Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a large Uro mali, Wizard. He's been with us for four years; we bought him as an adult, and he's likely a wild-caught, so we have no idea how old he actually is.

When we bought a plated lizard (Clyde) a few weeks ago, we began bringin crickets into the house for the first time. Until that point, Wizard had been kept on a vegetarian diet, similar to that of our iguanas; he has had grubs, rarely, as a treat .

A couple of days ago, while feeding Clyde, the bag of crickets tipped, and several fell in with Wizard. He'd normally a sedentary sort, but he began *running* and *jumping*, snatching up the crickets as fast as he could.

My understanding is that Uros are largely vegetarians in the wild. Does anyone else feed their uro crickets, and if so, how many and how often? Or is this something we should keep only as a treat?

I give my mali and his cage mate (my brother's mali) crix 1 time a week.

They love them. Although sometimes they won't go after them for a day or two (they'd rather have their veggies, fluker pellets or waxies).

You can continue to give them to your mali if he enjoys them. Wild animals always run into insects in the wild. So even though mali's are mainly vegetarians, they may still have eaten insects in the wild in order to bulk up more.
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1.1 mali uro's-Ares and Apollo
1.2 saharan uro's-Orion and Iris
1.2 bearded dragon-Hades and Draco
0.2 leo gecko-Kalypso
0.3 tokaye gecko-Sid Vicious
1.0 tarantula-Peter Parker
0.2 dog-cheeka
0.2 zebra finch-beeps
0.2 african gray parrot-keya
1.0 red headed parrot-pancho
0.3 Fish (sorry no names for them)

i feed crickets to helga but more like once a month and only like two or three. i am pretty sure feeding them too many is bad for their long term health. i think the animal proteins hurt their kidneys? if i am wrong will someone please correct me!
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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 ***

Jeune18, you are correct, too much animal protein is bad for uros. They are primarily herbivores.

Personally, I give my uros 1-3 crickets, or waxworms, or superworms every 3-6 months. They don't eat them every time, either. They should definitely not be a large part of the uro diet!!!
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Nicki
2 mali uromastyx, 2 saharan uromastyx, 2 red-sided garter snakes, 1 pueblan milksnake, 1 variable kingsnake, and 1 savu python
Member of OARA (Ottawa Amphibian and Reptile Association)

Something else to watch is that the crickets are a way to introduce parasites.

This is straight from Deerfern Farms care sheets.
(We also offer an occasional cricket or superworm (Zoophobia sp.). These are a great way to tame your Uros. Most are easily addicted to superworms and will go to great lengths to procure them. Conventional wisdom suggests gravid females fed a slightly higher than normal amount of insect matter produce better clutches, but the sample sizes are still pretty small. Remember insects are excessively high in phosphorous which causes the body to excrete calcium into the feces. Be careful to supplement w/ calcium whenever you feed insects and never feed more than just a couple per sitting and only a few per week at most. Hatchlings in particular easily develop metabolic problems if fed too many insects.)

Wizard got aboput a half-dozen crickets in one feeding; fortunately, he's never had them before, and he's had good greens since.

He doesn't need much training; of all our lizards, Wizard is the most friendly and holdable.

Now if I could just convince him not to take a dump everytime someone holds him!

lololol, i have very thankfully never had the experience of my lizards going on me. i can usually tell mb the tail arc to put them somewhere else. however whenever i soak helga in her warm medicated water for her feet, she always goes in the tub. i now just put her in there water only, let her poo and then give her the real soak
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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 ***

I give Buddy 2 crickets every 6 or more weeks. They are STRICKLY a treat and nothing else. He goes wild once he spots them in his enclosure.
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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny