Hello everyone!
I have a quick question for all of you. Do tegu's generate some of their own body heat? I know this sounds like a really obvious question, but there's a reason I'm bringing this up.
First, some back story.
My Tegu [Taco] is currently living with me in my college apartment. I could not bring his 8x4 enclosure with me to school, so since fall he has been living in a large dog kennel with a basking spot, hid box, etc. It was meant as a temporary solution, but it has been in use longer than it should have been. Taco is now larger than he was in the fall and its becoming more and more clear that the kennel is nowhere near big enough. I attempt to remedy this by leaving it open all the time, so in essence my entire room is his cage. This works... until he poops on my laundry and falls asleep in my pillow case. This isn't a rare occurrence. Anyway I am currently in the process of building him a regular 6x3 enclosure [not 8x4 because its physically impossible to get an 8-foot long object into the apt]. Work is going slowly though.
As for now though, it also needs to be pointed out that, since about 1 month ago, Taco's sleeping schedule has become very, very problematic. He usually wakes up around 9:00pm and goes to sleep around 3 in the morning. I have no idea how this happened, at this same time last year he was in hibernation, but this is an unusually mild winter so far. Anyway,whenever I try to confine him to his current enclosure he gets upset and rattles around the kennel a lot. This kennel is EXTREMELY LOUD when he does this, the sound of rattling metal travels through the entire building and keeps the people living with me up. This doesn't really work well for people [myself included] who have classes at 8 in the morning. Usually this results in me letting his cage open, and me sleeping on the couch downstairs. It probably doesn't help that his hidbox/sleeping box is probably getting a bit too small as well.
The last couple of nights I've tried locking him and my sleeping bag in a large plastic tote. This actually seems to work, he goes to sleep earlier and it produces much, much less noise. This morning I woke him up and removed the sleeping bag. Bear in mind, this was away from any heat source. When I lifted him up, he and the sleeping bag felt MUCH warmer than the ambient temperature. He was actually as warm as I would have expected a mammal to have been. This is what makes me ask the question, do tegus generate some of their own body heat?
Oh, and a follow up question, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get his sleep schedule to be a little more... normal?
Thanks in advance!
I have a quick question for all of you. Do tegu's generate some of their own body heat? I know this sounds like a really obvious question, but there's a reason I'm bringing this up.
First, some back story.
My Tegu [Taco] is currently living with me in my college apartment. I could not bring his 8x4 enclosure with me to school, so since fall he has been living in a large dog kennel with a basking spot, hid box, etc. It was meant as a temporary solution, but it has been in use longer than it should have been. Taco is now larger than he was in the fall and its becoming more and more clear that the kennel is nowhere near big enough. I attempt to remedy this by leaving it open all the time, so in essence my entire room is his cage. This works... until he poops on my laundry and falls asleep in my pillow case. This isn't a rare occurrence. Anyway I am currently in the process of building him a regular 6x3 enclosure [not 8x4 because its physically impossible to get an 8-foot long object into the apt]. Work is going slowly though.
As for now though, it also needs to be pointed out that, since about 1 month ago, Taco's sleeping schedule has become very, very problematic. He usually wakes up around 9:00pm and goes to sleep around 3 in the morning. I have no idea how this happened, at this same time last year he was in hibernation, but this is an unusually mild winter so far. Anyway,whenever I try to confine him to his current enclosure he gets upset and rattles around the kennel a lot. This kennel is EXTREMELY LOUD when he does this, the sound of rattling metal travels through the entire building and keeps the people living with me up. This doesn't really work well for people [myself included] who have classes at 8 in the morning. Usually this results in me letting his cage open, and me sleeping on the couch downstairs. It probably doesn't help that his hidbox/sleeping box is probably getting a bit too small as well.
The last couple of nights I've tried locking him and my sleeping bag in a large plastic tote. This actually seems to work, he goes to sleep earlier and it produces much, much less noise. This morning I woke him up and removed the sleeping bag. Bear in mind, this was away from any heat source. When I lifted him up, he and the sleeping bag felt MUCH warmer than the ambient temperature. He was actually as warm as I would have expected a mammal to have been. This is what makes me ask the question, do tegus generate some of their own body heat?
Oh, and a follow up question, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get his sleep schedule to be a little more... normal?
Thanks in advance!
