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I went through the same thing a month and half ago. My tegu is a male B&W, yearling about 35” who has a complete room that he lives in and free roam of the whole house when I am home. I am no expert; this is my first year with a Tegu but below are my observations and actions.

About six weeks ago he parked himself under the couch in the living room for a week and half. When I am home that room is about 70f maybe 75-78 when I'm out. I got tired of that so I pulled him out and put him in his room, ambient temp 75, warm side 85 and basking around 115. He retired to the coolest spot in the room under his favorite shelf. His basking spot is just out side this shelf. Right now and until he gets back to his earlier activity level I keep his basking lights on 24/7 so he can bask any time he wants. I have occasionally found him out basking between 11pm and 1am.

I was afraid to feed him due to reading stories about tegus hibernating on a full stomach then dieing when the food rots because they can't digest it in cool temps. I now believe that is not a concern as long as you keep the temps up.

After another 2-3 weeks on not seeing him I pulled him out from his favorite shelf. He was very cool, moving slowly, skinnier then ever, looking fairly dehydrated and had stuck shed on his tail. I soaked him for about an hour and then hit his tail with a heavy dose of Shedding Aid from Zoo-Med. I kept up with the Shedding Aid daily for about 5 days then on the next soak the stuck shed just peeled right away. I have tried other stuff in the past but I feel the shed aid worked the best. I am going to try to copy the ingredients and make my own at some point.

I first started feeding him every 3 days his favorite food, frozen thawed hoppers with a large side of green grapes. With this feeding scheduled I only saw him about every other day. I have now stepped up the feeding to a daily basis and he is putting on some serious weight. I think I am going to have to cut his portions back due to his low activity. Additionally I now see him out basking every day now, which is when I feed him.

Before he started hibernation he would wake up at around 2-4pm and by the time I got home at 5 he was cruising all around the house. I would feed him around 8-9 and he would slow down then retire for the night around 10-11. With all this exercise I fed him almost everything he could eat and he grew but did not get fat. Now that he has slowed down he is only out for an hour or so basking and only cruises the house once or twice a week. In the last few days he has started looking a little fat so I am thinking of upping the fruit and reducing the hoppers.

dmlove, you might not be able to get your guy to chase crickets so you may offer him his favorite fruit and thawed pinkies. You may also want to soak him occasionally for the next few days. Remember not to use hot water only lukewarm to room temp water. If you do not want him to hibernate, along with feeding him you defiantly want to keep his temps up and a light at night is defiantly a good idea. You have to convince him the temps will stay up and his food source is not going to disappear like his instincts are telling him. Remember you will probably not see his past activity but you should get more awake time out of him. That said, I have read that no mater what you do some individuals may not resume activity until spring. Hope this helps.

Day Before Going Under Couch

Hibernating Under Couch

Finishing First Dinner After Almost a Month of Sleep

Fat Boy Tonight After Dinner

Thanks so much - that helped A LOT! I am building him an 8 ft cage, so hopefully he will love it - I am planning on, if the temps are hard to keep up, having like 3 basking and 3 night reds. Im not sure though, maybe a heat panel or heat rop to put around the top edges. Any ideas on heating for an 8 ft X 4 ft X 2.5 ft cage?
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Glad it helped. I saw the drawing of the enclosure you want to build and it looks nice. I made an enclosure for Lucky using a stock tank. You will be surprised how few lights you might need. I would suggest not drilling the ventilation holes at first and set it up and run some temp tests before you put your guy in. Less ventilation will help keep the humidity up and you will lose quite a lot of heat and humidity through the screen top unless you cut specific holes for the lights to fit in. In my set up I only needed 2 50w lights to keep the day temps up with a proper basking spot and one 75w red light for night teps. You will want to conceder a row of lights so he can get a better basking temp over most of his body instead of one small spot when he gets full grown.

The funniest part about me building his enclosure is he prefers being loose in the room instead of sleeping in the enclosure. My plan was to set it up so he could come and go but he just went. I am going to try putting him in it again and see happens.

I need to get a new picture of the lid because I replaced the door with clear acrylic