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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject: Hibernating?
My tegu has been staying in his hide for a long period of time. Lets say the basking light is on from 7AM till 9PM he stays in his hide in the cool side from until like 7PM then comes out for a little. Could he still want to hibernate. He didn't hibernate last year. I don't know what to do any suggestions will help. Should I still be feeding him when he is up or should I wake him up to feed during the day? My enclosure is a 6' x 2' x 2' enclosure with a Zoo med 50W halogen and I have a 4' reptisun 10.0 i think. The basking temp is around 115. I am just a little concerned because he would usually be up to bask around 8 then go to bed around 7 ish. I forgot to mention he has been shedding recently.
Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 270 Location: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:26 pm Post subject:
when did he start hibernation? Mine started late... around last November... so he's still hibernating now. I've upped the temps to normal again, and started offering food... it's just a matter of waiting it out. It sucks so much because you want to see him.. but you have to let them do their thing and just be patient. That's what I've been told anyway... I got a lot of advice from people on this site, and I even e-mailed Bert Langerwerf and he assured me everything is fine. _________________ Visit www.reptileontario.com
- Scott
0.1.0 Argentine Black & White Tegu (Koopa)
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And a
Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 521 Location: Chicago, IL
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 7:39 pm Post subject:
Don't ever wake them from their hide. This is something that people do and it ruins the trust the tegu has for you, not something you'd like to do. I don't know a ton about hibernation, but maybe he's just stressed out... give him time and hopefully someone who knows more than me will post by then. Also how far away is the basking light away from your tegu? I'm just curious because I have mine about 25" away from mine and I use a 150w bulb... but then again, this tank has too good of ventilation and crappy insulation (im in the process of building a new enclosure) so that could have a lot to do with it also. My "hot spot" is 118 deg... so I was just wondering. _________________ -Art-
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:02 pm Post subject: Re: Hibernating?
YorkOC wrote:
My tegu has been staying in his hide for a long period of time. Lets say the basking light is on from 7AM till 9PM he stays in his hide in the cool side from until like 7PM then comes out for a little. Could he still want to hibernate. He didn't hibernate last year. I don't know what to do any suggestions will help. Should I still be feeding him when he is up or should I wake him up to feed during the day? My enclosure is a 6' x 2' x 2' enclosure with a Zoo med 50W halogen and I have a 4' reptisun 10.0 i think. The basking temp is around 115. I am just a little concerned because he would usually be up to bask around 8 then go to bed around 7 ish. I forgot to mention he has been shedding recently.
I'm curious as to how you are getting away with just a 50 watt heat lamp in an enclosure of that size - While I'm sure you can get the basking temp up there, the bulb must be really close to the basking platform and the Tegu for that matter - Are you using any other kind of heat source ?
How and what are you using to read temps with - What's the temps on the cool side, and ambient temps of the room the enclosure is in ? 1st thing that strikes me is too cool of temps, however If I'm reading your post correctly, he has been coming out regularly till now ?
I would not wake to feed, nor push food on him if he is not coming out for good basking periods. Shedding may cause them a little stress as well so maybe he's not feeling so well in that sense. Expired uva may decrease activity levels as well - Some things to ponder... _________________ 1.0.0 Ball Python "Albino"
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 12:22 am Post subject: Re: Hibernating?
Teiidae wrote:
I'm curious as to how you are getting away with just a 50 watt heat lamp in an enclosure of that size - While I'm sure you can get the basking temp up there, the bulb must be really close to the basking platform and the Tegu for that matter - Are you using any other kind of heat source ?
How and what are you using to read temps with - What's the temps on the cool side, and ambient temps of the room the enclosure is in ? 1st thing that strikes me is too cool of temps, however If I'm reading your post correctly, he has been coming out regularly till now ?
I would not wake to feed, nor push food on him if he is not coming out for good basking periods. Shedding may cause them a little stress as well so maybe he's not feeling so well in that sense. Expired uva may decrease activity levels as well - Some things to ponder...
