question and concerns about hibernation

[TheTeguGurl]

Hello all. i have some concerns on what to do if and when my tegus decide to hibernate? like do i leave them in the enclosure or take them out? do i leave there uvb/uva lights on what? im lost on what to do or prepare myself for this to happen if it does. I havnt noticed if there starting to slow down or not, i really dont know what to look for in that. any helpful advise would be great. :doh

 

[Toby_H]

I was really concerned about the hibernation process before I got my Tegu and during his first summer... I read all I could so that I could create the ideal situation... in the end he did exactly what he wanted, ignoring my desired plan... and everything went just fine...

I had my 4' x 2' x 2' cage in a fish room that was a constant 80*F year round with high humidity.

Around mid October he started eating less and coming out less... a few weeks later he stopped coming out at all... I didn't see him again until May...

They enclosure remained in the 80*F fish room until January or so... when I moved it into the house (70*F or so). I left the UVB lights on for around 4 hours a day. This was just in case he woke up and needed UVB, although he didn't utilize it once...


Last winter was a bit different...

I systematically altered the timer to make the days shorter and the nights longer... to make the heat of the day cooler and cooler as the days grew shorter... I decreased the amount of food offered as the days grew shorter & cooler...

Despite my best attempts, he ignored my attempts to put him into hibernation and remained active. I gave in and went back to a 12 on 12 off schedule with full temp and full meals.

He did slow down, ate less and spent less time up and moving in Jan & Feb, but really didn't "hibernate" compared to last years experience.


This year I'll just offer 'typical care' and otherwise let him do his thing. Since that's what he seems to do anyway

 

[Orion]

Your Tegu will let you know what it wants to do. Last year mine started eating less and less in October, then started coming out for only a few hours a day, so I started to time the lights and heat lamp for 10 hours a day instead of 12 for a week. The next week I turned the lights and heat lamp on only 8 hours a day. She only came out 2 days for an hour or 2. After that I kept the lights and heat lamp on 8 hours for 2 weeks. No lights no heat no humidity ( Stopped misting the cage because of mold) the room temp was 59 to 65 degrees. I never saw her again until the end of April when I was turning the heat and light on 12 hours a day for almost 3 weeks. I could see her during hibernation since she made her burrow in her hide right against the glass.

 

[slideaboot]

Yeah, you don't really get a say in whether or not your gu hibernates. I tried leaving the light (powersun 160) on to keep my tegu from hibernating last year and he didn't care that it was 100 degrees--he was gonna SLEEP! There are some folks on here like Reptastic and DMBizeau (I think...) whose tegus didn't hibernate last year and they wound up with like 4 foot yearling tegus--crazy. From what I remember, they didn't do anything special to keep their gus up, they just never chose to go down.