can you give us more info on the setup? It shouldn't be anything less than 48"x18"x18", though 4'x2'x2' is obviously better and anything larger than that is going to be better still. You need to have high levels of basking heat (120-140 surface temps, and some experienced keepers keep them hotter than that). This needs to be provided by an overhead heat lamp. UV is not 'essential', but I would still use it to iron out any 'beginner's mistakes' (forgetting to supplement or things of that nature). You can use sand or millet seed as a substrate, but I personally don't, and never would. I keep most of my reptiles (all except the leopard gecko) on dirt, and it works out great as long as you water it every couple of days (and get the right mixture). It gives them humid areas to hide in, which is what they would have in nature.

The uro pictured does not look in such bad condition. From what you described, it sounds like the little guy had a respiratory infection though, and that could have led to its demise (depending on how long he had it). Can you describe (in detail) how the little guy was kept previously.

My uromastyx was also adopted, and I was sure she wasn't going to live. She's about 13" long, and extremely fat. She was kept in only a 20 gallon tank for the first 6 years since she was imported (that we know of....she has switched hands many times apparently...all we really know is that she is very old). Then with her past keeper, she was kept in the 20 gallon tank for about a year, until a heat lamp fell on her giving her 3rd degree burns (leaving large white scars on her back and side). Then she was moved into a 10 gallon tank with no heat lamp....just a heat rock, and fed nothing but iceburg lettuce.

It really is a miracle my little fat sam didn't die. She has been with me for two years, and besides being very fat, having large scars on her back, and refusing to poop in her cage, she is everything a healthy uromastyx should be.

It's very sad that your little one didn't make it.

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