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colour of uromastyx

patricia1 Feb 11, 2006 03:14 PM

Could someone give me a ruff estimate as to what age uro's are, when they have all thier colour. my mali (??) seems to be getting lots of colour latley... she(?) is 8.5-9 inches. any more guesses on her type would be great ! As I'm thinking she is not a mali.

Replies (12)

patricia1 Feb 11, 2006 03:16 PM

here are her pic again thanks

sunfox Feb 15, 2006 08:12 AM

She looks like a Saharan (Nigerian) uromastyx.
Does she have any colour on her belly as well?

By the way, here's what a mali looks like.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

patricia1 Feb 15, 2006 09:34 PM

Hi,
no colour on her belly, just a creamy white. She sure looks nothing like the mali,colour wise. she(?) just seems to be browns with orange stripes , orange down the center of her back all her feet are almost completey orange. she also has thease funny grey/green(maybee blue) patches inbetween her strips this colour is not very evident in the photo. I have no idea how old she is so I don't know if this is all the colour she will have. She is almost 9 inches from nose to tip of tail. I was told she was about 6 months ( same person who told me she was a mali). thanks for the help.
trish

purduecg Feb 16, 2006 10:23 AM

It seems highly unlikely that your lizard is only 6 months old and is already 9inches. I could be wrong, but I am not even sure my Egyptian (a bigger type of Uromastyx) displayed that growth rate. It is possible my sense of length is off though.

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes (May he rest in peace)
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

sunfox Feb 16, 2006 12:58 PM

Your uro is NOT a mali. Malis don't have any orange pigments. They have browns, yellows, blacks, and maybe the very rare green. Absolutely no orange. Believe it or not, it is quite common for uros to be mislabelled by pet store staff (because they know next to nothing about these animals).
Your uro looks like a Saharan/Nigerian uro. If the belly is cream coloured, it is most likely a female. The males of this species are quite bright and flamboyant, whereas the females are duller coloured.

My male mali is 3 and half years old and measures about 10" head to tail (rough measurement). There's no way a 6-month old uro would be that big. He started getting his adult colours at about 2 years old.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

el_toro Feb 16, 2006 01:27 PM

I have seen photos of malis with orange feet. There's a photo of one (belongs to Hugh Holman - photo and animal) in the Kingsnake gallery:
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.php?photo=115718&si=hughholman

No malis with orange on the back that I know of, though.

If your uro is 9 inches with a white belly (and if it IS a Saharan), it's probably female, over a year old. Males of that size should have belly color, though not absolutely always from what I hear. My female Saharan was also marked as a Mali. They either didn't know the difference or didn't care.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
2.1.2 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

jaffar311 Feb 16, 2006 02:14 PM

Based on the 2 pics you have I would have to say Mali. Based on the length I would have to argue the 6 month age and probably say double that. If it were a Saharan you would see the orange or yellow circles very clearly already even if it were a female. Browse through the Photo Gallery and you'll see plenty of Mali's and Saharans/Nigerians/Geryi (all the same thing).
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1.1 Ornates (Lindsay Pike)(Doug Dix)
0.0.1 Mali
0.1 Weimaraner

patricia1 Feb 16, 2006 09:16 PM

from what I understand (not mutch hahaha), mali's are not orange, she is very deffinatly orange. I think that the store I got her from did not know anything about uro's, and almost everything they told me has been untrue. thank goodness for the internet !

patricia1 Feb 16, 2006 09:31 PM

jaffarr- what do you mean by colour circles- ocellations?- she has big fully formed ocellations all over except for her tummy. but the orange seems to be almost in the background not just in the occelations. the colour seems to be forming along her spine and in stripes across her. I have looked at so many photos of mali's and never seen an orange one. would you know of I site where I can look? thanks for the input everyone !!

sunfox Feb 17, 2006 08:07 AM

You could try emailing Doug Dix from Deer Fern Farms with your pics and the description so he can make a positive identification of your uro.
He was even able to tell me what morph they had too.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

patricia1 Feb 16, 2006 09:20 PM

Hi, thank-you for the info, so I should guess her to be maybee 3 years old ? do you use head to vent for lenght or head to end of tail? does anyone know how I would find out for sure what type she is and does it matter ?

sunfox Feb 17, 2006 08:09 AM

Email Doug Dix at Deer Fern Farms. Make sure to be as clear as possible about your question in the subject line so that he'll be able to promptly respond to your email.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

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