Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We got our red niger uromastix about 3 months ago, he has a beautiful orange underbelly, but his whole top half is grayish. He looks like he is constantly in the process of shedding, but he almost never sheds in patches, but he just flakes off arond his face area. We give him a bath once a week, but he isn't showing any change. I'm not sure if this is the way he is supposed to look, or if there is something we can do to help him along. He is a juvenile, around 12 inches long. He eats collards, mustards, turnip greens, carrots, and an occasional hibiscus flower. He has a heat lamp and uv full spectrum bulb, and lives in a 55 gallon breeder tank. He will not eat insects.

Any help would be appreciated, this is our first uro!
I am posting two pics...check the next message for the other pic, I haven't figured out how to post two in one message!

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*Amy*

Here is the other pic!

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*Amy*

It looks kind of like shed skin but the pattern is all wrong for it. I'm wondering if maybe it's burned skin because it's just the top part of your uro that looks like that. I would recommend a visit to a reputable herp vet for a definite answer. Where did you say you got him from? Is it possible that he could have been severely burned by the previous owner (or pet store)?

Sorry I can't be more help than that.

Welcome to the forum

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

We got him at a reptile specialty store. All of the other nigers looked just like him too. He also has lots of salt deposits around his nose, but my iguana does that all the time too, so I figured that wasn't abnormal. LOL and he decided today he likes mealworms as a treat haha...so scratch that about no insects in his diet!
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*Amy*

Definately take that uro to a good vet. They're the only ones that can really tell you what it is.

Also, be careful with insects. As a treat their fine, but very minimally or else you could have some future kidney problems (as I'm sure you're aware of).

Try giving it a soak if the milky skin becomes transparent I'd say it's just about to shed. I'm no expert but I've never seen burns that look like that. Just my opinion of course, other than that looks like a very kewl Uro, I like the colors alot.
MM

Yeah, true. My mali has big third degree burn scars on her back from the idiot that used to own her, and they don't look like that. They are pure white spots surrounded by a little blackish/dark brown, then the nice colors of a mali. He would have been such a beautiful mali too if it wasn't for that idiot that not only didn't know how to put a heat lamp over an aquarium (duh...just get a screen top and set it on...you can't tape a heat lamp on!!!), he fed him lettuce and kept him in a tiny dirty tank. He's lucky to be alive, and now he's very healthy so I'm happy, but it just makes me so angry knowing that he (I think it's a he) had to go through all of that pain and suffering because the guy didn't know what he was doing. Poor thing.

My adult male red nigerian uro looked very similar to that for a long time - though never that extreme. He finally shed his back recently and looks much better. I put a sleeping chamber (rubbermaid w/ tube cut into side) in their enclosure with slightly moist soil/sand mix in it to give them a choice of slightly higher humidity. It seems to have done them a world of good, as both have shed fully and easily since then.

I can't guarantee that it's normal - I'm no vet and photos can be hard to see. But there's a possibility that it's just normal old skin.

This photo is Joe when I first got him (he's gained 120g since then - yay!). You can see the kind of crispy, strange look to the skin on his back. Now he's beautiful, orange and black freckled and normal looking.

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Torey
Salem, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
1.1 Uromastyx Maliensis (Tank and Turtle)
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Thanks...I will give him a humidity chamber! His cage is being worked on now..my boyfriend is putting in fake rock etc., so he is hanging out in a rubbermaid with an overhead light. Maybe we can try and construct something
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*Amy*

I am no vet, but it looks like shed that did not come off. I have a Storrs Monitor that had a thermal burn before I got him and it is a pure white patch. If you look at his picture it is on the left side of his head, just before his neck. Your uro looks nothing like that. I think the humidity will certainly help. When I soak mine, I have a rubbermaid shoe box with holes in the top. I use very warm water and cover the box. I keep the box in my reptile room which is always 90+ degrees and leave them for at least a half hour. I use some nice terry towels to gently rub them dry. This has helped when they were shedding. Good luck!

Pam

I believe that severe burns turn white, but I still agree with earlier posts that it could be a burn, just not severe. If you look at the pattern it is exactly what would be touched if a board or other flat surface were laid on top of the Uro. It could have only been a 3rd or 2nd degree burn.... If it were me I would take the Uro to a vet, just to check. It is a gorgoeous colour though. Good Luck with him!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Uro Archimedes
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
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Indiana & Wisconsin