Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone,

I searched online and there isn't a lot of info on tegus and their hibernation habits. I have a baby 6 month old tegu, would he/she go into hibernation mode? I was at a reptile show this weekend and the vendor told me that I only need to worry about hibernation if I plan on breeding them. Other than that, hibernation isn't important. Is this true? Can I handle a tegu if it's in hibernation mode?

I also heard that unlike monitors, tegus can lose their tails, is this true (I know this question my sound funny to the experienced tegu keeper)?

Please let me know what you think, or if you could direct me to a website that better explains their hibernation behavior.

Thanks,

Susan P.

Try www.agamainternational.com and www.bluetegu.com
they seem to know their stuff.

Hibernation won't happen unless you cool them down. And it's not really important unless you just don't want to feed it for months (or see it) or you want to breed them.

And yes, they most certainly lose their tails. I had researched it a bit, but a lot of sites fail to mention this. When my Tegu shot off under a shelf and I dove after it, I found it out the hard way. Scared the crap out of me -- I thought they were like Monitors where it was a permanent thing and I had just ripped it off.

Hibernation is not a necessary part of captive husbandry unless, as you were told, breeding is a concern. Even then it has been proven that hibernation is not even necessary (but I believe is helpful) to induce breeding in tegus.

With that said even tegus kept at very warm temps can/will hibernate sometimes. Most that don't hibernate will still go off feed for several months a year, however, many will continue feeding.

They are fairly variable with regards to this behavior and seem to be triggered by several things. A good 90% of all my adult tegus begin hibernation at the end of August when we are at our seasonal highest temps (90F ) in South Florida. I think what triggers mine is not the temps but the decreasing hours of daylight. I have also heard of tegus kept at constant temps and consistent amounts of day/night light cycles, indoors, and still hibernate/brumate every year like clockwork.

It comes down to this basically....if they do then they do and if they don;t they don't. Its will not have a negative impact on them wither way.
RSCBR