Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so i thought i had seen the s-dance before but i got the full treatment today. i wanted to really clean to uros' cage, like take everything out and scrub it rather than spot cleaning and i know how helga can be about being in a different cage so i woke her up and stuck her in a temporary hold with hugo. i have done this many times before and helga has just slept in the box.

well i guess the shedding moodiness kicked in and everytime hugo moved she started dancing and wapped her tail around. she never hit hugo but i thought i had better remove him, just in case. when i stuck my hand in the box to grab him, she hissed at me! she danced the whole time she was in the box and hissed randomly, i guess at my movements. so when it was time to put her back in the cage, i just went for it, grabbed her, she wapped her tail and thankfully missed. i kissed her on the head to show her i wasn't scared and she relaxed and tongue flicked me! i guess she just wanted a good morning kiss
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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 ***

The only Uros I have that do that are my hardwickiis. One of htem has learned tolerance sice being stuck in with my ocellateds at work and I'm seriously considering separating them all for social purposes. Right now there are Uro ghettos in my house with all the species (or sexually ambiguous individuals) separated.

I've been treated to other behavior that's interesting, though. I picked up a new geyri "female" that I've introduced to my male/female pair two weekends in a row now. The "female" head-bobs, circles, marks, chases the male away (Dude is horrified of it) and attempts to mate with the female (Kitty immediately flips in submission and declination). All this within the span of several minutes, mind you. It's like a bull in a china shop. I'm thinking "Not female", back in the bucket. The coloration is halfway- nearly white belly but the body is vivid red colors. It's been referred to as "Frank-n-Furter" and "Ed Wood" as a result of the ambiguity. Super sweet and cool animal, tough, even if he's really hard up for a piece. Next next month he'll be all set with girls since he's so charged.

I thought they were all male behaviors. I've been given indications from different people that both sexes can exhibit both behaviors and only just saw that yesterday where my definitely female juvenile macfadyeni started circling on one of the big pieces of wood in the cage. Beats me!
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2.1.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
2.1.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.1.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)

"Yes, it's a problem. No, I don't want to talk about it."

that's pretty weird. i thought only males did the whole pelvic drag and circle thing. i have definitely never seen helga do that. she is usually really laid back with me and hugo, (she is normally nervous though in open and strange spaces)
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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 ***