Prepping for hibernation

[Rhetoric]

Last winter Guru was up all winter, I kept a CHE in the enclosure at night because sometimes the temp would drop into the 60s. I kept it on the warm side of the enclosure and he slept on the cool end. There didn't seem to be any issues, he's a big healthy boy.

Since we've moved, the tegus are now in the garage. The first month we were here it was still pretty cold and because its a garage, there are no heat vents in there. I got a higher wattage CHE to keep the enclosure warm otherwise it would drop very low. Between Nov and Mar our average lows are mid 30's and average highs are mid 40's. I don't really see the garage staying much warmer than those temps unless we're doing laundry at night lol.

This week Guru has only been out for about 2 hours a day tops. Rango has always slept out in the open but he too is only awake for a couple hours a day and spends most of his time on the cooler end. He only basks after a meal.

I'm wanting to get a thermostat to go with any CHEs I'll need to purchase. This way the temps won't go below ~60 or above ~65, somewhere in that range. I've seen that some people keep them a little higher, some a little lower. I'm still a little worried about when to ditch the lights and stop feeding them. Guru is already eating 2x a week, small meals.

Is it best to gradually decrease feeding frequency with the lights or do I stop feeding cold turkey? I don't want food to rot in their bellies but I also do not want to cut the food out too early and have hungry tegus.

Today I changed the lights from 12/12 to 9/15, I thought I'd leave them like that for a week and cut them back to 6/18 if things are still going alright.

I feel like things are happening so quickly!

 

[james.w]

I think mine may be heading for hibernation as well, I haven't seen him out for tye last 3 days. I will be doing the same with the lights, cutting down the time they are on gradually.

 

[Rhetoric]

Did yours go down last year? If he did, how did you adjust the amount of food?

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Natsuki is slowing down but his previous owner said he has never hibernated. He use to be up around 10 in the morning now it's not until 3 or 4pm when he does come out. He came out to eat while I was feeding Korben but was really sluggish about it. After drinking some water he spent his time outside today pretty much napping back a forth between the sun and shade.

I've set the lights back a couple of hours but I'll keep the temps the same until Oct. Hopefully he would've made up his mind by then.

 

[james.w]

Did yours go down last year? If he did, how did you adjust the amount of food?

Yeah he went down in November and was back up in March if I remember correctly. I just stopped feeding when he stopped coming out.

 

[new2tegus]

Yep, my little guy is getting ready too. Normally he's up when I get home. Lights on at 6:30 or so, and off at 8. He use to stay with out as long as I would hang around and play with him. Now he's out to bask and then goes down. He was just recently down 2 two days.

 

[Rhetoric]

Did he wake back up then?

 

[new2tegus]

He got back up,sorry Rhet, but now I think he's going down lol. He's slowed down, comes out to bask, yesterday ate a whopping 1 fuzzie. Just kinda hung out. Hasn't gone to the bathroom yet,so I will have to pull him out to make sure he does,but it's looking like he's going to be sleeping soon. I will just keep my eye on temps and him. I wanted to get an enclosure made with a custom burrow with a window in it that had a door over it, just to peek in on him. Something like an enclosure with 2 floors. Have a large section beneath it to hibernate and the top section to just burrow under the mulch when up. Just have to see how it goes.

 

[kellen.watkins]

vanilla has been slowing down and now im trying to induce hibernation by taking her night light away and cutting her hours down to 8 instead of 12,i leave her food and she nibbles at it here and there not a lot, Eli on the other hand has a bottomless pit for a stomach still i dont think he will hibernate (cause of all the blue genes) and im fine with that he can be my buddy all winter long then hopefully him and vanilla can be best buds next spring

 

[james.w]

Blues don't hibernate??

 

[Rhetoric]

Some do, from what I've read its more common for them to stay up. I'm not sure if thats one of the reasons why some people think they're closer to teguixin than merianae. I was told my hybrid had gone down both of the winters hes been around for. The guy who had him lowered the temps during the fall. I'm not sure if that helped to push him into it or not. He is supposedly 1/4 red and I think reds tend to hibernate a little longer than the black and whites but I'm not 100% sure on that.

It is nice having someone up with you all winter! I'm still unsure if my guys are going down.