Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Since Spike our WC saharan passed away, my daughter was bummed and had no interest in quickly replacing her. This was a good sign to me because it showed me she had perspective and was making good decisions and not just "wanting" something. Well, we had a great discussion last night about different lizards, care requirements/feeding, etc. and she said she really wanted to give another Uro a try. So today I ordered a cb Mali baby which will arrive tomorrow. Since Thursday is my daughters Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOL!!!

I am researching websites like mad, rereading forum posts and keeping my fingers crossed. I grilled the poor salesperson from the place I ordered it from to no end ensuring I was going to receive a healthy acclimated Uro LOL!! Keep your fingers crossed. I would love to post messages on the forum about the new one for another 10plus years!!!

And its not a Uro, but a really cool greyband I had in my collection for a while a couple of years ago when I was breeding them.

babies/juvi's are much easier to acclimate except for some species but you should do fine with a baby mali. It's probably about 6 months old. I have one now that has grown like crazy eating only greens, some juvy iguana food, and less than 10 peas in the 6 months! She does so well without anything else. And I go very light on the supplements. And yes you can sex some that young!

I must admit, I am a bit confused by your post. Your first sentence stated that after the death of your daughter's uromastyx, she was not interested in immediately replacing it. A few sentences later you state that the two of you had a talk, she wanted another uromastyx, and you have already placed an order for a new uromastyx. If I am not mistaken, your uromastyx just died a week or so ago after having it a little over a month. I would say that this replacement is quite quick considering you have no answers on what caused the demise of your first uromastyx.

Your original posts indicated you were keeping your 10-inch uromastyx in a 20 long aquarium. I am disappointed to hear that the animal that died is quickly being replaced given the fact that you were not set up to properly house the first uromastyx.

My recommendation for anyone in your situation would be to acquire the proper enclosure and equipment, do a few months of research on the species, and then contact several reliable 'breeders' to ensure that you are indeed getting a healthy, true captive bred animal. Having a health guarantee and someone to work with should you once again have problems would have been the best way to go.

You are definitely correct in that the caging for the original saharan we had was too small. The lizard was actually only 7-8 inches long. As far as replacing, it may be premature, but only time will tell and I am hoping my heart strings weren't making the decision to replace. As far as current housing, we know the new uro will require a larger cage soon (less than six months for sure)and I am already looking into a larger cage (probably a 40 gallon breeder tank minimum). However, the new uro is only a baby and everything I researched indicates it will be fine in the 20L for now.

babies should be very active and i really doubt you could possibly create a proper gradient in a 20L tank. where are you researching? i have never seen such advice given on any care sheet worth the electricity to run the computer. i really don't like to assault newbies but you say you researched but it doesn't seem it to me. I would advise you get that 40gallon immediately and enough lights to heat it correctly.No animal no matter how small, young, or healthy will magically do well in the same conditions a similar animal died in.I was previously unaware of your situation, how will your "heart strings" take it if this next animal meets the same fate. deerfernfarms.com is the caresheet i started with. the man has done this for a day or two...

you know what... a huge rubbermaid is a million times better than a goldfish tank- and cheap.

last post...
PLEASE TELL ME YOU MEAN 20 GALLON LONG AND NOT ONE OF THOSE 20 LITER THINGS! If so, I apologize for calling it a goldfish tank!but yes you will need to replace it, sooner is better.

I definitely appreciate all the concerns regarding the new Uro!!! One of the care sheets I read was actually DeerCreek Farms. They suggested a 20 gallon long for babies as a MINIMUM, which is what I have. However, I actually received the new uro this morning and see thats its bigger than expected. Roughly six inches long and quite plump but not overly bloated. After seeing the size of the uro, I IMMEDIATELY went out and bought the biggest rubbermaid tote I could find for now. Its approximately 43 inches long x 20 inches wide, by 20 inches tall. Close to the 4 foot x 2 foot cages suggested by Deer Creek for adults. I have a 150 watt halogen bulb/lamp hood and thermometer to check temps and I have an adjustable lamp stand to raise or lower the heat bulb and lamp to create proper basking temps with a little bit of trial and error. I bought a couple of the half log hides of appropriate size to give it security when inside and space out to the warm and cool ends. The tote is also non-transparent which should help with the uro feeling more secure in its new home. Not pretty, but better IMO than the 20 gallon long I was going to house it in. We also have basking brick for under the bulb and another lamp hood with a 10.0UVB/UVA bulb (new one, not old weak one). The food part is easy since I have torts and always have a wide variety of quality greens and vegetables on hand. Because the tote is so big, I may place a heat pad on low at one end for nighttime to keep temps between 70-75 when the lights go out. I think I have everything covered for now including high quality birdseed with no thistle or sunflower seeds for bedding!!! I hope this guy adjusts well. They are by far one of the most fascinating lizards I have ever seen in the herp industry!!! My next goal is to build a double decker tortoise table type of cage about 5 foot x 3 foot to keep my russians in one, and the uro in another when the uro gets bigger.

Your Uro isn't going to be "happy" with the half logs.. They need a hide that they can wedge into. It would be like you sleeping on the floor with no sheet or pillow. Sweet dreams... Also, avoid porous cage items of any sort, ie., the half logs. They just harbor bacteria & are difficult to clean.
Glad to see you get away from the fish tank. They can serve a purpose in times of need but, if you're gonna get serious about Uros, aquariums just aren't the best bet. Others will argue all day long but, custom enclosures are far better for Uros than fish tanks.
Keep on truckin.

you can set up the stand around the middle of the "tank" and angle it to the basking spot and this will add some ambient heat to the middle and if it is cold you can leave the heat mat on for daytime as well. if the mat is too hot put some towels in between. hope all is well. if you make a tort table for the uro outside, screen the top (wide screen) so no birds take off with him! but i think the torts will be safe...

I definitely need to tweak the heat lamp more. I will remove the bigger halflog for sure and give it more of a flat rock basking area. Also when setting up yesterday the 150 watt bulb was not working and I had to go to a redlight bulb I had. I am getting the temps up to 110, but not bright enough IMO to entice basking?? The UVB bulb is going during the day, but I still thing the heat and light for basking bulb is better. Maybe my own ideas, any thoughts?

I am also definitely adding a heat pad under center of cage for now. room temps down in upper 60s low 70s at night. I left the redbulb on all night to give it a heat source, but heard its best to let them cool down at night to recharge their systems.

The tables will be inside tables. I live in south Louisiana which is very HUMID in the summer. I may be paranoid, but Russian torts do not do well in humid environments and I am worried about URIs developing due to rain, excess humidity. Also I am worried about fireants which we seem to have in abundance. They nest EVERYWHERE at times, even inside cracks in concrete. I may do temporary day enclosures for use during dryer days. They will be covered!!!!!

Hey Kevin,

I agree with you, the red bulb is not going provide the bright light Uros require to be active. You want the basking temps to be 120-130degreesF. You will probably need to use several bulbs of varying watts to achieve this temps.

Just to stress what the others said about the hide - the right hide spot makes all the difference...the first few months i had my uro my hides were not low enough for his to feel secure...now that i am changing the hides/basking spot (I am using slate tile that has other pieces of slate holding it up about 1-2inches off the ground) he has been out and about more than i have ever seen!!

Good luck with your Uro!
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
2.1 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo,Jeffrey Nothing, Louise)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
1.0 Blood Red Corn (Virus)
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx (Scuttle)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)