Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had to change the substrate in my uros' tank. The dirt proved way too dusty. I opted for washed playsand instead and Isis is loving it! It seems to hold heat better and is not dusty at all.
I took this pic before she would notice the camera and walk away. I didn't have time to tidy up her tank before taking the pic. You can see that she uses the seeds as roughage as the uncracked seeds pass right through to the other end.
You can also see the white urate (in case some of the newbies don't know what it looks like yet).

I like the sand, it really brightens up the tank.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

adding water to the dirt at regular intervals? I use a thin layer of dirt for substrate and it's only dusty if I forget to put water in it every few days. How do you water your underground humidity shelters by the way?

The water really wasn't doing much, the top layer was drying out too fast. I guess the combination wasn't good enough. I worried about the health of my uros, that's why I decided it would be easier with sand. Since they have a good artificial burrow they love to use, the dirt was kind of pointless and problematic.

I water the burrow substrate by brushing off the sand layer and opening the lid slightly and watering it with a spray bottle. The burrow itself is a Ziploc container.
Both Ra and Isis make full use of this burrow, sleep in it every night and nap in it on and off during the day. They also use all of their other hides too.

Here's a pic of the artificial burrows.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

what kind of tubing as that metallic stuff? I'm trying to get ideas for an artificial burrow for Sam's new cage (I really hope she turns out being okay). I've got a general idea of what i think I want to do, but I just need to get all the little things figured out. How big are those containers you're using on the left side of the enclosure? They look like they would be pretty good for uros...nice and tight but with enough space turn around I assume?

Thanks.

I think the tubing is dryer hose. I bought it at Home Depot. It's some kind of aluminium alloy. The Ziploc containers are those disposible kinds, I don't remember the size offhand but they are the longer rectangular ones, and yes they are big enough for the uros to turn around in it.
The only drawback with the aluminium hose is that the edges are quite sharp when cut. I used a gluegun to seal the sharp edges. The glue is non-toxic and the uros are not interested in eating it (they licked it and quickly lost interest).
If you check out the Ziploc (or even Gladware) containers in the stores, you should be able to find the one I used (there's only one size I was satisfied with).
Good luck and let me know how things work out. If you have any suggestions on how to improve my uros' tank, I'd be more than happy to hear them. Boy, are they spoiled or what?

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

Sunfox do your uro's really climb into the hose or is there a lower entrance for them? I want to do more for mine and need ideas. He is in a 75 gal tank.
debs

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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

I do have a lower and higher entrance, but they both seem to prefer climbing into the higher one. I don't know if that is because the taller one is closer to the basking stack or if they like the challenge
They don't have a problem with it and even use the ribbing of the hose to scrape off face shed (it's pretty funny to watch but it's effective).

Your cage looks pretty cool! I love that skull!

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

I have some ideas for your uro's tank if you'd like to "hear" them (read them).

I like the ladder you got in there, it's pretty cool. I was going to get one for my uro but it cost's about $30 everywhere I go.

You could get a long ziplock or gladware container, and put the ladder inside it and then put the container in the sand and make it so your uro can climb up the ladder to bask, but then if he/she wants to get some shut eye but stay warm (not as hot as on bask) then he/she could climb down and hide under it so they could still get some heat and sleep without being as hot as they would be if they stayed on top of their bask spot, and without having to go to a cooler end of the tank and hide.

I hope you followed that, I'm a little confused myself. Not really the explain over a post type of gal.
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2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
1 Saharan Uromastyx-Iris
1 Leopard Gecko-Kalypso
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
3 Fish-no names
1 Beta Fish-also no name
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps (we used to have 5, but some went on a killing spree).

Traid,
I follow you. That sounds like a good idea. Buddy always walks around his enclosure and glass dances. I think if there was some burrows or more things to climb he would be happier. He does love to bask and hardly ever hides during the day. I think I will get my son tro help me with the cage. Thank you.
debs
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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

No problem.

