Hibernation- how will I Know

[Abner]

My Tegu is 4 months and I feed her everyday. Two days ago she only came out for about 90 min and yesterday for about the same so I thought that she may start hibernating. So I did not fed her those two days in preparation. But today was a different story, after she was out for about 3 hours I decided to give her a shower and some food as I don’t want to starve her.

How can I know she is ready to hibernate? Her light cycle has been reduced to 10 hours in an attempt to put her in hibernation.


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[Walter1]

Reduce her daylength and time she gets heat. She'll let you know by scarcely coming out and refusing food. Then, lightly cover entrance to hide, and allow ambient temp to steadily drop to 58-65f.

 

[nightanole]

Yup. Keep feeding, keeping the lights on, and keeping the heat source going. "if" she hibernates she will refuse food for a week or more. At that point you can stop offering food, reducing air temps, but keeping the heat source for a few more weeks.

The key word everyone will keep saying, is to not remove the heatsource. With out a basking spot, it will be impossible for them to clear out their system during the first few weeks of bedding down when they might come out for a few hours a week.