back and going back to sleep. He's much more affectionate than before - tolerates being picked up better, will use me as a nice warm basking spot (underneath me with his back feet on my hands and head by my knees (think a warm human cave, also think dead legs) and just generally seems like a different animal. I thought the timing might be to do with mating season - but then why's he so friendly?
He's always taken food by hand but has never been this friendly before and I haven't done anything other than help him shed - and before when I did this it didn't have this effect (nor was it immediate).
He's currently ~42" and 10lb 2oz in weight.. His heaviest being 10lb 8oz (when he was more greedy about 4 months ago)
Anyone have any ideas?
I'm more than happy that he's more active & affectionate but I have sleep problems at the best of times and it's getting tiring - walking around after him at 4am in case he tries to get somewhere he shouldn't (have you ever seen a Tegu lift half a double bed with his head? I have). It's almost like someone has nicked my Tegu and replaced him with a different animal - the change was that fast.
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