Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was holding my gravid uro today and, as always, she wanted to run around rather than hold still. so i started very gently stroking her cheeks and she almost instantly went still and closed her eyes. after about 5 minutes of this i stopped and she continued to stay snuggled down in the crook of my arm, then she opened her eyes and went to move again. so i started the cheek rubbing again and *poof* instant relaxation again. too weird. so i tried it on one of my other malis, same thing. though she recovered her squirminess almost immediately if you stopped.

has anybody else had this happen?? it's so nice to have a way to get my uros to hold still for a while.
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1.2 Mali Uromastyx (Ricky, Quinn, Anna)
0.1 Yellow Ackies (Roxie)
1.0 Timor (Zealot)

Emily
www.egomantra.com/npoh

I know with sharks, crocadilians, and some lizards such as the water dragon if you flip them upside down and rub there stomach they will fall alseep and you can place them uside down on the floor and they will stay there for minutes motionless. when you want them to wake up flip them over and they will open up there eyes and be perfectly normal. I would do this with my water dragon.
Mike

Mike, they fall asleep because they can't breath. That's not a very good thing to do to your poor lizard.
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1.1 Eublepharis macularius
1.0 Uromastyx geryi
0.0.1 Phrynosoma platyrhinos
0.0.1 Kinosternon bauri

Yea i was told that would happen to them so i stoped doing it. But i think for sharks and crocadilians it is some sort of hypnosis. I only did the sleeping thing 2 times to my water dragon then someone told me to stop because it was bad so i did.
Mike

PS
If you rub underneath a bearded dragons beard in a certain way it will start waving. So far not one beardie did not wave.

I think Crocodilians do that for the same reason your lizards did it. They have no diaphragm to aid in respiration, so they can't breath well upside down. Basically, they're passing out from oxygen starvation. I don't believe they've really figured out why sharks go into tonic immobility when inverted. The hypotheses I've heard are that it overstimulates their nervous system or that it may cause an imbalance of some type. Some shark species (silkies, I believe) will also go into tonic immobility if their tails are slightly twisted. At any rate, it is not to be counted on with sharks, and they often appear to come out of it on their own in a few minutes.

Hmmm... I wasn't aware of that.. although I've only done it with my uro once or twice.. now he wont do it and I see why.

Anyway, I hads a leopard gecko that if you rubbed down it's back it would arch it. My ball python, if you rub it's stomach will suck it in, and my beardie, if you rub along it's jaws it'll open it's mouth and close it's eyes... my snappers will just bite the [bleep] out of you if you try to do anything with them.

Yea I heard of flipping sharks and crocadilians over and they go into a trance, but when I did it to my Lenny he spooged on me.

Emily, I am going to try the cheek-stroking on my acanthinura´s.
I will let you know if it worked.
I have no idea why this works like this.
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Hello from the Netherlands... this is my Uro-Website

I have tried it at two of my acanthinura´s.
The male did not react on it.
The female loved it and let it happen with closed eyes
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Hello from the Netherlands... this is my Uro-Website

i found that my male didn't seem to respond either. i gave my gravid female a 10 minute cheek-stroke session tonight while watching tv and she totally zonked out

it's nice to know there is something we can do that they like. they aren't exactly like dogs, where you can scratch behind their ears and they lick you or something. i had tried gently rubbing their chins but they seemed pretty indifferent. this cheek thing is the first thing they really seem to like.
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1.2 Mali Uromastyx (Ricky, Quinn, Anna)
0.1 Yellow Ackies (Roxie)
1.0 Timor (Zealot)

Emily
www.egomantra.com/npoh