Posted by:
ingo
at Tue Nov 4 06:22:48 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ingo ]
Hi,
IMHO opinion Uros are not among the easiest reptiles to keep. Especially WC specimens very often do seemingly well for a few months and then rapidly decline and die.
I would strongly recommend to leave these for experts.
CB Uros can be much easier to maintain. But raising an Uro from baby to adulthood is still not sth which is absolutely straightforward and easy.
You have to learn your lessons on Ca/P ratios, dietary fibers,protein contents, vitamine and mineral supplementation, light spectra and intensities and all the dos and donīts about lipid soluble vitamines.
Even though many people seem to ignore that, I am absolutely convinced that for those Uro species which do hibernate in the wild, yearly hibernation significantly contributes to longevity, overall health and breeding success. So you have to face the fact that you have to properly prepare hibernation.
Look around here in the forum: So many people with young Uros or newbies at all.
I suspect that this is at least in part due to the fact that a significant percentage of Uros do not survive long-so long time keepers are still not very abundant.
I have the strong suspicion that still way too many Uros do not survive their fifth year in captivity, even though they should be able to reach their 30th.
In a nutshell: I do not recommend Uros for beginners.But if someone insists, its not absiolutely impossible to start with Uros as first herptiles. But you need careful research -a bit of preknowledge in physiology helps- and a close eye.
As Starter Uros I strongly (!!) recommend adult cb Uros-but these still arenīt easy to get.
Also there still is a strong exploitation of wild living Uro populations for the pet trade. Not only do many of the imports die within their first captive year, but also there are not yet enough breeders out there, to fulfill the demands of Uro enthusiasts with cb animals.
Hence I think, EVERY Uro keeper should try to not just keep but breed his Uros to help improving the situation.
Although its not rocket science, continuous breeding of Uros is not the easiest task for a beginner.
Hence I would direct you to a bearded drageon, leopardgecko or other species. But not to Uros
Thats just my 2 cts
ci@o
Ingo
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