Sleepy Tegu

[herpgirl2510]

I got a 3 foot red male tegu about 3 weeks ago. He only comes out for maybe 3 hours a day then he is buried. When I got him you could see he was trying to shed But he was kept in very dry conditions. Could he be hiding to help with the shed? Bogart is a great eater he was always hand fed so this is how I feed him so his appetite is great. Seems strange that he sleeps so much I have a B&W and he is out all day basking and when he roams around he is very active. Advice welcome. He is now on mulch and I mist his cage 2x daily so the humidity is good and he is a 7x3.5x3.5 enclosure he did come from a small tank where he was before. Maybe the husbandry has changed so drastically that he is stressed oout?

 

[Little Wise Owl]

My red is the exact same. She'll only come out for 2-3 hours to bask and then she's gone for the day.

 

[herpgirl2510]

Maybe some reds are really lazy .He is like the invisible lizard.

 

[thomasjg23]

My red is still trying to hibernate.

 

[Rhetoric]

When I was looking to get my first tegu I had read on a few threads that the reds tend to be more shy by nature than the black and whites..
He could very well be getting used to the new housing. Do you know if you've got him on a different schedule than he was previously on? Light times, feeding times, etc? That could also be why.

 

[herpgirl2510]

When I got him he was in a 40 gallon breeder maybe slightly larger on newspaper so his enviornment is totally different. He cannot stand to be touched and takes off even if you try to touch him the balck and white I got a few days ago is so much friendlier and interactive. I did not see a uvb bulb either this guy had him for 6 months so he is a big snake keepr and seemed to keep him like a snake.

 

[Toby_H]

It's perfectly natural for Tegus to act very differently in different seasons... it's actually very abnormal for our Tegus to stay awake year round...

I've heard Bobby say many times that Reds do everything late. They go into hibernation late, they wake up late, they breed late, etc.

So there is a very good chance that your B&W has quickly adapted to the indoor conditions of being warm all year. Your Red sounds like he is following the normal pattern of a Tegu and is in the transitional phase between hibernating and being fully active.

Your situation sounds perfectly normal and is what I would expect...

 

[herpgirl2510]

My red is 2 1/2 years old and he has never hibernated. The B&W did from nov-march.