Hello, I got a Argentine black and white tegu on Saturday Jan 8th and it has not eaten. It is about 4-6 months old. It has drank water at least once but all it seems to do is burrow under a hide in the cold side of the tank. Temp is around 100f on basking, 80-90 on hot side and 70-80 on cool side. At night it probably gets to around 65-75 with the lights off. Is this just normal brumation behavior?
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Hibernation/Brumation
- Thread starter Brandon M
- Start date
Courtney6j99
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- 7
Courtney6j99
New Member
- Messages
- 7
He is actually, half blue and half black and white, got him from a breeder in Florida. The blue and black and whites have green on them when they're this age so I think yours has to be either a golden or a red since I'm not sure what their babies look like.
He had green on him for a little bit but he has grown out of it. He still has some green tint to him around his head if you look at a certain angle.
I thought one of the ways to check is there loreal scales , Argentine B&W have 2 and Columbian have 1, usually. Mine appears to have 2 scales in between eye and nostril. Also Argentine have a lateral line that runs down the length of the body starting at the eye, which mine appears to have.
Courtney6j99
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Okay well I'm not sure on the type but I do know if he is a black and white he should be bigger at 6 months if he's only 14 inches. Blues are smaller than black and whites and mine is half blue and was 10 inches when I got him at just a month old. Just seems very small for his age. Was told by the breeder tegus don't brumate the first year, at least not fully so hopefully he'll start to eat soon and grow.
Information on brumation seems to vary greatly with everyone I talk to, some people say if they don't brumate there first year they'll be infertile, some say they don't need to brumate, some say if they don't brumate there organs will become elongated. I am just not able to find any solid concise answers on brumation.
Courtney6j99
New Member
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Yeah I know, that's why I just went with what the breeder told me for mine. They have hundreds there and said the most they do in the first year is a slight brumation where they are less active but still eat and the second year they brumate them so they can still breed. Do you have a reptile vet near you? I think I would just get the little fella a check up make sure he's doing alright if he doesn't eat soon. He might just be scared though, took mine 4 or 5 days after I got him to actually eat anything, before that he hid in his log when he wasn't in his substrate.
Yes I can take him/her to a vet. I also heard it can kill them if they eat a lot before or during brumstion because they won't digest food and it will rot in their stomach. So do I keep offering food or wait until he/she is more active for a couple days before offering food. I have witnesses him/her drink.
Courtney6j99
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I would personally offer the food, if you find out that he or she is actually brumating you can always put him or her in a warm bath, that really helps them poop to get all the food out. Also maybe message whoever you got him or her from and see what they were doing, if they were feeding your tegu or not.
