My baby tegu keeps waking up from hibernation

[nadya1805]

[/size][/font]Hello to all fellow tegu lovers!

I am a brand new owner of an Argentine black and white tegu. This is my first tegu. I used to have a bearded dragon and lost him recently... Now I have three babies, two beardies and a tegu, they are, of course, in seperate enclosures.

I just lost my beardie, and was dying to get another lizard. A tegu seemed like a great choice, I read they are very smart and can be trained like dogs, docile, etc. I went and got a baby tegu, however I had no idea these guys hibernate! The Vivarium store did not let me know they do.

Anyways, shortly after I got him/her, my baby went to sleep. I keep him in a 40 gallon, lights and heat are off. Keeing the humidity between 60-80%. He keeps on coming out every 3 days or so.. I live in California, and it's been pretty warm lately. What does that mean? Is he ready to wake up? Whenever he comes out, I put the UVA and UVB light on. It's strange that despite of him not really eating, just some egg the first few days I got him, he looks bigger. He refused to eat anything else. And, I, due to my ignorance, dug him out a few times. It worried me that he would not come out and eat. Like I said, I only had one bearded dragon before...

I just wonder, if there is anything I need to do for my tegu? I got him at the end of September, and he was a hatchling. Isn't it too early for him to hibernate?

 

[james.w]

It is not too early to hibernate. I would leave the lights/heat on at least 8 hours a day until you know for certain he is hibernating. Always leave fresh water available and you can offer food when he comes out, he may or may not eat.

 

[spark678]

is there a percentage of tegus that do not hibernate? and is it possible for them to make it to a certain month and then you will know for sure they wont hibernate? sorry didnt want to make a new thread!

 

[kellen.watkins]

No its to each his own, sometimes they won't go down sometimes they will one year they will one year they won't, one year they go down in september one year october, my first tegu went down in august one year

 

[spark678]

awesome. what about a first year tegu? Mine keeps eating like a pig. But then again he naps all day.

 

[kellen.watkins]

Same, yours might not go down at all, yours might stay up til december, you can try and induce hibernation by cutting light hours and/or bringing cage temps down slightly (just don't bring down basking temps)

 

[nadya1805]

Same, yours might not go down at all, yours might stay up til december, you can try and induce hibernation by cutting light hours and/or bringing cage temps down slightly (just don't bring down basking temps)

Thank you for all your responses and suggestions guys) Last night my Zeuss was up for a while. I added more substrate to his bedding, so he could borrow in it easier. And to our suprise, it seemed to add problems. He tried like 20 times to dug in, but kept popping up. Then he would go back to his basking spot and stay there for a few minutes, then go back to borrowing. Finally, he made it (as I don't see him anywhere in his tank). I turned all the lights and heat off. The temperature in the tank stays around 70. He looked tired and just wanted to go back to sleep. I don't want to force him do anything that is against the nature. I am not sure yet if I am going to breed him or not, but just seems like keeping a sleepy tegu up is not a good idea. Besides, he wouldn't eat, no matter how warm or sunny his tank was.

Just looking forward for him to be up in spring and eat like a monster