need help with my tegu

[Aardbark]

Hello

First off let me say I know I made a few mistakes.

The story goes that I placed Zilla in her cage after eating one day. She drank some water and then burrowed. She stayed burrowed for 4 days, unmoveing (I could see the tip of her tail poking out).

Well the ther day I had a bad panic attack (unrelate to to the tegu). I wasnt thinking straight, and I was sure that Zilla was dead, so I dug her up. She was only sleeping, and she hissed at me for wakeing her.

Now she is up, and Im letting her stay on my bed. I sed up a lamp with a uvb bulb for her to bask, which she uses a lot. Whenever I present her with food, she will eat it. Mostly ground turkey. If she was hybernating, then why is she eating?

Also, this morning I found a big wet spot on my bed. She must have gone to the bathroom. However all it was, was a big wet spot. There was no poo. There was this little clump of hard white stuff, and this small little ball of yellow goo, but that is is. Should I be alarmed since there was no poo?


Anyway, Im still suffering from the panic attack and Im really worried about her. I just need some reasurance on what to do with her. What to do if she wants to hybernate, or if she doesnt, why is she sleeping for so long? Will she get enough uvb if she is underground all the time? Do you thin she is impacted and cant poo? She is currently sleeping in my pillow which is on my lap.

 

[TeguBuzz]

What made you think she's dead? 4 days is nothing, my tegus, other than Sobek (who is going down soon), have been down for almost 3 months now. They haven't come up at all, and they did the exact same thing last year. If she was impacted, I doubt anything would have come out. She hissed at you and you still took her out? This post may come as harsh, but she was obviously fine. Now that you've fed her, wait until she takes a crap and put her back in her enclosure and see if she'll go back down. Keep us posted, but I'm pretty sure she's fine, and was hibernating.

 

[Aardbark]

I wasnt thinking straight when I dug her up...

 

[TeguBuzz]

I wasnt thinking straight when I dug her up...

Stop smoking whatever it is you were smoking.

Take it easy pal.

 

[dragonmetalhead]

White/yellow excrement are composed of urates, it's the brown stuff that is the actual feces. Your tegu probably only dropped urates, the lizard equivalent of peeing.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Like previously stated sleeping for 4 days is nothing,.. she may be slowing down but not ready to hibernate yet IF she does go down for hibernation.

Take some time to read up in the Hibernation section for signs to look for and how to prepare if the time comes.

 

[Aardbark]

Not smokeing anything, just had a very bad week and wanted to hug my tegu.

 

[TeguBuzz]

Not smokeing anything, just had a very bad week and wanted to hug my tegu.

I was just messing with you bud. I get what you mean though.

 

[Aardbark]

Thats ok, I thought you were.

I read a lot of the Hybernaton info, but it doesnt say anything about tempratures. What temp should I keep the cage at? Also, I use heat lamps, and they dont provide much heat at all when she burrows underground.

 

[TeguBuzz]

You reduce their light cycle which results in lower temps. Slowly cut back on the amount of time the lights are on and she'll eventually stay under.

 

[omgtaylorg]

If he/she is under the substrate and not coming up and its been longer than 4 days cut off the lights completely, when they are hibernating they dont need the UVB or the heat because if you leave your lights on and it stays hot in there, it will keep their metabolism going while they sleep resulting in them starving to death literally or they will wake up extremely skinny depending on how long they sleep, both bad. Just check your cage daily to check if he/she is under and if it continues past 4 days kill the lights and leave the gu alone. On the other hand, if your gu is still eating every now and then and NOT staying under the substrate for longer than 4 days it is probably brumating (mini form of hibernation) and it just basically means they slow way way down on eating and activity and you can shorten your daily light cycle, which also might cause them to hibernate completely. All tegus are different and if you pay attention to the signs your tegu will "tell" you what its trying to do

 

[Aardbark]

What are good temps and humidity for hybernating?

 

[reptastic]

Just a bit of food for thought, in argentine temps get down to the low 40s and to the point were the frost develop and wild tegus survive, keep your temps above 45* and below 65*, still mist daily and keep a bowl of water availible, fyi tegus know how much uvb/heat they need and will bask accordingly so dont worry about 4 days when shes buried, my female slept a whole month and woke up ready to eat, as mentioned before if they dont hibernate they may brumate