Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
I have been looking for a lizard. I have been looking at tegus(eat too much meat, I am a vegetarian), Iguanas(TOO big, man..I am picky arnt I?), then Prehensile tailed skinks... now.. the Pts was something I really want, except they are endangered and require this huge cage and should be kept in pairs.

Pretty much, I am looking for a lizard that can live in a 55 gallon aqaurium, is very mellow, and is a vegetarian. Uromastyx might be the answer!

Which species has the best temperment? I want something big, like... Egyptian size would is pretty cool.... What an awesome animal. Yet, I love the colors of the melanistic malis from doug dix... Whom I will most likely getting my uro from, if all works out.

For caging questions, I might have jumped the gun, but is a 55 suitable for a uromastyx? If so, what length could the uro be, before it got crowded? A 55 gal for 2.5ft Egyption seems alittle cramped.
Also, I wanted to make it very naturalistic for the lizard. I was going to use calci- sand, but have decided it against it for impaction reasons. Can I use sand? I would prefer what they were living on in the wild, but that would be somewhat hard to recreate. I plan on using a lot of flat stones. It should be cool.

Money really isnt an issue on any of these things, just curious.

Thanks in advance.
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Starkey
Mystic Eye

the best way to go is with lindsay pike from urotopia.com, he has alot of hatchlings capitve bred i mean , hes hatched alot of species this year, all uromastyx except a full grown egyptian can be kept in a 55 gallon, thats perfect, you'll need a bigger cage for an adult egyptian, he has baby egyptians that hatched in like july , i bought a egyptian occelated from him captive bred by him, its the tamest lizard not shy at all, eats like a maniac doing great, u can keep an egyptian baby in a 55 gallon tank for a while , for like 2 years because they take like 4 years to be fully grown, captive bred is what u want, i would go with lindsay pike in urotopia.com, go check it out if they are captive bred u will most likely have no problem, wild caughts is another story

Not really sure what size a 55 gal aquarium is, but as a guidline uro's need about double the lenght wide and triple the length. height seems to be not of an issue and closer is better when dealing withh uvb light sources. Just be careful of light burns...I have had all those animals you have mentioned. The tegus being the shortest stint...after a bad bite....
Uros are by far the easiest.
Humidity for iguanas and PTS are a major source of bacterial infections. Tegus get really large and some have really bad bad temperaments.
What you did not take into consideration is the lack of supplying water. This is a upkeep bonus for these animals.
Give them a good variety of greens and uvb and uva light ad heat and they really do well. Very calm, for the most part, and substrate is easy to clean. i have mostly egyptians some of which are fairly large. However, the 2.5 ft animals are ( at least to my experience) very rare.
Good luck.
I recommend both Doug and Lindsay as potential sources for your animals. They are both great. That said, be prepared for a potentially lenghty acclimation when you get your uro. Some are quick some take what seems like an eternity.

All uros with the exception of an adult eqyptian could be housed in a 55 gallon. If possible, captive bred is the way to go. Get a nice baby and raise it yourself and you will have an awesome pet. ***Now I must defend my beloved tegus, they can be sweeties too and so can monitors, but these have totally different requirements, are not inexpensive to feed and can sometimes bite LOL*** Good luck, I'm sure you will find a uro a wonderful pet!

Pam

I have both, one PTS and one URO.Both are great pets! But im lucky because my URO was already VERY tame when i bought him and my PTS was still a juvie when i bought him so very easy to tame.Iguanas i dont recommend although i have 4 igs at my home now!They took years to become really tame and confident!
Well, im crazy about my PTS.Although they are endagered (which wild reptile is not these days?)they are not THAT endagered and they can be kept single in a 4 feet high, 3 feet large and 3 F depth cage.Not that big! They are VERY easy to tame and to feed! I only give mine pothos plant ( i decorated his cage with several pothos plant vases),fruits and some greens and veggies.My PTS (his name is Leonardo)loves melon, papaya, some collards and pumpkin.But he can do very well (in a short term) only eating pothos plant, what is very convenient if you have to go out of town for a few days.Leonardo likes to soak in the water too, so he needs 2 bowls of water, one to drink and another to soak inside.

My PTS loves to go out of his cage and to explore the house.If you put a small blanket on the couch he can stay there for hours only with his small head poped out and he loves to be kissed and petted.Perhaps because PTS is a very sensitive reptile that loves family links you can create with very special bonds! My PTS, for instance, loves to climb my body and to sleep under my hair!(But i needed to cut his nails a little bit!)

If you want a PTS go ahead! They make awesome pets!

I only have experience with my Saharan, who is a little shy, but I hear that Ornates tend to have the most people-friendly personalities. They are also small, though. If you want something larger, still fairly mellow, but not as large as Egyptian, maybe a Mali?

I have had mine on sand with no problems (natural sand only - man-made is jagged). It's very dusty, though, and I'm about to try white millet seed for a while.
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Torey
D'oh! 0.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Arthur)
0.1 Anolis Carolinensis (Leeloo)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)