red tegu brumation???? help

hi yall i have a ? for ya , im getting a red tegu shipped here to me it should b here tues or wens depending on when he ships it out ... from what i have been told the tegu has already went to sleep for the year should i just get a big toat and fill it with some substrate and a hide to make a lil brumation box is that okay to do ....need help this is first tegu and want to do everything right

My red tegu has a rubbermaid tote(with lid attached) that I cut a door in one end. I put that at one end of her enclosure, and then put all the substrate in. So the 'den' is at the bottom and she has to go down into it from on top of the substrate. This way it stays slightly chillier than the rest of the cage(the floor conducts a chill from underneath). So she's in her regular enclosure with access to a hide to hibernate in. She chooses when to go in, pushes a ton of substrate up against the 'door' to close it up and I don't see her for months. At this point I just make sure the water dish has good water in it, in case she wakes up and wants a drink(they might pop out to stagger around and then go back to sleep). I don't run her basking bulbs or anything since she's sleeping and won't be using them.

If your tegu comes in and is awake, I would just offer the hide box in the regular enclosure. If he chooses to go bury up, shut the heat down and let him sleep. If he doesn't go sleep, then run the enclosure as normal.

I'm unsure whether he'll go back to sleep after hibernating then being woken up and shipped. I guess you'll have to play that by ear. Good luck!