hibernation and maturity

[shadowsong]

since there is no winter here so i guess my argentine tegus won't hibernate, it means that they will keep eating and growing all the year. what i'm asking is, does it affect their maturity age? it crosses my mind when i read about their maturity age, which is 1,5 years for male and 3 years for female and i assume that it is the maturity age when they do hibernate.

 

[Azaleah]

I have heard that tegus tend to hibernate/brumate on their own even without extreme temperature changes. However, if they do not brumate, they will continue to grow over the time. I do not know what it does for sexual maturity, but I do know that a hibernated tegu of the same age will be much smaller than an unhibernated one.

 

[shadowsong]

hibernate without extreme temperature changes? wow.. is that happen to someone in this forum? i'd like to know more about it.

 

[AB^]

I dont beleive they go into true brumation (hibernation) but they can certainly slow down during the winter even with normal temps, coming out less, eating less etc etc.
Many breeders beleive (argentine) tegus can not breed unless they are brumated every season.

 

[DZLife]

This is exactly why, even if it isn't for sure, I have made 100% sure that the tegus I bought were all properly hibernated....I mean hey, if there is even a slight chance that they may not be able to breed properly if the don't hibernate, why risk it?

 

[AB^]

This is exactly why, even if it isn't for sure, I have made 100% sure that the tegus I bought were all properly hibernated....I mean hey, if there is even a slight chance that they may not be able to breed properly if the don't hibernate, why risk it?

And if everyone does this, then we'll never know.....

 

[shadowsong]

fyi, someone here in bali island, indonesia, sell hatchlings argentine tegu and claim that it is his clutch. i never come and see it myself, but he's quite famous here, so i guess it really is his clutch. but he never share how to breed them or whether he put them into hibernation or not, but it will be very hard to do and expensive, since there is only 2 seasons here, summer and rainy. even the rainy season is far from cold.

 

[tupinambis]

You can easily get your tegus to breed at pretty much any time of the year with the proper hormone injections. That is essentially what happens when your tegu hibernates - the hibernation state re-aligns their hormonal axis so that when they come out of hibernation, their glands start producing the hormones naturally that induce breeding. It is really quite simple.

 

[shadowsong]

what kind of hormone? and where do you inject it? i dont plan to inject it myself, but i can tell my vet what to do, because only view vet that have some knowledge about reptile here.
if it not possible to do that, then i will just forget the dream to breed them and live will go on

 

[DZLife]

This is exactly why, even if it isn't for sure, I have made 100% sure that the tegus I bought were all properly hibernated....I mean hey, if there is even a slight chance that they may not be able to breed properly if the don't hibernate, why risk it?

And if everyone does this, then we'll never know.....

lol, good point Kevin!