Tegu Not Eating, Lethargic

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My Juvie Tegu has been trying to hibernate since I bought him last June. He spent the entire summer asleep and still is trying to sleep. For a while, he kept his weight on, etc. but when I checked him last, his weight looked down, he was more sluggish, and I noticed that his jaw on the right side of his head seems to be a little more protruded than on his left side. The bulge is under his right eye. Any thoughts on what to do?

I turned on the heat lamp as well as the UVB lamp but all he does is burrow under the mulch and refuse to bask. I even installed a heating pad on the side of his tank to elevate his metabolism, hoping to stimulate feeding, etc. I'm running out of options. I was thinking about force-feeding him vitamin covered crickets perhaps? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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[Jer723]

is his skin cracked and dry, also does he keep his eyes closed? is he stiff, if so get him water and fast! put him in a warm bath if he is having these symptoms, this just happened to my tegu he was severely dehydrated from hibernation, after he gets hydrated he should be a little better, i have also heard that before force feeding find pedialight in the baby section at your local supermarket and put it in his bowl because it will give him vitamins and nutrition, also if you do resort to force feeding just use some watered down baby food in a syringe, resort to this video for procedure:

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I hope your tegu does better please keep me posted this has just recently happened to me i wish you and your gu the best of luck, try to stay calm.

Jerry

 

[lazyjr52]

If you're tegu has been trying to hibernate you should turn off the lights and any heating devices. Tegus normally don't eat during hibernation. You should only offer food if you see him coming out trying to bask.

As far as his jaw and eye goes you should prolly have him checked out by a vet. Also where did you get him from?

 

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Good news. After heating the cage up a bit and totally soaking the mulch, Diego is looking much better. Not nearly as shriveled up as he had looked a week ago. I also was able to get him to eat some tuna - first time he's eaten in 6 or 7 months.

Diego has been hibernating since I brought him last June, which is almost 9 months. This seems WAY too long. I want to wake him up so that I can fatten him up a bit. In April or May, I'll be waking up his MUCH larger pal, Frieda, and I was hoping to get Diego to grow a bit more between now and then so that I can house them both together in the outdoor rabbit hutch.

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[MIKE-ZILLA]

im glad hes doing much better. you may want to keep his cage warm and continue to offer food and water. soaking may also help him hydrate himself. good luck. also, if you think hes lacking uv rays you could remove some mulch so that he cant hide from the uv light, but that might create stress , so thats your call.

 

[Pikey]

what are you using for UVB lighting?

 

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I'm using a Zilla 9 1/2 hydrogen combo zone with the UVB and the heat lamp. He's only in a 30 gallon long, and at his current size, the tank seems plenty big for him. I also have a heat pad, which I've attached to the side of the tank for fear of him burning himself had I placed it on the bottom of the tank. However, now I'm wondering if I should have put it on the bottom because it doesn't seem to get that hot to the point where he'd burn himself. Any suggestions on the heat pad locations?

 

[Pikey]

thats ur problem GET RID OF THE ZILLA UVB BULB.......a lot of studies have been done Zilla bulbs put out great UVB wavelengths, BUT they are so low on the scale they are dangerously close to UVC (which can kill animals) use a MVB Bulb or a Zoo-Med 5.0 or 10.0 Flourescent bulb

you're slowly killing your tegu with Zilla UVB light
(i think they make great products other than their terrible UVB lights)

take the UVB light out for a few days keep the rest of them on and he/she should perk right up

 

[carcharios]

Can you recommend a UVB bulb that won't cost me an arm and leg? From what I recall when I did my research some time ago, they're pretty expensive.

 

[themedic]

i bought a 10. uvb bulb, a 26w, zoomed for like 13-15 bucks works like a charm, emits no heat, just light.