Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recieved a saharan uromastyx friday as a surprise since I already loved these animals. Well I went to the same place and now they have some baby giant black uromastyx(egyptian). I have a second enclousre set up for him to come home today but once he is bigger could they possibly be house together? I wouldn't house them together but the shop owner was telling me I could and I'm just thinking no way. OH yea how do I tell him nicely to take out the water dishes in the cages? He is usually right on with snakes but with the uros hes keeping them in a cage with huge water dishes.

Just simply let him know that uromastyx do very poorly
in high humidity conditions. There is a high risk of both
bacterial and fungal disease such as the dreaded blister
disease not to mention tail rot. There is also a good
chance that they will develop an upper respiratory
infection due to the increased humidity.

Uromastyx are for the most part desert animals and many
never encounter water whether it be rain, lakes or rivers.
They are mostly hydrated by the food they eat. Since most
captive bred/born or captive housed are fed extremely
high water content greens and veggies, there is no reason
to offer a healthy uro any water at all. Especially a large
bowl which they would probably walk/run through so as
to end up with water between/under their scales and tail
whorls which would be a good candidate for the above
mentioned diseases. If you like, print this and show it to
the pet store owner.

I've been working with uromastyx primarily as a keeper
and breeder for over a dozen years so I do know a little
about what I am saying. I am also a recently retired vet
tech and have seen my share of these dreaded and hard
to cure fungal and bacterial diseases.

As to the "giant black" lizards:
A good rule of thumb is to keep different sub/species
to themselves. I'm not really sure what you mean by a
"giant black lizard" as I've never heard of the U a
aegypticus or U a microlepis referred to by this name.

John

I asked him if it is an actual egyptian uro and he just said its going to be the same size as one. So im guessing it is the egyptian since he said this is going to be the biggest species of uro to buy. I talked to him today and he just said the breeder told him to keep water in the cage and after I told him all of the info I already had he gave me the keys to remove every water dish in the uros cages. He has 4 species of uros all housed seperatly thankfully. Like I said he is usually really good about the care of the animals but he was just misinformed lol.

Hopefully Eve will chime in here. I remember her posting awhile back about her egyptian attacking her saharan...

-Alice

Yes, Alice, good memory. My female egyptian and male saharan lived together in perfect harmony for about three/ four years. The female soon became much larger than the saharan but they remained quite cozy. Then out of the blue one day I walked in the reptile room and saw my very large female egyptian grab the male saharan in her mouth and toss him up in the air(still in her mouth) and shake him back and forth like a rag doll. It was terribly scarey.

I quickly intervened, and got him released from her jaws, and they never lived together or even came close to each other after that ever again. She died this year and Crispy the saharan is fine and doing well. A lesson learned.

Egyptians in my opinion are better housed alone.
-----
PHEve / Eve

Keep each animal house separately.... especially Egyptians. Although they are not more aggressive than other species, just due to their size, they can do more damage. I have 3 Egyptians, and none of them are black.... well.. our male's head turns slightly black during mating season, but they are in no way all black. So, Im wondering what you have.

PS- Before I got my Egyptians, my male had bit off the end of the female's tail, and now there is a little nub there. So, they can do damage...

When we picked up the baby it was almost all black or so we thought. Granted this little one is maybe 4in long nose to tip of tail so it's a major baby. I calling it a he but we are unsure of the sex yet since its so small. I have both uros set up seperatly just because I don't want accidents ever with them. The new guy shed and has a lighter almost grey color wtih some yellow. As far as if it is an egyptian for real im not sure since the shop owner never straight out said he is or isn't just said the biggest species of uro.

John,

As a debate, I would say that Uro's are in contact with water concentration in the burrows that utilize in the wild. What do you think holds the burrows together? Its certainly not just clay. Also, is the blister disease and tail rot documented, tested, and proven to be known to be caused by higher humidity levels? I would imagine a lot of other improper husbandry techniques bring about those two diseases. The reason why I ask is because I have been using a soil setup for my uros for awhile now and have yet to see a single problem with any type of disease or illness. However, my setup also allows for greater resources to be used by the uros, but I do have a bit of higher "than recommended" humidity levels in my setups.

Happy Herping and Merry Christmas,

-Paul

I hear where you're coming from and totally agree
with you on the burrow humidity issue Paul.

What I was trying to get across to the pet store
owner was that a uromastyx which is constantly
walking/running through or even laying in a large
bowl of water ... well, he's just asking for trouble.

I'm sure that the constant direct contact with
standing water (as does uncleaned fecal matter) all
plays a part in creating unhealthy conditions for
most of the desert lizard species and likely others.

Thanks for your input.
You have a nice holiday season also,
John