Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we've had Batista for over two years, and he's been healthy and happy, as far as we know. however, he has a daily ritual of trying to escape. he's in a 40 gallon breeder, and we change his tank every month or so, to keep him from getting bored. we have found that when we put too much in the cage, like too many mountains of rocks or tree branches, he stops running up the walls. however, he seems to become constipated from the lack of running.

i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this running up the walls, and i wanted to know if it is what most juveniles do to get their energy out. when we take him out to let him run around, he usually runs to the closest wall, and tries to run up it. i was just trying to figure the little guy out, and any advide or observations would be great.

Each Uro has their own personalities . Some glass dance a lot and others may not at all . It can take months for a new Uro to get use to a new cage and surroundings . If your temperatures are okay and you have a large enough cage (at least 40 x 24x12 ), then it might just be something he is going to do , no matter what you do .I found that covering 3 sides of the cage helps .
It would stress my Uro out to have the rocks and hides changed around every month or so . I try to keep his cage the same as much as possible .

I forgot to tell you that my male Mali that is around two years old does and he does the same thing even when out of his cage .

Niko, who looks identical to Bautista, does the same thing. I've had her about 8 months now and every day she has a big energy spurt for about 1-2 hours. She'll run up the glass on one side of her tank then rip to the other end and do the same thing.

After a cage cleaning I move the sand around and fill up her hides and the entrances to them. Those days she'll spend digging instead of glass climbing.

When I take her out and put her on the floor she'll climb the walls for a few minutes then run and hide under the deepfreeze.

Mine does the same thing, usually in the morning, about an hour or two after the lights come on. I thought he was trying to make an escape, but maybe it was a deliberate form of exercise.

The only problem with me is that I've got a sheet of plexiglass on the front, which makes a godawful noise when combined with Uro fingernails at 7:00 on a Saturday. And by now, you can barely see through the part where his hands reach.

what do you mean by constipated? like he isn't going as often or is he sitting there straining to poop? if he is straining all the time to poop, i would recommend taking the little booger to the vet
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vonnie

***Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. Oscar Wilde ***

Thanks everyone for reassuring me that Batista is just an energetic little boy that can't get enough of running up the walls. I have taken the suggestion of pushing sand into the enterence of his hide, and it has seemed to keep him occupied once he goes for his afternoon nap. I tried putting one of those green mesh nets with suction cups, to see if he would climb it. He loves to climb up the sceen in out porch, but he seems too stupid to realize he can climb up it when it is in his tank. silly little guy.

thanks for the advice