Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Really just one question. It's a little CB mali I got locally on sunday. I haven't seen her eat anything since she's been here, though she pooped yesterday and today (today it was very little...almost didn't notice it). It also doesn't appear as though she has been eating (meaning it looks like her dish hasn't been touched). In your experience, how long will it probably take her to settle in and start eating? I don't handle her, and I notice that she has been basking almost every day. Are there any tricks to getting her to start eating more quickly? Off the top of my head I was thinking if I put something brightly colored and scented in with her greens (like small repcal tortoise pellets... soaked in water), that might entice her, but I've never dealt with such a young uro before, so I don't really know if this is a good plan or if she will just eventually find the food when she gets hungry/settled in.

I'm excited about her. Any input you have is great.

What are you trying to feed her? It may be too cool of basking temperatures but without any information on caging or food there isnt a whole lot I can tell you.

I was just looking for what is 'usual' in the case of young uromastyx under ideal conditions.

She is in a 36"x18" enclosure with a basking spot that allows her to choose her own temperature (by choosing specific elevations). The hottest spot she can get to right now is about 150f surface temperature, but she spends most of her basking time at about 125f surface temps. I always make sure all of my reptiles have huge thermal gradients, so there's never any worry about being too cool. The cool end is as low as 68-70 in the daytime. Right now she is on paper towels, but I hate using that stuff. She's going on dirt as soon as I am sure she is healthy (with all of my reptiles I have about 800 pounds of dirt in enclosures at my house right now).

She gets the same food my other uro does, as well as all of my tortoises, and my bearded dragon. It's a mix of cooking greens (I will occasionally give other veggies or even pelleted reptile foods, but usually just as treats). I usually use primarily dandelion greens, but right now those are hard to come by so I've had to mix in other cooking greens. I use calcium with d3 on food 3 times per week, and vitamin supplements about once a week.

But basically, I was looking for a very general answer. How long it 'Usually' takes, or even how long it 'Might' take under good care. I should have followed protocol though, you are right

Generalities are my specialties... It may take months. Sometimes, when undergoing a habitat change, they simply shut down for awhile. They may come out & bask but stubbornly refuse to eat. You just have to be patient & keep offering them a wide variety of greens during that time. Eventually, unless demised with parasites or other afflictions, they'll pull out of it. The whole time, though, you need to be thinking "What might be missing here in this equation?"
As long as the temps are good & hiding spots are tight, they'll usually just make you sweat it out until they're good & ready to revert to normal.
Mostly, it's about allowing it as stress-free environment as possible. Kids, dogs, kats, loud radios/tvs, etc. do not a happy Uro make...

It's a CB that came from a very reputable reptile shop. She has defecated twice, and both times were textbook cases of healthy defecation (no sirens went off in my head).

I just wasn't sure because, to be honest, I've been pretty lucky with most of the reptiles I've acquired over the past couple of years (with the exception of my BP who is basically a seasonally eater like almost all sexually mature male ball pythons). My CB russian tortoise that I bought a year and a half ago ate within 30 minutes of being put in his enclosure, the female russian that I rescued from a neglectful home at BEFORE I got a chance to put her in her enclosure (my parents were watching her and decided to set some greens in front of her). The huge female russian that I bought over the summer didn't eat much, until a few days after she laid her two eggs (a pleasant surprise), and the baby that hatched from the one good egg started eating in less than a week.

I guess I just have some high expectations of my reptiles now I'll just keep a watchful eye on her, watch her temps, create a peaceful environment, and see how she does in another week or so. I remember going through similar things when I got my leopard gecko a few years ago. He went so long in between eating at one point in the first few months I was worried he was going to croak, but he came around once he was hungry enough.

Does anyone else see a picture in my post? I didn't mean to post it. Must have accidentally clicked something. That's an old picture of my bearded dragon in his old place. Wonder how that got there. It's kind of strange to look at that now and see how different my husbandry is. I should look for more old pictures.