Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that tegus hibernate, but is it absolutely essential that they do? Mine has started going to sleep earlier and earlier, today he went to sleep (buried himself) at noon when before I can remember him staying up until 6 or 7. Is this normal then and should I try to prevent hibernation by forcing him to stay up longer and exercising him? Also the new cage is done finally, I'll be posting pictures soon, its INCREDIBLE!

chris and diego

Chris,
I thought you had given up on the cage building and were looking for a feeding trough just a few days ago. Glad to hear you reconsidered. Looking foreward to some pics of the new set up.

MAP

only the last two days, Squishy has been waking up later than usual. Not sure if it means anything yet, but she's so darned consistent it was odd to see all the lights on (they are on a timer) but no Squishy. Usually she's under her basking lamp waiting for breakfast. In fact, she's usually up even before the lights come on and warming up on her heated tile. Hmmmm....anyone have any similar experiences?

Billy

My Blue tegu draco has also been sleeping all day. I went home yesterday and notice that he has been sleeping all day long and is barly eating. Is he going in to hibernation. What is going on with him. How long do Tegus hibernate for. The only thing he will eat are hard boiled eggs. Please help attached is a pic. also he is getting very thin.

I know that you just got your guy not too long ago from someone else and you've been having a few problems. The first thing that pops into my mind is have you had a fecal exam done? They're usually really simple and I don't believe that you have to have a reptile specific vet to do them. I think that would be an excellent idea. Of course if your baby's not eating then not much is probably coming out. In that case you might seriously consider seeing a vet. When lizards do anything that doesn't seem normal to their species or them as individuals it's a good idea to seek out an experienced herp vet for at least some advice.

Turst me on this. Blake started biting his tail a few months back and I decided to take him into the vet because it was totally weird that he did that. It turns out that it was a good thing that I did. There was something wrong with a nerve in the way his tail healed from an old accident. Something happened to further irritate it and the tail started dying. The vet told me that if I hadn't brought him in and had the surgery to amputate the tail, it would have progressed to the point that it would have eventually killed him. Just something as small as biting his tail, something that he had never done before.

So I would at least call a vet and get their opinion. Most of them are more than happy to help you with advice.

Lindsay

Yours is actually up at noon??? My Arg B&W doesn't get up until I get home in the evening, about 5 or 6, and then wants out. Usually he stays up until his bedtime (which is 9:30) when the lights go out in the cage. He's been like that for about 8 months or so. When he was younger, he would come out and eat in the morning, then in the evening. I notice my red doing the same thing. As soon as the lights kick on, he's out basking. It's kinda nice that my B&W is on MY schedule. I guess he just learned after a while