Hi everyone!
I am a first time tegu owner who purchased a black and white argentine tegu in September 2012 that was born in July 2012. I have struggled with getting him to eat (have posted another thread on this a while ago) and I was planning on trying to keep him from hibernating so that he could build some weight up. He ended up not eating for about 1 & 1/2 months and was not coming out what so ever, so in December I decided to let nature just take it's course and let him hibernate.
I have been checking for movement every day since then (he is burrowed underneath the soil) and there has been nothing. When I checked this morning I noticed that I have mould growing on the top of my substrate (mainly in the corners - seems to be resting on top, not in the deeper layers). What do I do!? I don't want to wake him up if he is not ready to come out of hibernation yet, but at the same time I haven't seen him in a couple months and I'm not sure if there is mould growing on him! Should I spot clean it out? or move him and change all of the substrate? My temperatures have been from the low of 57F to a high of 63F and humidity has been around 70% which I figured wouldn't be too high(??) (I have not misted it since he went under and it has been maintaining at around that percentage). I'm at a loss as to what to do..
My main concern this whole time was that he would be too small to sustain himself and I have been preparing myself for the fact that he may not wake up from hibernation.. now I have this mould concern..
Any info/opinions help!!
I am a first time tegu owner who purchased a black and white argentine tegu in September 2012 that was born in July 2012. I have struggled with getting him to eat (have posted another thread on this a while ago) and I was planning on trying to keep him from hibernating so that he could build some weight up. He ended up not eating for about 1 & 1/2 months and was not coming out what so ever, so in December I decided to let nature just take it's course and let him hibernate.
I have been checking for movement every day since then (he is burrowed underneath the soil) and there has been nothing. When I checked this morning I noticed that I have mould growing on the top of my substrate (mainly in the corners - seems to be resting on top, not in the deeper layers). What do I do!? I don't want to wake him up if he is not ready to come out of hibernation yet, but at the same time I haven't seen him in a couple months and I'm not sure if there is mould growing on him! Should I spot clean it out? or move him and change all of the substrate? My temperatures have been from the low of 57F to a high of 63F and humidity has been around 70% which I figured wouldn't be too high(??) (I have not misted it since he went under and it has been maintaining at around that percentage). I'm at a loss as to what to do..
My main concern this whole time was that he would be too small to sustain himself and I have been preparing myself for the fact that he may not wake up from hibernation.. now I have this mould concern..
Any info/opinions help!!