I'm waiting for a reptile show to come near me (if it's in idiana i'll go) so I can get bigger tanks for cheaper prices (for all my reptiles).

Then I plan on taking 8 hrs out of my day to design the insides of the tanks themselves.

I'll post pics when I get finished with everything.
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2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
1 Saharan Uromastyx-Iris
1 Leopard Gecko-Kalypso
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
3 Fish-no names
1 Beta Fish-also no name
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps (we used to have 5, but some went on a killing spree).

put fake burrows (like sunfox has) in. With the amount of sand you have, you could probably do something pretty elaborate. If I were you I'd get three of those ziploc containers. I would put one in the center of the tank against the back wall and then one on each end of the tank. Then I'd have a tube coming out of the sand as an entrance to one of them. I would probably have the boxes on the side pushed with their longer side up against the side of the tank and one of the shorter sides pushed against the back wall. the middle one would have it's longer side up against the back wall... if you get what I'm saying? Okay, so you have them all in position, where was I? Oh, you have the one entrance tube be probably about 12" long and have it come from the shorter end of the burrow box (the end facing the front of the tank) and curving up and towards the center of the tank. Then have it coming out of the sand just enough so that the uro can get in. Do the same for the other side of the tank. then you tubing to connect both of the side boxes to the middle. I would think this would allow for a pretty good temperature and humidity gradient.

Then you just fill the boxes with dirt (not all of the way of course) and put some dirt in the tubes too. Then, what I personally would do is, have the sand (well, I'd probably use a dirt/mix) that you're using for substrate come up around the boxes just high enough so that it reaches the top of the boxes but doesn't cover them. Then I'd put cork bark slabs over them, that way when you have to water it every couple days you just lift the cork bark and the lid and put some water in. If you don't want the cork bark you can always just cover them with sand like sunfox does. It doesn't make it much more complicated at all.

Also, for your basking spot, I would use a retes stack, definately. They work very nice and allow you adjust the basking temps just by adding or taking away levels. Pro Exotics has a lot of pictures of what a good stack looks like. Since you're using sand, when you put the stack in the tank, I would remove the sand (or push it out of the way) from the area the stack is going in so the bottom level will be right on the bottom of the tank and it will have a good steady foundation. Sometimes with larger uros (in my experience with my uro), when they get in between levels they can actually sort of move the levels above them around, which isn't really very good, but you can stop it by attaching the levels to each other. it's not really necessary, but sometimes it makes it easier if you build it sort of like sunfox did so that there's basically steps to get to the top. You can also have corkbark slabs leading to the top if you like.

That's just what I would do. If there's anything you don't understand just tell me and I'll try to explain it better or maybe just draw a picture. I'm really putting a lot of thought into this because I'm building new cages for my beardie and my uro, and i think I'm going to use this or a similar design for Sam, mali. Oh, also, make sure you provide a dry hide on the cool side too. you can do this with some nice cork bark or something. Cork bark...what can't you do with it?

well first...after looking at your setup again, I would definately suggest you try the retes stack. Your basking spot is very far from the bulb. You could raise it up higher and be able to achieve higher temps with a more energy efficient bulb. My retes stack brings my uro up to about I'd say 7" away from the bulb. With a 50 watt halogen this gets surface temps up to 140 degrees (remember, they like it hot!). My ambient warm side temps are in the nineties, and the air temps just above the basking spot (where the heat lamp is) is around 100-110 I think. Also remember that 140 degrees is that hottest part of the basking spot. The surface temps go down as low as 100-110 once you get to the outer edge.

Also, you might want to consider getting some plexi to cover up some of the screen top to keep heat from escaping. I don't know though because I don't know where all of your temps are at.

Ryan,
Sounds good. My mali does not like the temps to be higher than 120. When I first got him we had the temps around 130 and he never went to the basking spot. I lowered the temps to 120 and he will bask all day. He walks around and such but he will bask and if he wants a little lower temps he will move to the side. Your idea and Triad's both sound good so I will have to have myself and son to try some of them.
Thank you.
debs
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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny