Don't worry about not knowing - worry about making it right! You'll need to make a lot of changes to provide a good home for him, and you're starting well by asking questions.

The 10 gallon is unacceptable for any length of time. He MUST be in a larger enclosure - the sooner the better. Uros require a large temperature gradient which is impossible in a 10 gallon. A good size to start with right now is a 40 BREEDER (meaning a footprint of 3 ft x 1.5 ft). You'll need to go larger later when he's bigger. It's not the size of the animal, it's the space required for the appropriate temperatures. Without the right temps, he cannot ever be healthy. UVB is very important and there are LOTS of crap products out there that claim to provide UVB. Make sure you're getting a good lamp. Quality lamps include Reptisun 10.0 (tubes only, not the coils) and MegaRay from www.reptileuv.com.

Also be sure to use accurate thermometers for finding your temps. Get digital ones with probes and/or an infrared temp gun. The basking area should have a surface temp of 120F. The warm half of the tank should be right around 100F. The cool end of the tank needs to sit around 85F. Night time temps can drop into the 70s. If your house gets cooler than that at night, a ceramic heat emitter or other non-light-emitting device is a good choice.

As mentioned in RTL's post above, the diet will need to change. In addition I would mention that you need to stop handling the uro until it has a chance to settle in. Uros need time to acclimate before they will be comfortable enough to eat in a new setting. That means no touching.

Definitely have a fecal check done by a good reptile vet.

The picture is a little dark and at a difficult angle to be able tell you species for sure, but it does appear to be a juvenile (which means paper, not sand, like you thought). Most likely it's a Saharan or a Mali - those are the most common in the US trade.
-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
1.1 Collared Lizard (Ripcord and Rorschach)
2.0 Green Anoles (Bowser and Sprocket)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]