Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I rescued a baby uro today and need some help. He is about 2.5 -3 inches long. The conditions he was living in were horrible. I brought him home and set him up in a 20 gallon tank. I have been on the web for hours reading everything I can about how to take care of him. I've got paper towels on the bottom of the tank with a heat mat under the tank, a hiding place on both ends of the tank, uvb lighting, basking spot around 105 and the cooler end at 87. I finely chopped up organic dandelion leaves and mustard greens with peas, green bean and shredded carrot. What else do I need to do for this little guy? Can he have boiled eggs or rice?

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

Have you read Deer Fern Farms web site? Doug has some really good advice and care sheets on his site. Doug also sells Uro Dust and Miner All supplement to dust on their food.

Good Luck and post a pic.

Yes, I agree with tandy10 they’ve got a lot of info about uro's there. Also you should up the temp to about 110'F and the cooler side at 95'F. At night it can drop down to 75'F to 80'F. At least that’s how I keep my Niger uro's, and I’ve had success in breeding rainbow "red + yellow." You should dust his food with supplements and check to see how thin he is. He should be offerd very little water if any at all. Instead just moisten his lettuce and greens. I have never fed eggs to my uros and personally I wouldn’t recommend it. I keep my uros on aspen mulch or a high quality sand/high quality loam. What type is he? That would definitely help you on figuring out what he needs.

i would raise the basking temp to at least 120. they like it really warm and i would also try to get him a larger tank as soon as possible. your food choices sound really good, just be sure to add calcium and a vitamin supplement to them, especially to the peas because they can have binding effect on some nutrients. i don't think that i have ever read eggs and rice on a care sheet before and i have never fed them to my uro, but i will let someone else say a definitive yes or no to them.
have you looked at deerfernfarms.com and urotopia.com? they seem to be the favorites of this forum and they have lots of info about uros and its really fun to look at their pages.
good luck with your new friend and welcome to the forum
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Actually, the babies require slightly cooler temperatures, and in a tank that small I think it might bring the ambient temp up too high if they raised the basking spot to 120... it should be at least 110 though.

Your food choices sound great, as the others have recommended those are 2 great care sheets, and a calcium supplement, and a seperate vitamin supplement are strongly recommended, especially for a growing lizard! The PetSmart around here carries the rep-cal and herptivite supplements I use, but I cannot honestly say I have looked into other sources.

How did you come to find this lucky little baby (lucky now that you have found him ), have you named "him" yet?

Good Luck, and keep asking questions if you have any, there are a number of very knowledgeable, and very helpful people on this forum.

Welcome!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

There is some debate as to how much chopping shoudl be done to baby lizard food. One camp says let the babies tear off pieces, the other says to cut things into teeny, tiny pieces. Personally, I cut things into insanely small pieces for the time being. However, I think pretty much everyone agrees that tough foods, like raw carrots, should be cut very, very small. No bigger than the space between the baby lizards eyes is the rule of thumb I think.

Just something I thought about after writing the previous post.

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

wow, that is nice to know about baby temps, as i am sure you have a care sheet from your reputable breeder. i swear i read one time that babies required warmer temps than adults. it must have been a crackpot website, which i usually try to flush from my mind.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Thanks for all the info. My son named him Bandit.

We went into a pet store and Bandit was all alone in awful conditions. My son and I have hearts bigger than our brains. When we looked in his tank he ran right up to the glass and just stood there looking back at us. I knew he would be going home with us. He is a pretty active little guy so I don't think he had been in the bad conditions for long. I've got him in a 30 long tank now with about everything everyone has suggested.

He must have been starving because he went right for the food as soon as I put it in his tank. After he ate he went to his basking spot and went to sleep.

I'm still at a loss for the flooring of his tank when he is older. Right now I'm using paper towels. I've read so much about this topic in the last 24 hours that I'm now scared to use anything. At what age can I stop using paper towels?

Thanks again for your help.

The general thought is that they should stay on something like paper towels until they are 6 months to a year.

Don't fret too much about the substrate issue for when he gets a bit older. Healthy Uros are really quite tolerant of a lot of things. Personally I think that as long as they are getting the right kinds of foods, so that they have enough water in their system they can tolerate a lot of different substrates.

Bandit sure is a lucky guy to have found you and your son!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

One other thing - do you have a UVB source for your little guy? It will be especially important for him to have either a good UVB light at an appropriate distance OR access to unfiltered sunshine for several hours a week. Growing babies need their D3!
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Torey
Salem, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and new neighbor Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
1.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Bruce and Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)
And several miscellaneous community fish

hi your basking site for a uro should be at least 120 degrees ..i have mine at 130