Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The remaining 1.1.3 seem to be doing quite well. All are eating and getting fat. I've been ignoring them for the most part and letting them do their thing and it seems to work best. one still won't pop out of his dehydration but seems to be doing well otherwise.

Leah any tips?

cheers
jason

have you tried any electrolyte supplementation? seems the two usually go hand in hand.

Fimbriatus will go downhill fast, as you may know, and dehydration is not something you want to mess with.

Shower them all at least once a week (ALL uroplatus, I retract my "not phants/ebanaui" statement- even 3 month olds can be showered) as a maintenance measure. As an acclimation measure, shower every other day for 2-3 weeks, and the ones having hydration issues shower every day for 30 minutes, then leave them in there another 30 with the water off to give extra drinking time. Do this for 2 weeks.

I prefer showering to any kind of rehydration forumla (pedialite for example) because if you can get them to do it on their own, all the better, and you dont want to stress an already stressed animal any more than absolutely necessary.

The showers work, I am telling you, a long time chameleon keeper's trick, worth its weight in gold. If you need to know how to do it, I can help.
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

http://www.wildeyereptiles.com/cpg132/albums/userpics/DSCN0825.JPG

http://www.wildeyereptiles.com/cpg132/albums/userpics/DSCN0861.JPG

There are 8 animals in that pic... good luck finding them

Linneatus and fimbriatus seem to really thrive with weekly showers.
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

so you really just put them in some somewhat dense foliage, find the right temperature in the shower, and then just leave them in there for a while? how about length of time? i would like to try this on my new male henkeli, but he's really jumpy. let me know and thanks for the advice in advance

Yep, I really just throw them in there on a plant.

Get a thick plant, one with broad leaves, turn the water to as fine of a mist as possible, or if you cant get it from a pelting stream, aim it at the shower wall, so that the water bounces back onto the plant, the water needs to be barely warm, and be careful no one flushes and scorches them-

I leave them in there for 30 mins with the water on, and 30 mins with it off. Once a week for maintenance, every other day for acclimation, daily for dehydrated animals. Works like a charm.

SOmetimes they will wander from the plant, just put them back in a place that isnt getting pelted with water.

The fimbriatus hang out on the floor of the tub, in the back where the water comes down and sort of pools, and set their mouthes open, on the floor, drinking. Its pretty funny.
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

looks like im gonna give my tub a good scrubbing so i can start trying this. only problem is i dont want them to ingest any residual soap scum or soft scrub or anything else that lurks around in the tub. ill be sure to clean it out and give it a thorough rinsing. thanks a ton leah!

Something obvious, but easy enough to do- make sure if you have a soap dish, that it doesnt have soap or residue in it... drips down onto the plant...
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

I do the same as Leah, however for time constraints, not as often for seemingly hydrated, healthy individuals... Maybe once a month for them... But as often as possible for dehydrated animals... My rain chamber is also a shower; however I use a large, sturdy, fake palm-like plant from Hobby Lobby... Seems like when I used live plants, no matter the species, I always killed them from over watering… Yes, even pothos, which is impossible to kill!...
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Ben

well i cleaned out my shower and put a few pots of extra terrarium plants, and voila! laurel, my female, enjoyed it a lot. she normally doesnt just open her mouth and lick droplets from the air like that. my new male, who is still a lil dehydrated, didnt like it as much. he was running around and hiding the whole time. but he has been drinking for me still, so it seems like he'll turn out well. heres the pics i snapped anyway...

laurel

and here's the new guy, notice im holding him cuz he hid every time i put him in the plants. i must admit, his patterning is much bolder than my last male.

Love her face, great shot
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PHEve / Eve

Could it be harmful to shower them in treated city water? My water smells really strong of chlorine and I wouldn't think that would be good for them to be showered in. Any ideas?
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~Jess

well, im in raleigh and the water quality isnt the best, so i actually didnt give them a shower shower. i actually showered the plants before i put the gex in, then i took my spray bottle (one of those pressure pump kinds instead of the hand pump kinds), put in the recommended dosage of mistimize (which treats for chlorine and heavy metals), then just sat there next to them giving them a fine mist for a good while. so you really dont have to use the shower water, but the shower stall came in real handy since i really couldnt spray their tanks with it since it would have likely overwatered it all.

You can also leave the water exposed to the air for several hours before using it. The chlorine will naturally evaporate long before the water will.

I hope this helps, I'm very new to uroplatus.

Here are the "uros" that I am familiar with. Nice to meet you.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

Uromastyx

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)

got some pretty nice yellow on that one to the left.

Good idea to just use a mister. I didn't think of that. I knew about the water losing the chemicals when it sits for awhile and that sure can help on the cost of water since I already have to buy distilled water to spray in their tanks. Don't want those water spots! Thanks everybody!
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~Jess