Brumating out of season

[Sean Garrity]

Hi all!

Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this before. I live in the northeast US and my male tegu typically brumates from late September to early April, but he decided to start brumating this year at the end of June. Nothing about his husbandry has changed and my vet found nothing wrong with him aside from being a bit overweight. I tried adjusting his lighting, humidity, and cage setup but, he seems to just want to sleep. I brought him outside on the hotter days during the summer but he would immediately just go back into his hide when he came back in. His behavior isn't anything out of the ordinary for brumation aside from the time of year. I've just been treating this as I typically would for brumation so he has not been eating for the past few months, I just make sure he is staying hydrated.

Any ideas as to why he may be acting like this during the summer?

Thank you for any advice!

 

[Roadkill]

That's not really out of season. People have a somewhat erroneous idea that their brumation period is often in response to cold (it is somewhat, but that's not what really starts it off). From my studies in the wild, it's clear tegus start preparing for brumation quite soon after the summer solstice, which this year was June 20. This preparation period is characterised by progressive reduction in eating (both meal size and frequency), much less basking, spending more time "sleeping", very little roaming - all behaviours that most associate with "being in brumation".