Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Many uros can't resist hibiscus blossoms but this one Egyptian would always go after the center first and eat it down until his snout was buried into the middle of the flower. The funny thing was that once he started he simply couldn't be distracted by anything else. you could pick him right up and he would even walk around with that flower on his head still trying to get deeper into it.

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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

whatever's going on in that cage next door is much more interesting to these Moroccan hatchlings:

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I've posted this next photo a bunch of times in the past but it's still one of my favorites. This clutch of malis almost seemed to cooperate and spread out around the flower so each could take their piece of the pie. They started with a whole blossom but it disappeared so fast I barely got the last bit in the photo. (The coin was just to show how small they were.)

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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Very entertained by your old pics, so darn cute the baby gangs and the flower Head, LOL

You gave me a good idea, we should have an Oldies but Goodies Day, dedicated to our Old Favorite pics! We all have them, and it's FUN to see them again.
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PHEve / Eve

Edited on June 2, 2007 at 17:36:10 by PHWyvern.

Please do!

I picked up my first uro. three weeks ago, and I've been lurking here about month. Your oldies are all new to noobs like me!

BTW, thanks for all the great info. in this forum, everyone. You've helped me make my mali. quite the happy camper. I'll post photos, too, in a couple weeks. S/he is the coolest! -Jeff

Nice to have you here with us! PLEASE post your new lil buddy! We sure would love to see a pic!

Yeah I think I will DECLARE Oldies but Goddies day
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PHEve / Eve

Edited on June 2, 2007 at 17:36:20 by PHWyvern.

I picked a couple of theses uros out of an importation labeled aegyptia many years ago because they looked different. Anyone guess what species they probably actually were ?
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From this adult ventral photo, what species, sex and variety would you guess this uromastyx is?
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Well Lindsay,
If I took a shot in the dark I might say
U acanthinurus sp.
Of course a better/fuller pic would also help
so one could at least take a tail whorl count
as well as view more than just it's upper back
not to mention a better profile head shot.
I'll stick with U acanth sp (Algerian) but not
really positive. Interesting pattern/retics
though.
The ventral view ID pic is also a challenge.
Could be that silly egyptian with the funny
red umbrella on his head for all I know LOL.
Off to feed my zoo,
John

Lindsay
The first photo resembles U. leptani (sp)the second one is a little tougher.
Drew

U leptieni for the top, U. benti for the bottom, I'd say male except the belly is too white for most adult males so I'll guess juvie male or adult female benti (Rainbow morph - now called U yemenensis.

Do you have any more photos of the U leptieni. I'd love to have some for use in the book. I don't know of any other photos out there.

Doug

>>
>>Do you have any more photos of the U leptieni. I'd love to have some for use in the book. I don't know of any other photos out there.
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>>

--- I took a lot of photos of that shipment but my camera had barely one megapixel. I don't know if that would cut it in a book. I was also still shooting a lot of Kodachrome back then for the programs I did at clubs and shows so maybe I have some slides. Some of the photos I took that day might be too disturbing to even show here - lots of skinny lizards piled on top of each other.
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Ok, since I got stomped on the last one,
here's a hatchling uro you can try to ID.

John

That's a U thomasi head but assuming it's your photo and no U thomasi are in the US that would seem a bad guess.

Doug

No, not a thomasi and it's not my photo.
At least not taken by me.

John

The back has faint red dots like a Red Saharan - U geryi. Odd head though but if not U t. then U geryi?

Doug

Seems a little 'bumpy' for a geyri. Loricata or asmussi?

Whatever it is....can I have it?

I don't suppose you have a shot with the tail?

Doug

U. o. ornatus?
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1.1 U. Maliensis (Koopa,Zilla)
1.0 S. Hispidus (Bowser)

Those gnarly scales and that evil eye - I guessed the loricata/asmussi group too. I've never seen a specimen of either one in person. Any ever in the USA?
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Debb, I would love to have one as well.
Lindsay and Debb were pretty much right
on.

Doug, you know me, if I took the pic it would
have been perfect ... lol. I really had to crop
this hatchling pic severely in order to allow Pet
Hobbyist to accept it for use on their forums.
Showing the tail was not an option Doug as it
was hidden behind the hand holding the uro.

HH, as far as ornate, I can see how you might
guess that. I have a juvie ornate which actually
looks kind of similar as far as color anyway.

I have a couple of additional pics that Lindsay
will try to add to the U loricata section of the
picture page of the UHP and my friend Paul will
of course be credited for them.

Below is the short (or long) of it all.

I was contacted by a US soldier while on a tour
of duty in Iraq. We communicated for just over five
months (from late May to late October of 2005).

His first e-mail had a picture of what appeared to be
a sub/young adult U loricata female. I showed it to
Lindsay at the time and he conquered. He was excited
about capturing this spiny tailed non terrorist individual.
Before he contacted me he was trying to learn just what
he had caught by researching on-line when his busy sched
permitted. He finally came to the conclusion that it had to
be one of the uromastyx species or subspecies and that's
how he found me.

Some time later he sent a few more pictures of a newly
found male and also one of the three hatchings he had
caught while on patrol.

I first consulted with him while trying to make sure that the
proper diet/housing was offered them but as the months
passed, we became pretty good e-mail buddies. I would
hear from him every few weeks or at least once a month.
The computer in their barracks was the only way some of
the soldiers could contact family and loved ones so he
would usually wait his turn as family had a higher
precedence over talking to a guy about lizards ... lol.

They were kept in large fiberglass storage containers
which were surrounded by sand bags as was his bunker.
The containers were 5' x 5' and 3' in height. The open top
was partially covered with wood and additional sand bags
on top for partial shading/cooling. He would confiscate
greens/veggies from the mess hall as would his troops for
their new found mascots. Some wild flowers collected from
the area were a real treat for the uros such as morning glory
and what he also described as a tall dandelion looking plant.

Last I heard from my friend Paul is that they were about
to evac/relocate. Have had no luck in trying to contact him
since then via e-mail as his yahoo mail has only bounced back
each time.

John

>>I picked a couple of theses uros out of an importation labeled aegyptia many years ago because they looked different. Anyone guess what species they probably actually were ? >>

---- Yes, I assume leptieni also. The paperwork was indeed from United Arab Emirates which includes their range. This was before leptieni had been described. I wish I had kept some of them. I wonder if there are still some being kept in the USA from that shipment. There were at least a hundred uros in the group but most were juveniles so I can't say whether they were leptieni or aegyptia (microlepis). JC, I think I might have sent you some out of this group in 1999 (??).

>>.
>>.
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

>>From this adult ventral photo, what species, sex and variety would you guess this uromastyx is?
>>.
>>

The 2nd photo in my post above shows no femoral pores which narrows it down to just a few species, including benti. The row of slightly enlarged scales where pores would normally be indicate it is what we called rainbow or mountain benti. They also differentiate it from what was called the lowland form or was sometimes called orange benti. The all-white belly indicates female in an adult.
A ventral photo of the lowland form is below. The first few shipments of rainbows were so very different in color from the previously seen lowland form. I still have an old CITES form that erroneously labeled them philbyi. Thus they were later referred to as pseudo-philbyi. Now, thanks to Thomas wilms the taxonomy has caught up with those variations.

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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Hi
great pic
i whas looking voor a weird position sleeping beardie.
i whas thinking it whas you right ?
do you stil have the pic ?
in corner a double faulded beardie sleeping
is this the same lindsay ?
i never forget the name fitted bij the pic.
byeeeeeee
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