Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have three ornate uros. all them are on sand but 2 were not eating took them to the vet got som antibotics(gentocen???) and wormer (ferbezoll????) the vet recomenced newspaper as a substrate instead of sand. just wondering on feelings of using sand and what other than newspaper could be used.

I had my uro on sand, but after seeing an xray that showed sand in her tummy my vet recommended using newspaper instead. I was not too interested in using the newspaper. Now I have her on paper towels. They seem to be working ok for now, but I would really like to have a substrate that she can dig and play in. I am also curious to hear what substrate everyone else uses as well.

Amber

i use sand for my uro and i have no problems, they say that you should not use sand on hatchlings or young juveniles, if your uro is a year old and maybe over 6 inches i would not worry, but if you are concerned i would use birdseed, millet bird seed with make sure you dont use sunflowers seeds that would impact them, hope this helps good luck

If you want your uro to have something to dig in you can shred paper towels/newspaper, you will need more of it but they do love to hide in it. Like fingersman said birdseed is great too. If you really dislike newspaper, but want a paper type substrate you can also shred up computer paper.
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Lauren :-P
Rico-Saharan Uromastyx (orange)
??????-Saharan Uromastyx (yellow)
Cozmo-Hannovarian/Trakehner Gelding
Chip-Dutch Warmblood Gelding
Ck-Hannovarian Gelding
Cruiser-Irish Sporthorse Gelding
Opal-Persian Cat
Dude-Jack Russel Terrier
From: New Jersey

I use the millet bird seed by Hartz. Altho it doesn't look very desert-like, it made me realize how much of the substrate gets into uro's food when he leaves me "treasures".

The bird seed can be kinda like quick sand when its too deep where they are standing so for his digging behaviors i fill up hides with it, and he loves digging it out to cuddle up in them.

If you have any q's about the birdseed, don't hesitate to ask... the archives have some good info about it as well

tara
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I use bird seed. I found that it's more nutrious for my uro and it works great as bedding! It's cheap too!!!!