Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been noticing that a lot of the people on this forum have uros who's personalities (just basically the way they act) differ greatly from my mali uro. I figured this had something to do with species, so can someone give me a brief outline of the several species of uro and their temperments? Or at least point me towards a good website? Am I right in assuming that malis are a little more tolerant of people, and less skittish? It's hard for me to tell, because my mali enjoys roaming around my room, and if she wants to come out or eat she seems to let me know by roaming back and forth across the tank (I think it's more if she wants food than if she wants to run around in the room). The thing I love about her/his personality is how she'll happily run over to a hand offering food or transportation (to the ground...to cause trouble). That's something even my bearded dragon doesn't often do...but we have a love hate relationship anyways. I love keeping him healthy, he hates what goes into staying healthy (had to rid him of many different parasites). He's the punk kid of the dragon world.

I know my mali isn't showing any kind of affection towards me...just to food mostly, but it's traits that I like in a reptile. So is this a normal trait for mali uros, or any other species?

-ryan

seriously nobody knows what goes on in there little heads what do we know if they actually like us or not we should give these little guys more credit then that, especially the cb ones the first thing they see when they come out that little egg is a human , what do we know if they actually like us and we make them feel safe, we really don't know, they don't stop and talk to u and say " hey i don't like u don't ever bother me unless your giving me food, " seriously what the hell do we know what they are thinking i think they're smarter then what they seem, wc i think most would probably prefer to be left alone but sometimes maybe even they like us , they all do have different personalities some are agrressive some aren't, some run away some don't , the point we are trying to get at is that we don't know, if u like to sit down with your uro and watch tv for a couple of minutes which i don't do but if u do and they are thriving why can't u do it, and i mean a couple of minutes not hours,well just wanted to get that out, for example look at boulder

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Stacey

That's something that's been going through my head as well. we say that they don't have the emotions to love humans, but why not? Sure their brain is much smaller than ours, but all they really need to know are how to eat, bask, get away from predators, and reproduce (I'm probably missing something, but it's only 6 in the morning). To me it seems like some species of lizard have the capability to love people, or at least like specific things. I don't personally like to sit down and watch tv with my uro or my beardie (well, right now he's in brumation, so I wake him up once a week, and some times I take him out and let him sleep on me while I'm watching tv...but you're right...wc ones wouldn't do that.

I think someone should research this. Maybe we're better off not knowing though. Like you said, if they are thriving then everything's fine. Sometimes people like to think that their reptiles apreciate them and that's what makes them take such good care of them. Others like to treat them like they are wild (which is really the way to go with wc).

I brought the subject of "pets or wild animals" up on the bearded dragon forum, and some people over there really believe that their reptiles form relationships with certain people. They have stories that back it up too which makes me wonder even more.

-ryan

just some one that feeds them think about we're the first thing they see when they hatch out the egg, i don't understand why so many people don't give them more credit then just thinking they want to be left alone, they say hey he wouldn't care if u interact with him or not , now seriously how in the world would u know , maybe it'll still do fine but what do we know if it wants to interact with us or not, seriously in my opinion theres a real big difference between cb and wc, an animal u snatch from the wild and stick in a bag with hundreds of other uros and then all of a sudden pop up in a tank is a totally different animal then a captive bred, and we should stop making so much assumptions that they don't even want us to interact with them,my uro seems to eat more when i hand feed him, he still eats but will eat more if i hand feed him which i do sometimes he still eats by himself but what i'm trying to say is if it didn't want to be bothered by us why does it rather eat if i'm giving it to him from my hand then going right next to my hand and eating from the dish just makes u wonder , well whatever i will never treat him as such a careless animal , i will always see my uro as a pet that appreciates me and has been thriving in my care for like 5-6 months now has grown quite a bit and everything just look at the pictures i posted above and u be the judge

My mali's behaviour sounds a lot like what yours does. Don't forget that WC and CB uros of the same species will behave differently as well. Ra will accept peas from just about any hand that feeds it to him (although he seems to prefer me the most). He has also learned to stay put when I'm weighing him (I use a food/postage scale).
Malis seem to be the more docile ones (but I think Ornates are even more friendly) but they seem to be the hardiest species.

Hope this helps
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Ra

oops! Thats my Rottweiler! Anyways, we do know when thier pissed! Scar on left hand to prove it! Ouch! But as far as being happy? Happiness, in my modest opinion, will be reflected in "health". What ever your doing to keep him/her healthy... keep doing it! With that.. can you accurately measure thier health? Weight gain, healthy looking skin, appitite. All these things and more need to be considered when judging "Happiness". Even then... most of these issues are not in black & white. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.
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JDBlackdog
2.1 MALI
1.1 YELLOW GEYRI
0.2 SOMOLIAN
1.1 ORNATE
0.1 ROTTWEILER

Well, I think they can show affection towards humans not just food. Booger, our 5-6 year old Mali is quite the human lover! All day he tries to climb out of his cage. When you hold him, he calms down. We rub his back and belly and sides and he becomes putty in our hands! Sometimes I will just tuck him under my arms and rock him back and forth, he closes his eyes and lightly tastes his mouth and my hands. He doesn't like cold hands or strangers. My girlfriend and I are really the only ones who can hold him without him fidgeting. He's over 16 inches long now and 2.8 pounds!! I can see it in his little beady eyes, his wonderful personality. What a Booger...

Having ornates, rainbow bentis, sudanese and saharans, I have found the ornates to be the friendliest, followed by the saharan, sudanese and then the bentis. Doug Dix does a great job of explaining the basic personality traits of the individual species, and I have to say mine are pretty close to Doug's descriptions. My ornates do not care if you pick them up, will sit awhile, then want to explore. The saharan will sit the longest, the sudanese will let you reach in their cage to stroke them but are not fond of being picked up and the bentis are the most skittish, running for their hides most of the time. The uros are just like people, each with their own personalities, likes and dislikes. This is just my experience.

Pam