Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have an argentine bw tegu (Among many other animals). He went into hibernation in November, (Wouldn't hibernate at pet store) and has been asleep since. He is not dead, I wake him up every day, I have for a month. He just goes right back to sleep. He doesn't eat anything. His temps are 75-95 ambients, 120 basking. He has 10.0 UVB. He is losing weight since he is not waking up. I have removed most of his substrate, since others have suggested it. He is shedding now, but he is constantly losing weight. I can see his hip bones. When I take him out, he moves strongly, he doesn't appear weak. Should I force feed him? (I really hate the idea but I'm desperate.) He is only 16 inches. If he continues to lose weight like this it won't be a good situation. Thanks.

if he is still hibernating then leave him alone. don't wake him up everyday or do anything. i don't know what removing the substrate does as i've never heard of that "method" but it doesn't seem to be working. also, your temps are too hot...especially since he is so small. you should have a 100-110 basking site. ambient could be in the 80's and cool end in the 70's. just make sure there is water in the cage and when he decides to wake up you can try feeding him and he should come around. i never bother my tegu when he sleeps at night. it's a sign of respect and in return he respects me. im not sure if i forgot to write something else...
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1.0.0 arg. b/w tegu
1.1.0 white's tree frog- popeye, jack
0.1.0 southern painted turtle- ms.tortle
0.1.0 crested gecko- crimson
1.0.0 pinto hedgehog- dante

dont force feed him. dont even put food in there. if you wake him up and try to feed him and he actually eats it can kill him. if he goes to sleep with food in his stomach it can rot and kill him. just let nature take its course..he knows what hes doing. they do lose some weight while hibernating. hows your humidity?
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1.0.0 arg. b/w tegu
1.1.0 white's tree frog- popeye, jack
0.1.0 southern painted turtle- ms.tortle
0.1.0 crested gecko- crimson
1.0.0 pinto hedgehog- dante

Argies can be funky with hibernatiion. I had one years ago that hibernated for 6 months although my cage temps were tropical.

I got one last Novembet from Bert that went down for just a couple months and then came out, as they do, with a voracious appetite and growing like a weed. But now he is trying to hibernate again, having slowed down to a snail's pace. He is once again pushing all the mulch around the hidebox trying to seal up his burrow. HOWEVER, I will not let him do it, even though he has once again slowed down and eats just a bit once in a while. My cage temps are such that it will never snow in there, they are dead-on perfect, and besides, it is getting into summer for cryin' out loud. I will not let him hibernate now, come hell or high water.

When it gets into Fall, that's a different story. He will do as he pleases and I will accommodate.

Bill