Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi im vince and i have a few q's about my new arg b&w tegu..
I've had him for about 2 months now and he was abit funny with me at first (possibly cos he was in the pet shop for 2 yrs or so!!!)but now hes great,I think he was trying it on.
the thing that concerns me is that he isnt very active...
or he is trying to hibernate!? he has a veried diet of fruits and mice etc.the temp in his viv is 100f/105f basking end and about 80/83f at the cool end.
which is where his hide hole is.humidity is approx 50%.
is he in fact the laziest lizard in the world or am i doing somthing wrong???he never or rarely gets up on his own and would probably stay in his den for ever if i left him!!!
this is someting i refuse to do.so therefor i get him up for at least 1hr a day so he at least he gets some exersize.
as i say he never seems to come out to bask and if i put him there he leaves the heat for his den within about 5 mins or so. any info would be greatly apprecated as iv

It sounds like he may be hibernating, my guy has starting to slow down in the last week or two.

is yours 02 and cb in the u.k. cos it looks very much like the one i have...most bloodlines in the u.k.come from agama international in Alabama i belive.
im hoping that he is not hibernating tho,is there any sure way to stop this???(in the uk i mean)

Lucky is from Ron St.Pierre late 03, I got him in April and was in a slight hibernation. You can try keeping the temps up but with some I believe they are going to do it regardless of what you do. I believe the guy that goes by beardiedragon here has had some hibernate one year ship a couple years then hibernate the next. Just be sure to keep the temps up if he seeps eating. If he eats and the temps drop and he gose into hibernation with a full belly the food can rot inside him and kill him, so I have read.

thats what im worried about.he has seemed to go off of fruits/veg about a week or so not mice tho.i was told that he would not hibernate as he was cb here in the uk.are you or anyone else here in the u.k??

Hiya,
Im in the UK and have a 1 year old tegu thats doing the same kind of thing (except I was told by the petshop that he has never eaten fruit). As mines just been on a course of meds, I dont think its wise to let him hibernate at the mo so Im waking him up for feeding still.

Whats "cb in the UK"? I dont know this expression. :S

there are different kinds of tegu only the argentines eat fruit i believe.c.b captive bred

Mine is an argentine; he was never given fruit though when he was in the shop (where bes been for about 10 months) so hes never eaten it, poor soul.

Any advice on how to get a tegu to eat his fruit? He wont even look at it.

I never had any trouble getting Lucky to ear grapes (green seedless ones be careful to avoid the ones with seeds) I have read you can blend them up into a smoothie and pour it over their normal food and then. Then start introducing larger and larger pieces. You can also try baby food fruit over their normal food.

Let him sleep. We have no control whatsoever over these guys' habits. You can try keeping to temps up, but it may not matter. Waking them up while they are trying to hibernate is bad bad bad. They are not eating, but once they wake up they get warm and start using calories again. If you keep waking him up, he will whither away. Goto www.agamainternational.com (the breeder in Alabama who probably bred yours or his parents) and read what Bert says about hibernation. Don't just take my word. But hibernation is a normal thing, he may be trying to recover from 2 years in a pet store, and as long as he seems healthy with a nice fat store on his tail, then let him take a winter vacation. He'll wake up in 4-6 months and be a much happier and refreshed tegu. I received my tegu when he was in the middle of hibernation, so I know how hard it is to not wake them. But trust me, you'll both be happier in the end if you just let him sleep. Definately check out Bert's site and also bluetegu.com for some good info.
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-Bill

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