Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I turn on my uromastyx's light he will not come out to bask.He has a little burrow on the side of the basking rock and he will lay under it.The whole day he didn't come out.Today after 3-4 hours of not coming out I picked him out and he acted fine.He basked was active ate and pooped......It just doesn't sound right to me.What do you think?

thanks for any info

Mine all do this at times. Realize that even though they are inside they are aware of what's happening with the atmosphere outside, they respond to atmospheric pressure. Also, if the hide spot stays cool they might just sleep in. I know most of my guys don't get up till the temps reach about 90 degrees F.
Hope this helps!
Beth

my uro absolutely loves to come out and explore outside of her cage, however if I go a day or two without letting her out, she stops basking and pooping. She still eats of course, because she is very oppurtunistic, so whenever I try to just let her go for a few days without my interaction, she eats and sleeps all of the time and becomes sort of bloated after a few days, until I let her out again, and then she'll bask and in the next day or two there will be a HUGE present. She also has the strange tendancy of going in her food bowl. Always put it back where it came from I guess.

This is why it sounds strange when I hear about other people that keep their uros in a more naturalistic environment (nice big cage, a lot less outside time, etc.), because I can't get away with a few days of letting Sam do her own thing before it basically puts her into a semi hibernation. My current theory is that how you bring up a lizard has great affects on them mentally in the future. I think that if you bring up a reptile with little contact to humans, they are used to that and don't expect it, so they can go about their daily schedules uninhibited. If the reptile has grown up interacting with humans, they might be a little thrown off when they arent' allowed to come out and have a nice walk around the room. I may be completely off, but it seems to make sense with me.

also, maybe try messing with your basking spot temperatures to see if maybe a higher temp will get the uro out and basking.

The basking spot is 125 unless you mean lowering it?But their are not any bulbs between 100 and 150 so the temp would get too low.

I know Robyn has basking temps up to 140, and sometimes mine get up that high (having some trouble keeping constant temps right now). I think uros naturally hide a lot during the day, as with most reptiles with some exceptions (bearded dragons come to mind, but they use camoflage more). I think maybe just try to find that sweetspot temp that the uro likes most. Usually it's around 125, but maybe go a little higher. Then again, as already said, atmospheric pressure has a great affect on them, and they notice things like when ambient room lighting is darker than usual, so keep that in mind. You might want to give it a few days and see if the uro comes around before playing with the temperatures right now. Also, make sure you check well for any signs of illness.

-ryan