I have a tegu constipation story for you. My tegu got very constipated when she was 4yo, she's 10 now. I did all the tips you suggested, including the vibrator. Nothing helped, we ended up taking her to the Madison Vet School. After SEVERAL enemas, (and $1,500 later) she finally got cleared out. Her brother, owned by a friend, got constipated around the same time. However, my friend didn't recognize a problem early enough and she lost him. Lesson to be learned here: KNOW YOUR ANIMAL so when something is "off" with him/her, you catch it early enough to do something about it. Reptiles especially don't show illness until it's almost too late.
Thank you so much Joey and Audrey for answering my question. That was really worrying me. My 2 are still active and eating every day so I am just going to continue to do the same and let them just lead the way. You guys are so amazing, I really appreciate everything you do!!
Always good to have more info. My question is: When they are brumating, what kind of light schedule / temps / humidity do you want in their enclosure? My girl is sleeping in her hide, and I have both a tiny endoscope camera and a temperature/hydrometer probe inside the hide. I have the lights come on for a few hours every day. The temps inside the hide go from 70F when the lights are off most of the day, to 80F when they are on. Her cage is in my room, and the temps never drop below 65F. And the humidity in the hide started at 90% when she first went to sleep, and its slowly gone down to 70% currently (When she was active I kept the dirt in her hide nice and moist, Im using the dirt/sand/moss combo. I would spray water inside the hide and mix the dirt to keep it fluffy and damp). Compared to what you said here, all those numbers sound high. The endoscope camera is really useful to check on her, without disturbing her. I turn it on once a week, and she usually shifts positions by then, so I know shes still alive. Sometimes I can only see her tail, but other times I can see her belly, and its reassuring to see her breathing.
Well all 3 are up still. Antiope the Chacoan who you sent around St Paddy's day is awake and chased the cat away from the heat vent. She also tail whipped him. Last year as young tegu she
Just to elaborate on the whole tegu growing during brumation thing, the answer is almost certainly no and any growth would be negligible at most. Look at the babies that go down and will be 1-2 years old but barely be 2ft or do due to long brumation times? During Brumation , tegus whole metabolic system drastically shuts downs in order to reserve energy and live off of fat storages. Living off of fat does not provide the adequate amount of energy (calories) in order to grow but instead provides enough substance for the tegu to do what it needs to do for its brumation. Since it’s sleeping and most of it’s body is thermo regulated, there is no need to do most functions as it’s saving energy due the next season. The same idea works for humans and any other animals . If you’re in caloric deficit (taking in less energy than you’re using ) you’ll lose weight and will not grow . Since tegus have a special cold blooded, luxury to slow there metabolism down to basic body function and have no heat to use to bring energy levels back to normal and are not eating, they cannot grow. These rules still even apply to us as warm blooded except we constantly use a significant amount of energy to heat our bodies which they do not. And again, we have to eat enough to grow. A partial brumation would be the exception to all of this. They’ll grow, but it’ll be at a slower rate since they are still eating and basking. This also ties into the weight loss thing. Generally, they should lose a little weight through using body fat as their energy but to what extent depends on what are your brumating temps. Higher temps will yield more fat loss for them since they can’t cool down enough. Lower temps will mean less energy was used. For those that don’t know, tegus also have a period after waking up where their whole system has to restart essentially and this is a big reason why most won’t eat the first week or two from waking up. This is a good period in order to evaluate wether your tegu is up for good or not.
I love you knowledge drops 😂. Heres my question I got Betty around this same time last year so never been through a brumation. Is it ok for me to start trying to wake her up. We live in so cal and shes been down for around two months. Thats the amount of time her breeder said she goes down for
So, I sent to last comment to quick. As far as growing when you sent Antiope she was maybe the size of a 3 mos old, she caught up! She is huge! The male high black is about 3ft the one born 7/4/22. He just shed again. What about shedding? Do they shed before brumation? Is their skin thicker? Antiope's skin is definitely thicker now, Loralie my blue has no changes, she shed but skin is the same. Loki's newest skin seems thicker too.
I have a question. Is it okay to leave lighting on all during brumation hoping that your tegu will eventually wake up? As I have a baby tegu that I just got. It's really small and it's attempting to bruminate and it looks pretty skinny. I know there's mixed information on bruminatuon or not enough information online regarding bruminatuon with tegus.
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I have a tegu constipation story for you. My tegu got very constipated when she was 4yo, she's 10 now. I did all the tips you suggested, including the vibrator. Nothing helped, we ended up taking her to the Madison Vet School. After SEVERAL enemas, (and $1,500 later) she finally got cleared out. Her brother, owned by a friend, got constipated around the same time. However, my friend didn't recognize a problem early enough and she lost him. Lesson to be learned here: KNOW YOUR ANIMAL so when something is "off" with him/her, you catch it early enough to do something about it. Reptiles especially don't show illness until it's almost too late.
