Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i will, and i wont wait until jan. this time i'll bring the conspiouosa you'll dig those guy's. so new uro.s did you get them yet? egypticus are my fav. but next after one more pectinata i really want shinasaura (chinese crocadile lizards) thats my needel in the daytona hay stack. there are some now in clssifieds but i don't have all my trip money yet" famliy first" but the new pectinata is really cool i want to get a pic soon he is so small. let me know about the uro.s nice hear'in from ya. chris p.s hows your rescued cteno doing?

Hi Chris. Looking forward to seeing you at one of the shows. Bring all the critters!! LOL The WC cteno is doing OK, not acclimating as well as I'd like. I think I'll be sending her to a friend in Wyoming that has a male that he keeps outdoors part of the year. I was going to send him my 5 year old female but I can't bare to part with her.

The baby Uros arrived yesterday. They are adorable and eating and pooping already. They are only about 5 inches long, STL, but chubby. I'm excited about having them.

What species of Uro did you get?

Brian

Hi Brian. I got 2 10 week old Egyptians.

Are you trying to get a pair? Send me a note in a year when you can tell their sex if you get two females =), I may have a young male and an older male. Do you know how much they weigh?

Beautiful animal!! Thanks for sharing that photo. I was not planning on getting these 2 babies, they were a gift! I'm more than happy with them, tho. They are very tiny, only 5 inches long STL. I don't have a weight on them since they just arrived yesterday morning and I want to give them some time to acclimate before handling. As soon as they got warmed up they were exploring their enclosure, eating and pooping! These babies were purchased from Ben Siegel and when I contacted them I was told they were CB in the Czech Republic. How soon can you tell sex?

I just posted a long message and it timed out so this one will have to be a bit shorter.

As far as sexing goes you can usually tell fairly accurately at about a year or 12 inches. Basic lizard sexing applies: males have hemipenal bulges and enlarged femoral pores while this is not true for females. There are some other subtleties but you can't really tell unless you are familiar with the species. Since you have Mali's you can probably get a decent idea of the difference between the sexes.

As far as being "captive bred" they probably are not true captive bred specimens. According to the main Uromastyx breeders (Lindsay Pike, Douglas Dix etc) most young egyptian uro's that come in are "farmed," meaning gravid females are caught and allowed to lay their eggs in captivity. They have to be labeled captive bred to get past import laws so most that come in are falsely labeled.

Growth rate is very slow (well, I guess not all that slow if your used to cyclura). It can take an egyptian 8 years to reach full size and 4 years to reach sexual maturity. They will usually be around 12 inches at around a year. My little one was 7 grams and 5 inches when I bought him the first of december last year and is now 7 inches and 30 grams, and he is a great eater. I have found his growth to be exponential however: he barely grew the first four months and has really shot up lately. Other people have reported much faster growth rates.

Your uro looks extremely black. You can see some pictures of my little one Nebu at the link below. Is the other in the pair that black? Should be a interesting adult. Make sure to post updates on your little guys in the Uromastyx forum.

Peter

More Pictures

Peter, thanks for the info and for sharing the marvelous photos. You have many beautiful lizards. Both Uros are dark but those photos were taken within 3 hours of being unpacked. They seem to have lightened up a little but not much. I will get some new photos this weekend and post them here...if no one objects. Please, if you will, email me with some husbandry tips, diet, temps, etc, for these little guys. It's been a long time since my Malis were babies. jiffypop61@hotmail.com

Very dark but very cool lizards. I had kept uros for yearts before I got into chuckwallas. I had an eagyptius go from 3 inches to 26 inches in one year. Watch it as they are very strong. Mine lifted a 2' x 2', 2" thick patio block that I had proped up on one end with some bricks. It lifted the patio block off of the bricks and then I guess it could not hold the weight and suffocated itself. It was a shame-she was perfect.

I've always admired the Egyptians but never expected to keep one. I've been keeping a pair of Malis for 3 years, female laid eggs last month but I lost them to mold. When the Egyptians get a little larger I'll be asking you about recommendations for their enclosure. Yours really grew that fast?! I've been reading up a little bit and most of what I've read tells me they will be around 18-20 inches at 2 years! Am I reading the wrong stuff?

I had about 8 of them and some grew faster/slower than others. I think I had one that only got to about 9 inches the first year. The hotter you keep them the more they will eat the faster they will grow. I kept mine in a greenhouse type enclosure that got much to hot at times but they seem to thrive in it. When extremely hot mine were almost snow white. They really are cool lizards. I had talked with Randy Gray about this heat thing. He told me his garage/lizard room would get up to about 102 - 104 degrees for the room temp and the uros would love it(not that he recomended it though) I also noticed my room at these hi temps and the acanthimnurus would color up like neon signs-unbelievable. They love heat! Tom

This big girl is the docile girl, and is a rescue, 3d degree burns about 4 years ago I got her, Georgio heard story we shared our stories since his handsome guy had been burned also. Anyway I think they make awesome pets, and wish you alot of luck Jiffy pop with you new babies, they are real cuties ! Eve

yea those chinese crocodile lizards are pretty sweet. i was so tempted to buy one from the ones posted on the classifieds. thats really not a bad price for one either. especially for a captive borne baby.

yeah i hope i can find some at daytona for that price or better. if i can i will get a coupel. the little cteno is doing great i'll take some pics maybe tonite. talk to ya chris