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I have a CBB mixed species uromastyx that is about 4 or 5 years old. She has been kept on crushed walnut for at least two years now with not a single problem. Her veggie diet consists of romaine lettuce, yellow squash, zucchini, sometime a little carrot about every other day. She has a bowl of tortoise pellets at all times and gets finch seed food mixed with both the veggies and the tortoise diet. She occasionally gets crickets just because she is lazy and doesn't move unless she is chasing crickets.

I have been doing some research and come to find out, I feel like I have been doing it quite wrong. Why is the romaine lettuce so bad for uro's. It seems to be a staple diet for most veggie eating lizards that I know of outside of the of the uro species.

I am also concerned about the crushed walnut bedding, as I said, she has been on it for over two years now and never once has she had any bowl problems, her stool is perfectly normal. I took her off of sand because of how much people said that could impact her. The few times I have seen her with walnut in her mouth, it is because she was trying to get a cricket and missed, but she always works it out of her mouth instead of swallowing it.

Does anyone use romaine lettuce for food and crushed walnut for bedding? Do those who use it have problems? Any advice or comments would be great!

The romaine lettuce is good for hydrating, but it really has very little nutritional value compared to other greens like endive/escarole (aka Chickory) or dandelion greens, which should both be part of a staple Uro diet. Other greens like collard can be given rarely as a treat, but only once in a while because too much can cause health problems.

As for the sand... many many Uro keepers use washed play sand, which is considered safe. It's the CALCIUM sand sold in pet stores that should be illegal because it can cause impaction, it can really mess with calcium absorption, etc. The crushed walnut shells are not a good idea because they have very sharp edges, and if any happens to get ingested, it can really tear up their digestive tracts.

Hope this helps out a bit, there is so much conflicting information out there, especially really bad information given out by most pet stores, but if you learn from the people on forums who have years of breeding and keeping Uros, you can really gain a lot from their knowledge.

Andi

Forgot to mention... Crickets or any insects should only be given as vary rare treats, and many Uro experts recommend not at all. Their kidneys are just not designed to handle insect protein.

Andi

I am getting a egyptian uro pretty soon. The reason people say it is bad is there is not much nutritional value. It mainly is made up of water. To get them water than good to give nutrients bad lol. Most tell you not to feed most vegetable eating reptiles lettuce. Mainly they eat kale dandelions escrole and things like that.
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 California King Snake
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure
0.1.0 Australian Shepheard
2.1.0 Crazy Cats
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit
0.1.0 Ferret
0.2.0 Guinea Pigs
0.0.1 White Tree Frog
0.0.2 Fire Belly Newts
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad
0.0.1 Red Spotted Newt
0.0.2 Bull Frogs
Lots Of Fish

jesus.. you have quite a zoo!!

i have me some squeaky piggies too!! they are great lil garbage disposals for any vegetable matter huh?

Kristen
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4.1 Bearded dragons (Lee,Stumpy,Blackie,Spazz,Lynn)
1 Egyptian Uromastyx (Niles)
(Papa Kunja and Uri have recently passed..we love you)

Thank you for your advice!

Andi makes good suggestions and I mostly agree. However, I think a lot of people don't give romaine enough credit, it is a great green and I personally use it as a staple in my uros diet. Andi is correct that it is not as nutritious as some of the other greens, but when mixed in with some of the more nutritious greens, such as the dandelion and escarole, it makes for a more well rounded diet.

Just my 2c's

-Nathanael

Thank you all for your suggestions, looks like I'll be heading to the grocery store for some new greens and my boyfriend will be eating a ton of romaine salad in the future. I only want the best for my animals and really appreciate all the info. I have looked through the forum and gotten some really good suggestions on feeding as well as through some of the well known uro and bearded dragon breeder care sheets to get a good list of what to and not to feed.

Bonnie

2.3 bearded dragons
0.1 uromastyx cross
0.2 leopard geckos
2.3 Red Tails
1.0 albino red tail
0.2 het albino red tails
3.5 amel corns
1.3 cremesicle corns
1.2 snow corns
1.2 reverse okettee corns
0.2 hypo corns
1.0 albino strip blood red corn
1.0 striped amel corn
0.1 frosted corn
1.1 black mexican kings
1.2 albino cal king
3.6 cal king
1.1 grey band kings
2.3 arizona mountain kings
1.1 albino applegate sandiago gopher snake
1.1 ruthveni
1.1 albino nelsons
1.1 pueblans
1.1 tri colored hogs
1.1 yellow rat snakes
1.1 hypo vanishing pattern hondos
1.0 cal king/hondo cross
1.1 muleri sand boa
1.1 het albino balls
1.1 het pied balls
0.1 felis catus