Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and also new to Uro's. I am about to get my first pair or possibly a trio of unrelated subadult ornates, hopefully this coming week. I am about to setup their first temporary enclosure tomorrow and want to make sure I have all the bases covered so far.

First off, let me clear up a few things. This is not an impulse buy, I have been reading everything available on the internet for a few months now, have joined both the urozone yahoo group and the uromastyx listserv at icomm.ca of which I've been reading through the archives with every min of spare time. Not to mention, I have been reading through all the posts on this forum with any spare time as well.

On another note, I have been keeping and breeding chameleons for over 15 years now, as well as many species of Phelsuma Geckos, and have even made a few trips to East Africa to study their natural habitats to give me a better understanding of their micro-climates as to be more successful with their captive reproduction here in the States.

So here goes the questions:

1) Will a 90gal aquarium be sufficient size for a young subadult pair or trio, that have been kept together to date, only as temporary housing for a month (two at most) until I build them a custom enclosure?

2) It seems that most of you recommend regular playsand as a substrate? Is there anything better that can be used? I saw mention of vita sand in a post below, is this a better substrate? If so, where can it be found?

3) The custom enclosure I have drawn up (picking up the rest of the materials this week for it) is going to be 8'L x 4'W x 28"H. Will this be sufficent size for the pair to last them until early next summer? I'm starting a large, partially inground outdoor enclosure for them in the next couple months based on Bert Langerwerf's outdoor terraria design that will hopefully be setup in a manner so I can maintain them outdoors year around.

4) Since they are young subadults, should I put them through brumation for this coming winter?

5) For indoor lighting in regards to uv rays, has anyone tried/used high pressure sodium or metal halide lights on their Uro's? The reason I ask is because I have several lying around that aren't being used and I always had very good results when I used them on various chams and they were primarily used on a long term basis.

Well, I think that is about all the questions I have right now. I apologize for listing soo many! I think I have a pretty good handle on the rest of the basics such as diet, temps etc.

Thank you *very* much for *any* information that any of you may provide! It will indeed be greatly appreciated and put to good use!

Thanks for your time.

SF

well first of all that 90gallon is more then enough already even for a trio, if u wanna make an even bigger one well thats ok but 90 gallon is pretty big,substrate don't get the calci sand or vita sand, its not good, get the zoomed repti-sand its real desert sand, real real fine, alot finer then playsand and doesn't have and large pebbles, its pretty expensive though almost a dollar a pound, a 10 lbs bag will be anywhere from 7 to 10 dollars if u decide to go with the playsand sift out all the large pebbles and stuff, from what the lights go i use exo-terra fluorecent 8.0 light it gives off the most uvb rays and uva rays, and i use a 150 watt zoomed basking light which also gives off uva rays, also make sure they all get along, hope oi helped

I'm still a little confused why the Vita Sand is not okay but Repti Sand is. Can someone clarify for me?

Thanks

http://zoomed.com/html/vitasand.html
http://zoomed.com/html/repti_sand.html

They are both FINE!! i have used the vita sand in the past because i thought it was the best pick, really fine, and really small particals just in case. never used repti sand, but it is all a personal choice. just never use calci sand, that stuff is BAD news.
Good luck
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Lauren
Leos and Uros

Is calci-sand the name of a brand or type of sand? I think I get confused because VitaSand is a Vitamin-Fortified Calcium Carbonate Substrate and I keep wondering if that means calci-sand.

Thanks!

I was thinking that the Vita Sand might be better than the Repti Sand in case there was some ingestion.

calci sand is a name brand. Any sand you buy however, is not going to give your reptiles calcium or vitamins. they do not digest in the system unfortunatly. So really you would just buy these sands for the saftey measures. They are much finer than regualr sand and must less dust is given off.
Good luck any more questions feel free.
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Lauren
Leos and Uros

vita sand is basically the same thing as calci sand repti sand is real desert sand real fine, even finer then that vita sand,its basically almost the same thing as jurassic sand thats why its so expensive but money isn't a factor for my lil guy, and its dust free,its alot finer then playsand too

Your 90g enclosure *is* great for a trio, but bigger is always better, I think. Your plans sound amazing! I wish I had that kind of space to play with!

For substrate, the fine sands are good, though I don't like the playsand (pebbles and dust). I just changed to white millet seed and so far I like it a lot. Almost totally dust and odor free, and if they eat it, there's no problems. If the seed is cracked, they digest it, and if not, it's roughage. It looks nice and is easy to sift.

The other questions are out of my league.

Sounds like your uro group will have a very good life! Good job and good luck!
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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)