Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to Uros (or reptiles of any type), but I'm the pround new mommy of a yellow WC Saharan Uro. He's about 13" long, and has been extremely good about acclimating. The pet store held him for a week until we could get his new home set up with proper substrate, temps, light, UVB, hides, etc. He was in a 40-gallon breeder with four other malis at the pet store, and is now in a 75-gallon here at home.

From the first day we brought him home he explored his new digs, was very alert and watched and listened to us. He ate from our hands on the very first day. We had a fecal check done and took him to a reptile vet to treat for his parasites. He's a bit thin, but not nearly as thin as some photos I've seen of malnourished Uros. He does need to put on some weight, though, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend any particular foods that might work for getting him fattened up a bit?

He's been eating really well every day, a mix of bok choy, endive, escarole, dandilion leaves and flowers (LOVES!!! the dandy flowers and follows our hand around like a puppy dog if we offer him a dandy flower), shredded squash, soaked peas and lentils twice a week, sprouted green beans (just one or two), pansy flowers, etc. His staples are the leafy greens. I've puta tiny bit of bee pollen in his salad once or twice and he gobbled it up, but I don't want to use that every time so he doesn't get used to it. We've planted a bunch of things for him in our veggie garden including hibiscus, alfalfa, bok choy, endive, etc. Already have roses and nasturtiums growing everywhere, but he really doesn't seem to like the rose petals. I have a greenhouse so I'll be able to grow veggies for him year round.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself, I've gotten some great info and ideas from reading the posts here. I'm very fortunate that he's such an active and alert Uro. He's not at all afraid, and when anyone goes into the room he's in, he comes right up to the front to say hello. We're not handling him or holding him at all, just feeding him by hand sometimes since he seems to really like that. I'll get some photos uploaded and added on here over the weekend.

Thanks,
Andi in Washington State

Sounds like you're doing great. Give him time and he'll fatten up nicely.

Also some folks (myself included) will also offer a dry mix of seeds, lentils, split peas, Sesame seeds etc. I stay away from sunflower seeds, I've read/heard they're too high in fats and also would worry about sharp shell pieces despite those amazing jaws they have.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Uro's, they're amazing little ones.

I do have a small bowl with semi-ground up dried pinto beans, lentils, and split peas. He nibbles on it a bit, but doesn't seem too thrilled with it. He's a complete PIG for dandelion flowers and pansies, but we only give him one or two a day because I want him to also eat his greens.

He's pooping every day, which gets cleaned out as soon as we see it. I'm lucky in that I work from home so I check on him throughout the day. He's definitely getting to know us and is really responding to our voices. The three cats like to babysit him as well, when they're not napping on my work desk LOL!

Andi

Yeah mine goes nuts for dandelions as well. She loves the flowers and will run to get them, but she'll also eat the leaves just with a little less gusto hehe.. The good thing is that the leaves make a great staple green, great Calcium to Phosphorus ratio. When available i make sure to put some of the leaves in her salad.

Yep, our new Uro will eat the dandy leaves very well also. We have several in our yard (I garden organically), but I'm going to actually plant some in the veggie garden and in my greenhouse for the winter. We've been getting a bunch of dandelion flowers and leaves from our neighbors who I know for sure have not sprayed anything or used any chemicals for at least the last two years.

Today is the first day that Gizmo (a.k.a. Gizzard a.k.a. Fuego) has totally cleaned out his food bowl, and it was a nice sized salad I gave him this morning! I'm so glad to see him eating well. I've looked at photos from when we got him almost three weeks ago compared to what he looks like now, and it's amazing how well he's bulking up and starting to look like a nice healthy Uro. Yah!!!

Andi

Here are some photos of our new Uro named Gizmo.

I thought his name was "Adrian Fuego", or did that change since the 11th, heh. My red phase geyri looks just like him, similar coloring and patterns. Gnuby has orange 'lips' with little black areas on his jaw on both sides too. It was so cute to see one that looks like his twin but yellow.

Yep, he has gone through a name change. He doesn't care, as long as we keep the dandelions close by, he's happy LOL! I kept calling him Gizmo, and my daughter has kind of caught on without realizing it (oops! LOL!)

Andi

Hi, just popped in to say glad your with us, and congratualtions on your new yellow baby They are pretty uro's I have a red/orange Saharan and a large female egyptian.

Hope you enjoy the forum, any problems/questions give a holler
and remember to post lots of pics,

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PHEve / Eve

Sorry I spelled your name wrong, forgive me, lol
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PHEve / Eve

No problem... We're really enjoying Gizmo, and so glad he's doing well for us, eating well, and starting to put on some weight now. The cats are past the "what's that new thing?????" stage and only give him a passing glance at this point.

Andi

Good thing the cats have gotten over it.
I've had my little guy since October and I still need to keep the door closed during the day so they don't stress him out...

That's a great photo! We have three (extremely spoiled!) indoor cats, who took turns "babysitting" for the first couple of weeks we had gizmo. Now they don't pay much attention to him, even though we do keep the door closed if we're going to be gone for long, mostly as safety so they cat's won't accidentally knock over a heat lamp.

Andi

Those are some beautiful felines! I'd post a pic of my little trouble maker, but my external hard drive is having problems right now.