Here is the deal when I bought the enclosure I was worried about the heat (being too hot actually)... I checked the heat with my electronic reader i have with a probe on it and the temp was fine. I have heard of people using a 30w for the inside similar melamine enclosures and that being sufficient for the animals in it, Or for that matter giving off too much heat. The room we have him in is always 70-80 degrees. So the inside of the enclosure cant get any cooler than that at any given time. The inside of my enclosure has two of those ceramic mounted fixtures that you can put bulbs in. One has the day bulb a 50W halogen that was reading around 115 today when I check the large basking rock in there that is shines directly on. The light sits in the fixture about a foot or so from him. The other bulb is a 50w blue night light bulb. The are on an automatic timer that when the day when turns on the night one automatically comes on vice verse. I also have a 4' reptisun 10.0 i believe. I bought the tank in September and have yet to change out the 4' bulb yet. Maybe I should do that. What rating should I replace it with? Another reptisun 10.0 or possibly a 5.0. Know of a good internet site to get one cheap? He does come out now I had my g/f check while I was at work he came out late around 3PM though. When I got home he was in his hide Maybe he is just full or something. He gets fed like twice a week around 6 ice cubes of SDZ and a rat. He is growing great and everything is good I just noticed he hasn't been coming out in the AM like he usually did. I will try the Replacement of the UVB flourescent bulb I have in there. Maybe that will increase his activity level He is pushing 3' plus now and he was born in Sept a year and half ago so maybe he is just being lazy I don't know its just a little out of the ordinary. Does everyone's tegu in here come out in the AM and stay for long periods of time? He used to stay from around 7Am till 4pm. I really don't think there is anything wrong with the temps. Possibly I am just being a worrywart. I'm just a worried parent. _________________ 1.0 Argentine Tegu-Jaques
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Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 521 Location: Chicago, IL
Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 9:15 am Post subject:
I, personally, would replace it with a 10.0 and what is SDZ? Also, I'm still worried about the temps... I mean it seems like you got it all good, but just to be on the safe side I'd check it with a completely different type of thermometer. That's me though. if the light is only a foot away from him, make sure that he can't come in contact with it at all and make sure it has no possible way of falling on him. Even if it's worked out great till now, it can still happen, and no one wants that. If both bulbs are protected, then disregard that. I have a few tegus, and they don't stay out all day long, but they do come out more than yours does, or so it seems. Unless of course they are stressed for some reason, then that's a different story. Is he having shedding problems? if so, that could be causing stress and that would solve the problem if it was corrected... See if you can get some pics of your tegu and the enclosure, and post them... I'll keep pondering this and try to find out other reasons for his actions (you did say that this was a difference in his normal patterns?) hmm _________________ -Art-
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 10:01 am Post subject:
Generally mine come out 7-9 in the morning, and stay out 6-8 hours a day, however there are those day's when they may only come out for maybe 2 hours.
Sometimes it seems to me for that some unknown reason, they change their schedules around and may come out earlier or later regardless of lighting periods. One of mine a while back went from coming out in the morning and back to bed in the afternoon, to coming out in the afternoon and going back to bed at night, to coming out late at night and going back to bed in the am when I would wake up "with no uv lighting".
At the time I too was using 24/7 heat so temps remained the same all day, maybe with it dropping a little at night due to the ambient temps of the house dropping. I than started turning the heat off at night in hope that cooler temps would keep him from coming out, and turning the heat back on in the morning would bring him out.
It took a few weeks, but he got back on a more regular schedule. Maybe try cutting down the heat at night will work for you, as if the room is staying in the 70's at night, he probably don't need the extra heat.
This will simulate more of what a normal day would be like - hot by day, cool by night. I have my 250 watt heat lamps on dimmer switches - wide open during the day, and turned way down at night to where there is hardly any visible light just to radiate a little heat over the basking stones so they don't take as long to warm up in the am.
I would stick with the 10.0 on the larger enclosure, and with it being around 8 months old - would change it out with a new one - just do an internet search online and you will find many suppliers with comparable prices way under the cost of retail stores.
Here is a link to your 4' Reptisun 10.0 for $25 plus shipping - a small price to pay every 6 months to keep a happy and healthy Tegu
SDZ = San Diego Zoo diet. The San Diego Zoo developed and tested a turkey based diet a number of years ago for use with their Komodo Dragon breeding program. The "recipe" is 2.5 pounds of ground turkey, 22. grams of bone meal, and one half Centrum vitamin tablet (crushed)
I tried to find a new bulb today from a store no luck from petco or petsmart. The local petkingdom here had the 10.0 bulbs for $40 no way. I found a great site(which the store is about 30 miles from my house) LLL reptile but with gas as high as it is and with my V8 Tundra I am over driving. All it cost me was 17.99 + 6.95 for shipping.
I don't have a cover for my lights in there. I have been meaning to get one but I haven't found any astatically pleasing ones anywhere. THe one I found off some site was huge. He has never jumped up vertically he just tries to dig out of his enclosure occasionally. I hope my light that is sent actually gets here w/out getting broken.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I could try to turn off the night light so it cools of more in there. That might stimulate a more natural environment where the temp decreases but it does drop in the low 80's at night. I should get the new 10.0 light in a couple of days since they are shipping from so close. I will keep you posted on his basking/sleeping behavior.
Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 521 Location: Chicago, IL
Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject:
Oh, I've heard of SDZ, I just never called it with just the letters... Anyways... Great to hear you got a new light on the way, and I agree with teiidae, about lower temps at night. Well, maybe all of that will spark something to change... let us know. good luck _________________ -Art-
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no way. I found a great site(which the store is about 30 miles from my house) LLL reptile but with gas as high as it is and with my V8 Tundra I am over driving. All it cost me was 17.99 + 6.95 for shipping. 
