I have had my black and white tegu since April 30th he was about a month or 2 old. He ate fine for a couple weeks then started slowing down in eating and started sleeping alot sleeping alot tempos are fine I don't have central air either so his Temps stay pretty consistent. Should I worry. I don't want to bother him if I don't need to.
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Is my Tegu hibernating in July
- Thread starter cjordan85
- Start date
Sleeping more and eating less are "correlates" of hibernation in tegus, but they don't necessarily mean it IS hibernating. The really only definitive way to discern hibernation is not by behaviour, but by metabolism (hibernation/brumation is a seasonal physiological state of suppressed metabolism accompanied by a reduction in activity - the behavioural component is not definitive, a reduction can be "slightly less" to "no activity at all").
However, having said this, from my research there appears to be a cue that initiates the process so that tegus start preparing for hibernation months in advance to what many would call "full brumation". Shortly after the summer solstice (which just happened last month, June 20th) the days progressively get shorter. Depending on where you live, this shortening can be only a few seconds, to tens of minutes a day, but they appear to perceive this continuous change and it induces a change in their behaviour: they bask less, sleep more, eat less frequently, eat smaller meals. Over the next several months, these all tend to progress (sleeping more and more, eating less and less), and this causes a subtle change in average daily body temperature (so that although actual ambient temperatures may not be changing significantly, because they are sleeping more and basking less, they are spending less time at elevated temperatures, and thus their daily average deep body temperature drops) and this produces a ramping down effect of metabolism.
However, having said this, from my research there appears to be a cue that initiates the process so that tegus start preparing for hibernation months in advance to what many would call "full brumation". Shortly after the summer solstice (which just happened last month, June 20th) the days progressively get shorter. Depending on where you live, this shortening can be only a few seconds, to tens of minutes a day, but they appear to perceive this continuous change and it induces a change in their behaviour: they bask less, sleep more, eat less frequently, eat smaller meals. Over the next several months, these all tend to progress (sleeping more and more, eating less and less), and this causes a subtle change in average daily body temperature (so that although actual ambient temperatures may not be changing significantly, because they are sleeping more and basking less, they are spending less time at elevated temperatures, and thus their daily average deep body temperature drops) and this produces a ramping down effect of metabolism.
