Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all, I'd like to thank Robyn for bringing some new insights and energy to this board. I completely agree that the breeding of uromastyx needs new developments. Whether or not the soil method is the way to go will be worked out in the (hopefully near) future. It would be interesting to see what some of the larger and more experienced breeders think of the humidity problem(?). Personally, I felt something had to change for my young Egyptian Uromastyx seeing as he was basically stuck at 30 grams for months. He is now 45 a few weeks after putting him in a soil substrate. I believe his temperatures (especially at night) have increased in his cage and because of his burrow he has a better ability to thermoregulate. Who knows if his weight would have increased as such if I only brought up the temperatures... But for those whose Uromastyx are doing fine without any changes, personally I would wait to see how this new idea works out before changing everything over.

For many of us amatuer hobbyists, having hundreds of pounds of dirt in our house is not very convenient. I was thinking about soil substrate for Boulder (my 4lb Egyptian Uromastyx) but realized after trying to move a 50 gallon rubbermaid bin filled with dirt that his 8 foot cage would be ridiculously heavy. Also, he has been doing very well in a less natural environment and, since he is more of a "pet" than a breeder I am not sure how his temperament will change once he is able to burrow. With my younger egyptian I have noticed much more instinctual behavior; he quickly darts into his hole most of the time when I put my hand in his cage. A solution that I am going to try as a compromise between our regularly cages and the dirt idea is to put a large, low rubbermaid container (approximately 2' by 3' by 6" high) and fill it with a slightly clay like dirt. I am then going to dry it and then cut a hole in the side and allow him to burrow his own little hole out of the cage. The rest of the cage is going to have a flooring of non slip shelf liner for ease of cleaning (this has been very useful in Bearded Dragons for maintaning cleanliness/parasite control). We'll see how it works out.

I am really interested to hear about how the Uromastyx turn out at Proexotics. They are absolutely wonderful animals and deserve to start making a switch over to a primarily captive bred population. Thanks for all the information and keep us posted Robyn.

Peter

I love the idea of a soil box. I have my beardies on the non slip shelf liners also but since they love to dig, I put bran boxes in their enclosures. Problem solved. They love the bran boxes. Now I have a problem with my two Saharan's. They were purchased from Doug Dix who highly recommends using millet seed as a substrate. That was great and all in the beginning, but now that they are both brumating I have to check them everyday and removed lodged seeds from their mouths. One uro had such a nasy indentation in his lower lip from a seed that I could actually see his teeth. It was like a hole in his mouth at the very tip. It the size of a millet seed and he could stick his tongue out through the hole.

So my hubby and I removed the seed from the area where they sleep and we put down the shelf liner. I don't think they are too happy about it but what else could we do? Now I think we should try the soil in the box. Do you have any photos of your soil box? I'd love to see them if you do.

Thanks,
Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons