Brumation

[Crisavina1]

My little dude is trying to go down for the winter but After a recent visit to the vet I got recommended not to brumate my Gu because it’s only 3 months old and is quite stressful due to not eating. What are your guys thoughts on this? It definitely want To go down, has been sleeping a bunch and isn’t taking much food and I’ve got to pull them out of the dirt or she won’t come out at all. I think she’s just gunna end up doing why she’s does?

 

[Roadkill]

I recommend finding a new vet. First, in the wild tegus do not have an option to brumate based on their age: winter is happening no matter what, due to the fact that breeding, incubation, and hatching all happen following winter, it means a tegu's first brumation is going to occur at an age of several months. Period. Second, while it is absolutely possible to manipulate tegus to either induce or prevent brumation, despite my trying to elucidate people on the matter, it seems very few actually understand, and so it is best not to interfere with the brumation cycle. Now having said this, that one can prevent or induce brumation, another thing people don't grasp is the brumation adjustment to physiology actually starts taking place before most people will notice. By the time you notice, as you have, the tegu is already in the grasp of brumation physiology. To give an analogy, you are running toward a cliff, the closer you get the faster you go, you are literally a foot away from the cliff's edge, are in the motion of leaping upwards but your feet haven't quite completely left contact with the ground....this is where your tegu is. It's theoretically possible to stop what's going to happen next, but if you don't know what you're doing, it is very hard to determine what the outcome will be. You hear a lot of people state the claim that disturbing a tegu during brumation is bad, and I don't think there's anything to support this idea: many tegus as a natural aspect of their brumation will arouse, go out and bask a bit, and often on a frequent basis. However, a disturbance is a different idea than deliberately trying to terminate a physiological process as it is engaging, and especially without a good idea of how to do so...I wouldn't venture on whether this is a good idea or not.

 

[Crisavina1]

Thank you ve

I recommend finding a new vet. First, in the wild tegus do not have an option to brumate based on their age: winter is happening no matter what, due to the fact that breeding, incubation, and hatching all happen following winter, it means a tegu's first brumation is going to occur at an age of several months. Period. Second, while it is absolutely possible to manipulate tegus to either induce or prevent brumation, despite my trying to elucidate people on the matter, it seems very few actually understand, and so it is best not to interfere with the brumation cycle. Now having said this, that one can prevent or induce brumation, another thing people don't grasp is the brumation adjustment to physiology actually starts taking place before most people will notice. By the time you notice, as you have, the tegu is already in the grasp of brumation physiology. To give an analogy, you are running toward a cliff, the closer you get the faster you go, you are literally a foot away from the cliff's edge, are in the motion of leaping upwards but your feet haven't quite completely left contact with the ground....this is where your tegu is. It's theoretically possible to stop what's going to happen next, but if you don't know what you're doing, it is very hard to determine what the outcome will be. You hear a lot of people state the claim that disturbing a tegu during brumation is bad, and I don't think there's anything to support this idea: many tegus as a natural aspect of their brumation will arouse, go out and bask a bit, and often on a frequent basis. However, a disturbance is a different idea than deliberately trying to terminate a physiological process as it is engaging, and especially without a good idea of how to do so...I wouldn't venture on whether this is a good idea or not.

thank you for the advice I already started to let it go down again, I’m gunna wake her up a few more time to makes sure she’s pooped all she can and she’ll go down for the winter. So her new permanent home is in the works, do you think moving her while she’s in deep sleep would be tough on her?

 

[Zyn]

No it wouldn’t as long as the temps stay low enough that she isn’t burning body fat while asleep. My Sevy goes down and in routinely check on her through out the winter. She’s in a large black tote with coco mulch and straw and she stays asleep the entire time. If I hear her scratching I take her out let her back give her some water and when she goes back down I don’t usually hear her again for a Month or more.

 

[Debita]

Totally agree with Roadkill.....let your animal lead the way when it comes to brumation. Roadkill is absolutely correct in his description of the process of brumation. They are already heading that direction when we catch up and figure it out. It's a great internal clock that whether it's in the wild or in captivity, they don't resist. I would make sure there's fresh water available (change about twice a week) and offer small amounts of food if it will take some, but don't be concerned if they're not interested. Don't forget that they "can" also take a few days to remember where they are, when they come back and awaken. I think the older they get, the less they do this maybe.

 

[Member1421]

It's interesting to think how region affects this. I am in SoCal and it was 90* yesterday. Little Ted Bundy hasn't considered cutting back on food and is extremely active. I wouldn't try to prevent it, unless, from only things I've heard, it happens to be a very small or thin baby. Definitely keep doing your research and never stop learning.

 

[Roadkill]

It's interesting to think how region affects this. I am in SoCal and it was 90* yesterday. Little Ted Bundy hasn't considered cutting back on food and is extremely active. I wouldn't try to prevent it, unless, from only things I've heard, it happens to be a very small or thin baby. Definitely keep doing your research and never stop learning.

Like nearly everything about tegus, it's even more confusing than that (not to say I think tegus are confusing, just that there is so much variability in them that it is nearly impossible to make a claim that consistently applies to the whole species). Where I predominantly did my research was south-central Brasil, so towards the southern extent of the Tupinambis sp. distributions, and central/north end of the Salvator sp. distributions. According to a few colleagues, there were populations of Salvator merianae to the further south (ie. closer to the pole, so likely much cooler average weather/temperatures) that are rumoured to not brumate at all. Sadly, I never got to investigate this. Everyone also used to state that "blues" don't brumate, but then you see all kinds of posts from people that theirs do. Same thing with Tupinambis sp., I can dig up offhand claims in the scientific literature that they don't brumate, but then I hear from the odd keeper that their Tupinambis sp. do something during winter that I would say qualifies as brumation...however, beings as most hobbyists have a very poor idea of what brumation is, how it can be displayed, it gets really hard to judge these anecdotes as solid claims or misunderstandings.