Brumating or Not?

[thommack]

My 3 foot long 7 pound Tegu Teddy (believe it's a female) has been sleeping a lot, in one stretch for about a week or so. I was thinking she was brumating, but over a couple of days she was out and about and even basking. This last couple of days she has seemed rather alert. I looked at a number of videos on brumation, but I'm not sure if she really is brumating or just sleeping a lot. She appears to be curious and probably hungry. She doesn't look thin or like she is loosing weight, but I don't want to be starving here either if she is not actually brumating. Any suggestions on how I can really tell? And if she has been out, can I feed her at least a little?

Tom Mack
Cincinnati, OH

 

[TheTeguNovice]

My 3 foot long 7 pound Tegu Teddy (believe it's a female) has been sleeping a lot, in one stretch for about a week or so. I was thinking she was brumating, but over a couple of days she was out and about and even basking. This last couple of days she has seemed rather alert. I looked at a number of videos on brumation, but I'm not sure if she really is brumating or just sleeping a lot. She appears to be curious and probably hungry. She doesn't look thin or like she is loosing weight, but I don't want to be starving here either if she is not actually brumating. Any suggestions on how I can really tell? And if she has been out, can I feed her at least a little?

Tom Mack
Cincinnati, OH

Figuring out whether my Tegu's were brumating was pretty difficult for me too. My female displayed the same characteristics that your describing, however my male did not, he went down for a few months and I didn't see him at all. My female never fully went down, I monitored whether she was or not by her food response. I too stopped feeding her but she began to pace the enclosure anticipating a meal. That's when I knew she wasn't going down. From what I've read and seen their food response "should" also go down sometimes even rejecting a meal. But the beauty of these animals is they all have there own personalities so what may work for one wont work for another. IMO I would just monitor her, offer water but if you see a change in her weight offer a meal and see how she responds.