Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 150 gallon tank with play sand. The right side is elevated for basking with a Zoo Med 150W basking bulb and a Exo-terra 75/100W? Repti Glo Heat bulb. On the left side, I have a flourescent light bulb that dosen't produce UVB rays. Is a Zoo Med Repti-Sun 10.0 a sufficent UVB light bulb? They have several hides and several basking branches. (PHOTO OF SET UP SOON TO COME). I have had them since October of '06. The male, to me, seems to be hiding all the time when we are present and uncomfortable since the day I got him. Is this normal behavior? The female on the other hand is quite the opposite and is very interactive. They're daily diet consists of kale, collard green, and mustard greens along with lentils and no more than a dozen small crickets every two weeks. Is this a proper nutritonal diet for my malis? I think my malis are on their way to breeding age. Any way to tell? What should the conditions/season in my tank be to stimulate breeding behavior? Hoping to be a future breeder one day! All the advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

i have problems of my own with uros right now.I have a female egyptian acting very "strange" since i was away. i keep pairs separate. kale,collards, and mustards are occasional at best. crickets are nasty, mali's eat insects but i would give them can-o-worms and bee pollen, my juvi's eat those, adults less. the male and female may be having territorial issues over a favorite hide.They need their own spot. mercury vapors are better for uvb production.Big Apple has the strongest, farthest reaching bulb. Then mega-ray or t-rex. They will likely be more aggressive with proper uvb. Their colors will look better too. Watch for the female intimidating the male- or maybe everyone just bothers the male.

I have kept them together since day one and they were together in the pet store. What signs of intimadation should I look for? Is this because she will bully or want to mate? this new to me about the intimadation area. Always thought they would be fine together... Any idea to tell age? Thanks Again. Best of Luck with your egyptian uromastyx.. Let me know what you find out

I have a pair of female Nigerians living together and have never seen any aggression at all.

I'd say stop feeding the crickets. If you are going to feed them any insects, I'd recommend some gut loaded superworms. But Uros do not need insects to be healthy.

aggression like hogging or guarding food BOWLS. chasing others out of hides. My adult female mali actualy dragged a male out by the nape. one always on top of the other. circling around each other(called ritualized combat)also a breeding behavior. HISSING(bad)
tail biting. if one goes in a hide and the other always immediately follows- that is probably a dominance issue. One never eating around the other. avoidance. chasing.stuff like that both obvious and subtle. puffing up in defensive posture to the other uro. This time of year (spring/summer)is worst for this stuff but can happen any time. Or not at all. It happened enough to me I keep them separate.give them 4 hides- they fight over one-stuff like that.2 food bowls-one thinks they own both.
uros are territorial to various degrees each one of them, is my opinion. females as much or more than males.

My male lays there and eats thats it... The female is the lover. Very nice attentive and Curious.. Whe she eats he sleeps. When she is done she goes and lays back with him. He will acually move to let her under him and then he stratles her t and observe or guards her while she sleeps. The share thier favorite hide together. Almost like they are in love. Will breeding happen naturally on do I need to do something in paticular??? Thanks for everything you guys are a life saver

The staple diet for a Uro should be endive/escarole, dandelion greens if you can find them, bok choy, and a few mixed veggies (I used frozen corn/carrots/peas), mango, and squash. As treats you can rotate through edible flowers like dandelions, hibiscus, nasturtiums, a couple of soaked lentils or I use a coffee grinder to grind up dried lentils/peas/beans, a bit of finch seed, a tiny sprinkle of bee pollen, etc.

Mustard and collard greens and kale are not good for uros except for an occasional treat. These lizards DO NOT need animal/insect protein and shouldn't have it. I use endive and/or escarole, bok choy, and dandy greens as the basis of Gizmo's salad every day, then rotate through the other things throughout the week.

Thank you for telling the proper diet... is soup lentils dry/hard ok daily? They love them. thans again

Have these animals been in for a vet check? Fecal check for parasites? And is this a proven pair - in other words, how do you know they are male and female? Another thing to check would be the temperatures. Make sure you have a good gradient throughout the cage using a reliable digital thermometer. An IR thermometer is excellent for checking the surface temperature of the basking area.

For UVB, Mega Ray is an excellent choice for MVBs. They put out very reliable bulbs with safe UVB levels. Reptisun is good for fluorescents. In the past, Big Apple has put out less than stellar UVB bulbs. I would be extremely careful with their new product, wait for thorough testing results - especially without a UVB meter on hand. More is not always better.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
0.1 Collared Lizard (Rorschach)
2.1 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)