Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All
I'm new to this forum although I'm not super new to reptiles (I've had a common green iguana; who died of metabolic bone disease several yrs ago and bearded dragon; who eventually succome to old age and kidney failure-he lived to be eight yrs old; I've heard that's old and I've heard that it isn't. I currently have an Egyptian Uro named Tenna who is about five yrs old. She's about 9 to 10" long and appears to be a very slow grower. I recently recieved a new cage for her at Christmas. She's currently in a 55 gal Aquarium (although she only uses about half of it; no matter how hyper and "glass dancy" - I call it ID dancing b/c she always seems to want to something- most likely freedom : ) The new cage is a Herp Habitat brand plastic bow front terrarium. It has a wire mesh screen insert that covers the top and slides back for easy access and locks in place with pins. It has a built in ramp that allows the lizard to reach an elevated basking area. The dimensions are 23" W by 17 1/2" D by 11 3/8" H (59.06 cm W by 44.45 cm W by 28.89 cm H): Does anyone have any experiance with this brand or type of "pre-made" habitats? It says not to use a heat lamp over fifty watts. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about it. but it does allow the lizard to get closer to the UVB lights and heat lamp over all (opposed to the taller aquarium-where she really only has the one basking area) and I know the reptile has to be able to get aleast 12" away from the lights for them to be absorbed effectively. What do you guys think? Good idea ... Bad idea. The other thing I like about it is that it's light weight and easy to move. I can't move the 55 gal aquarium to my new apartment. It's just not possible. I also have a 15 gal or a 20 gal aquarium I could use. Any thoughts ... advice ... she seems to be fairly manic in her behavior she sleeps Alot; more than any other reptile I've had. She only comes out for about 4 or 5 hrs a day and sleeps for the rest of it. Some times she'll sleep for days at a time. I know itùs brumination time. but she does this no matter what season it is (she is wild caught-although I didn't know that when I purchased her). The temp is about 120 at her basking spot and around 80 at the coolest part of her cage; at night it drops to about 70. Any Advice about any thing related to the Egyptian Uro would be greatly appreciated. What are people's favorite brands or products? Does anyone have any website recomendations that have current/up to date information on herpetology ... besides this one I mean : )
Thanks for the help (this became a very long introduction ... sorry about that).

You need to make a lot of changes:

1. Your cage is way too small.
2. The temps aren't hot enough. What are you using to measure the temperatures?
3. She shouldn't be sleeping a lot. They're very active lizards.
4. There's no brumation "season" in captivity. Warm her up!

There's a lot of great information out there. Please do some research and make the neccessary changes before she becomes another lizard captivity. It sounds as if your iguana and bearded dragon were also victims of poor husbandry.

Good luck.

Sorry, meant to say "before she becomes another lizard casuality," not "lizard captivity."

Thank you very much for replying I appreciate it. I actually do try to do as much research as possible. I do however find it hard to find accurate current information. Some people swear by this brand or that brand. And alot of the information I've found in the past has been out of date (this was hugely the case with my green iguana, I did lots of research; this was before the internet became a common household staple. And many of the books I read on keeping iguanas were very very out of date; but I didn't know that at the time. None of the books I read ever even talked about vitamin suppliments! When I got my bearded dragon I was very carful to give calcium and vitamin suppIiments everyday (which I've learned isn't neccesary and eventually cut back to twice a week). When he started having problems I took him to my vet (who specializes in exotics) and she couldn't find any cause for the kidney failure other than the possibility of old age (I got him fully grown and she speculated that he may have been older than the people at the pet store thought he was). I haven't moved Tenna into the new cage, she's still in the 55gal aquarium. Which to me, does seem big enough for her current 9" inches. It's in the 100's on one side of the tank (with the raised basking spot allowing her to get about 12 inches away from the lights (a powersun UV heat lamp and an iguana light 5.0 fluorescent) which gets to about 120. The other side of the cage also has an iguana light 5.0 fluorescent, but no heat lamp. I use two pasted thermometer strips (the kind they use in fish tanks) one is pasted on the side of the tank near the basking site and the other is pasted in the middle of the cage. I've read that the temp should range between 120-85 with it dropping to around 60 at night. If the new plastic cage is too small what size is appropriate for her current 9"

Sorry I just re-read my message and it seemed a little confusing. The temps and discription are for the cage she's currently in, the 55gal aquarium. What is a good size cage for a nine" uro? I can't move the 55gal to my new apartment, it's just not possible. So what would be a good size cage for her current size be that would still be fairly easy to transport?

Your Egyptian is going to require a 4' x 2' space at the minimum. The 55 gallon aquarium is too small already in my opinion as it does not allow for a sufficient heat gradient.

Do not trust the strip thermometers. Get a temp gun from someone like Proexotics. Your temp measurements are probably way off. I wouldn't allow the temp to drop to 60F at night. That's just too cold. Keep the night temps in the 70's.

A Uro is an extremely active lizard. Your's is in bad shape by your description. You really need to make some major changes or it will die.

An Egyptian gets fairly large, are you sure that you have the resources to properly care for this animal?

Also, what are you feeding this Uro?

You obviuosly have internet access so do some research. www.deerfernfarms.com is a good start.