Reptile & Amphibian Forums

6 days ago I purchased a pair of Uromastyx Geyri(Saharan). They are imported ranched.

Is there anything I can do to improve their enclosure?

And, unfortunately my parents do not believe in vets for animals other then shots for dogs. Is there anything I can do to help my animals get rid of their parasites/diseases/worms? I heard pumpkin was a natural dewormer? What can I do for these great guys?

Their enclosure is a 40 gal. breeder. Two black cardboard boxes as their hideys, one on the 90 degree middleish and other in about 75 degree. The top brick for basking spot gets to be about 115-120 *As the day heats up it gets hotter so its 110 in early morning and 115 mid day and around 120 in late afternoon*. I do not know the humidity. But I keep a 150W basking lamp on the bricks and a 120W flood on the middle.(The ceramic heat emiter shown is a 150W for cold nights) The log in there is a sterilized driftwood piece. They are kept on millet that I froze to remove anything alive. What can I do to improve? Molly(girl) is the small one. Does she look skinny? Ichabod is a semi-adult I believe? I have seen them both eat a couple pieces of lettace. I feed them spring mix and turnip greens so far. Will try bok choy soon. How can I get them eating more?

Oh, yea, I'm gonna replace the 150W basking lamp and the 120W flood with a 160W megaray(or 150W whatever). Do you all recommend that?

And...I forgot to say I have a compact flourescent reptisun 5.0 (All I have at the moment) in there. But I'm going to order the megaray tonight I think.

And, I think I have shocked my male for life...When measuring temps with my tempgun, i dropped it and it hit him. He was across the other side of the cage before I even knew that i dropped it.... :|

They look like they're in rough shape, thin and dehydrated. Read this care page: http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Care.htm and make sure you're following all of the recommendations. The cost of a vet visit shouldn't run a whole lot more than what you're spending on furnishings. If your uros don't make a turn around quickly (within a week) and your husbandry is flawless, there won't be much of an option.

The only other option would be to buy Understanding Reptile Parasites, a microscope with camera attachment, and do your own fecals and take pictures of what you find and then try to track down a vet willing to confirm your IDs and prescribe the appropriate drugs. I think you can get pancur (for nematodes) from feed stores and I think LLL reptiles carries it. But they likely also have protozoans and you'll need drugs like Flagyl which are only available by prescription. You need to know what they have in order to determine what drugs they need to be treated with.

It would be good to have an experienced vet examine them and determine whether they are even strong enough to handle treatment (some of the drugs can be rough on even relatively healthy lizards). If vets aren't an option for you, I'd stay away from wild caught herps. Hopefully, if you offer to foot the bill, you can get your parents to let you get them treated. Or, if you don't drive maybe you could find a friend that would be willing to help you get them there.

-Alice