Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Summary: Considering purchasing a lizard; want to make sure I'm not kidding myself in terms of learning curve and making sure it's hard to accidentally kill it by my ignorance.

Detail:
First, my exposure to lizards is practically nil, but we helped feed one a few months ago and I decided I would like one. The Petco in-house lizard expert suggested three good beginner varieties, one of which was Uromastyx. I don't have much reason to like that one above the others he recommended except that it looked cool.

When I told the lizard guy the Uromastyx looked interesting, he rattled off details about taking care of the Uromastyx and gave me the impression that as long as I set up the cage correctly (i.e. regulated temperature, proper lighting) respected the need for little to no humidity and feed it a good diet, it'll be pretty easy.

I'm 34 years old, as responsible as a newlywed can be. Am I kidding myself here, or will I really have not-too-much trouble getting to understand and take care of it? I grew up with dogs and understand that sort of responsibility.

Most important, I'd really hate killing it because of my own ignorance.

What should I read/know before considering a purchase as a good idea?

Thanks for addressing such an open-ended question.

Rob

i myself an new to uro's but have had many other reptiles in the past so im equipped with everything i need,i just ordered on tonight for 29$ plus shipping from http://www.xtremereptiles.com

from what i read everywhere there not that hard to take care of,a hot spot of about 115-120F with slate slab to hold heat,uvb 7% light and at least a 40g to start(i have a 200 tank) and a cooler side of 85-90 with drop to 70 or so at night.

so i would think as long as you have the right stuff you should do just fine,read a care sheet about them to get a general idea for them and go from there.

good luck, kali

Hi,

IMHO opinion Uros are not among the easiest reptiles to keep. Especially WC specimens very often do seemingly well for a few months and then rapidly decline and die.
I would strongly recommend to leave these for experts.
CB Uros can be much easier to maintain. But raising an Uro from baby to adulthood is still not sth which is absolutely straightforward and easy.
You have to learn your lessons on Ca/P ratios, dietary fibers,protein contents, vitamine and mineral supplementation, light spectra and intensities and all the dos and don´ts about lipid soluble vitamines.
Even though many people seem to ignore that, I am absolutely convinced that for those Uro species which do hibernate in the wild, yearly hibernation significantly contributes to longevity, overall health and breeding success. So you have to face the fact that you have to properly prepare hibernation.
Look around here in the forum: So many people with young Uros or newbies at all.
I suspect that this is at least in part due to the fact that a significant percentage of Uros do not survive long-so long time keepers are still not very abundant.
I have the strong suspicion that still way too many Uros do not survive their fifth year in captivity, even though they should be able to reach their 30th.
In a nutshell: I do not recommend Uros for beginners.But if someone insists, its not absiolutely impossible to start with Uros as first herptiles. But you need careful research -a bit of preknowledge in physiology helps- and a close eye.
As Starter Uros I strongly (!!) recommend adult cb Uros-but these still aren´t easy to get.
Also there still is a strong exploitation of wild living Uro populations for the pet trade. Not only do many of the imports die within their first captive year, but also there are not yet enough breeders out there, to fulfill the demands of Uro enthusiasts with cb animals.
Hence I think, EVERY Uro keeper should try to not just keep but breed his Uros to help improving the situation.
Although its not rocket science, continuous breeding of Uros is not the easiest task for a beginner.
Hence I would direct you to a bearded drageon, leopardgecko or other species. But not to Uros