U can tell all of your information is through trial and error. Very respectable. Very knowledgeable. Have bought 2 from you guys. U guys r awesome.
Thank you so much Joey and Audrey for answering my question. That was really worrying me. My 2 are still active and eating every day so I am just going to continue to do the same and let them just lead the way.
You guys are so amazing, I really appreciate everything you do!!
Always good to have more info. My question is: When they are brumating, what kind of light schedule / temps / humidity do you want in their enclosure?
My girl is sleeping in her hide, and I have both a tiny endoscope camera and a temperature/hydrometer probe inside the hide. I have the lights come on for a few hours every day. The temps inside the hide go from 70F when the lights are off most of the day, to 80F when they are on. Her cage is in my room, and the temps never drop below 65F. And the humidity in the hide started at 90% when she first went to sleep, and its slowly gone down to 70% currently (When she was active I kept the dirt in her hide nice and moist, Im using the dirt/sand/moss combo. I would spray water inside the hide and mix the dirt to keep it fluffy and damp). Compared to what you said here, all those numbers sound high.
The endoscope camera is really useful to check on her, without disturbing her. I turn it on once a week, and she usually shifts positions by then, so I know shes still alive. Sometimes I can only see her tail, but other times I can see her belly, and its reassuring to see her breathing.
Loved the bloopers
Very Helpful Video
You guys are amazing. I run a rescue in georgia and b&w just were banned. We have 6 tegus 4 being rescues or surrenders
Well all 3 are up still.
Antiope the Chacoan who you sent around St Paddy's day is awake and chased the cat away from the heat vent. She also tail whipped him.
Last year as young tegu she
Aw yay! you guys answered my questions!
Just to elaborate on the whole tegu growing during brumation thing, the answer is almost certainly no and any growth would be negligible at most. Look at the babies that go down and will be 1-2 years old but barely be 2ft or do due to long brumation times?
During Brumation , tegus whole metabolic system drastically shuts downs in order to reserve energy and live off of fat storages. Living off of fat does not provide the adequate amount of energy (calories) in order to grow but instead provides enough substance for the tegu to do what it needs to do for its brumation. Since it’s sleeping and most of it’s body is thermo regulated, there is no need to do most functions as it’s saving energy due the next season.
The same idea works for humans and any other animals . If you’re in caloric deficit (taking in less energy than you’re using ) you’ll lose weight and will not grow . Since tegus have a special cold blooded, luxury to slow there metabolism down to basic body function and have no heat to use to bring energy levels back to normal and are not eating, they cannot grow. These rules still even apply to us as warm blooded except we constantly use a significant amount of energy to heat our bodies which they do not. And again, we have to eat enough to grow.
A partial brumation would be the exception to all of this. They’ll grow, but it’ll be at a slower rate since they are still eating and basking.
This also ties into the weight loss thing. Generally, they should lose a little weight through using body fat as their energy but to what extent depends on what are your brumating temps. Higher temps will yield more fat loss for them since they can’t cool down enough. Lower temps will mean less energy was used.
For those that don’t know, tegus also have a period after waking up where their whole system has to restart essentially and this is a big reason why most won’t eat the first week or two from waking up. This is a good period in order to evaluate wether your tegu is up for good or not.
Thank you for these awesome videos.
💜💚💚💚💜
And one more question. At what age are they adults?
I love you knowledge drops 😂. Heres my question I got Betty around this same time last year so never been through a brumation. Is it ok for me to start trying to wake her up. We live in so cal and shes been down for around two months. Thats the amount of time her breeder said she goes down for
Joey, is there a minimum or maximum of humidity you allow in the tub’s while they are in brumation
So, I sent to last comment to quick.
As far as growing when you sent Antiope she was maybe the size of a 3 mos old, she caught up! She is huge!
The male high black is about 3ft the one born 7/4/22. He just shed again.
What about shedding? Do they shed before brumation? Is their skin thicker?
Antiope's skin is definitely thicker now, Loralie my blue has no changes, she shed but skin is the same. Loki's newest skin seems thicker too.
I have a question. Is it okay to leave lighting on all during brumation hoping that your tegu will eventually wake up?
As I have a baby tegu that I just got. It's really small and it's attempting to bruminate and it looks pretty skinny. I know there's mixed information on bruminatuon or not enough information online regarding bruminatuon with tegus.
Great to see the silent partner getting on screen.
Lol nice
My boy always wakes up super hungry and horny. Sadly for him I can only offer food lol
😬🤣
It would have been great if people would have added pictures of their animals. Then "skinny" would be better understood.
This is me as well. When they say skinny or super emaciated. Would be nice to see photos