Thats just my 2 cts

ci@o

Ingo

Ok these guys are pretty decent starter lizards they do leave you a *bit* of room for error. I spent $200 on just my setup alone, $110 for my WC male saharan, $40 for a sick WC that i had to spend an extra $60 bucks on for vet bill. Then i just adopted a mistreated baby mali. I would highly reccomend that you either buy a WC from a VERY reputable breeder such as Doug Dix or Lindsay Pike. Even if they are WC they will be healthy. Deerfernfarms.com and urotopia.com are the websites respectively. A baby uro is not something you want to start with. My baby although mistreated and started off extremely poorly is much harder to maintain then my adults. Go for a nice fat adult. If you can find a CB that is better they will be much more tame than the WC. It might cost you more but in the long run you will appreciate it. They do need a good diet with a variety of foods. I became interested in these guys due to the vegetarian aspect. As long as you go with a heatlhy one read up as much as you can on these guys you will be fine. As away on this fourm and i am sure you will find the answers. Uros are awesome lizards and very rewarding if taken care of correctly
Good luck
-----
Lauren
Leos and Uros
1.1 Saharan Uromastyx
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Jungle Albino Leopard Gecko
1.1 Hypo/Baldy Leopard Gecko
1.1 Tremper Alibno Leopard Gecko

-----
Lauren
Leos and Uros
1.1 Saharan Uromastyx
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Jungle Albino Leopard Gecko
1.1 Hypo/Baldy Leopard Gecko
1.1 Tremper Alibno Leopard Gecko

What is a good age for a newbie to lizards to start with? Sorry, but terms like hatchling, juvi, adult, etc seem to confuse me.

Thanks.

i started off with a sub adult. I purchased my first uro when he was 1 year old and about 9 inches long, he was a LTC but is much more wild acting than me freshly WC female was. Babies under 6 inches are hard for beginners i would steer clear of them, 7 inches seems to be a good starter age. But really an adult who is already done growing would be best, just in case you mess up the calcium or the nutrition in their diets that would affect their growing. Lots of adult CB malis are avaliable, saharans numbers are growing CB, i know doug produces CB ornates, and i am not too sure about the other breeds CB vs. WC figures.
Good luck and keep on posting guys!


-----
Lauren
Leos and Uros
1.1 Saharan Uromastyx
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Jungle Albino Leopard Gecko
1.1 Hypo/Baldy Leopard Gecko
1.1 Tremper Alibno Leopard Gecko

I still stick to what I say.
Maybe we should start a poll:
Who in this forum has already kept Uromastyx healthy and alive for 5 years?
How many of you are successful breeders?
I am stillvery much of the opinion that Uros are absolutely not easy.
Or do you think its untrue that most Uros in the pet trade are still wc and that most of these die within the first year...and that few keeprrs have success longer than 5 years...and that there are still by far not enough successful breders out there?

IMHO any purchase of any wc specimen of any endangered animal species which is NOT bred in sufficient amounts should be consiedered very carefully and ANYONE who aquires such animals should take all efforts to establish a breeding colony.
That applies to Uros as well as the other stuff I mentioned.

Ci@o
Ingo

taking the step to post here and ask is my first hint that you aren't a typical irresponsible pet owner. if you really want to do this right:

don't buy from a pet store. There are dozens of really good breeders that have websites or that post in the classifieds, you can get a babi Mali for as little as like $40 plus the cost of shipping.

caring for a uro is not difficult, but they benefit from attention, and the more you interact with them the more tame they will be. They need food just about every day, Sometimes they need soaks to help them shed. If you're looking to get a pet that you don't interact with at all, I'd suggest a snake instead. Snakes are pretty with no personality (or very little compared to lizards anyway) but lizards are very smart and you can learn a lot from them.

i highly recommend you go to deer fern farms website (deerfernfarms.com) they are one of the best breeders, offer many of the varieties, but mostly you should go and read their detailed care sheets. that will give you the best idea of whether or not a uro is right for you.
-----
1.3 Uromastyx Maliensis (Ricky, Quinn, Anna, Drusilla)
0.2 Varanus Timorensis (Zealot, Willow)
1.1 Varanus Acanthurus (Eddie, Roxie)
0.0.2 Uromastyx Aegypticus (Kronk, Yzma)
0.0.2 Ceratophrys Ornata (Mojo, Jabba)
0.1 Geochelone Carbonaria (Turtle)
1.0 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Smeagol)

Emily
www.egomantra.com/npoh