Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a 9" WC Mali Uromastyx in from Reptile Depot last thursday and I'm not sure if I'm having problems with him or not.

Setup:
He was in a 10 gal aquarium until yesterday when we finished making his new cage to give him some room to move around b/c I thought when they said small on the website, he was going to be fairly young: wood enclosure w/ acrylic front, 30" x 15"x 12".
24" 10.0 Retisun UV bulb
100 watt basking bulb
Soft beach sand bedding
Slab of stone under basking spot on right side of cage
Half log hiding spot on left side
Temp: basking spot around 140F(at least thats what I assume, b/c the round thermometer only reads to 120F, but the dial goes past that to around 5:30, clockwise. The other side of the cage ranges from the high 80's to mid 90's.
Humidity: 40% or less

Food: Mixed frozen vegetables(peas, carrots, lima beans, green beans, and something else I can't think of off the top of my head), romaine lettuce, mustard greens, juvinile iguana food, millet, and a little bit of Mineral sprinkled on top.
Water: Tiny water bowl

One of the problems I'm having is getting him to eat. It looks like he may be nibbling, but it dries up so fast at those temps,and he walks through it now and again and scatters it, I can't tell. I want him to eat as much as he can, b/c he's a little on the skinny side, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to entice him to eat?

The main question I had is if he is sick, lazy, or about normal? He pretty much sits in his cage all day burrowed in the sand and doesn't move an inch. I'm used to seeing them a little more livey than that from the one's that they would breed at a pet shop I used to go to and I need to know if there's something wrong, so I can take care of it a soon as possible. I get him out of the cage once a day for a few minutes and he seems alert and he pretty friendly, but when I let him roam around the room all he wants to do is find a nice spot to go back to sleep in. I assume he's acting this way b/c it's going to take him a while to get acclimated to his new surroundings, but if someone thinks it's more serious, I'm all ears.

My roomate also got a farm raised green iguana in the same shipment, and we seem to have a problem with him eating as well(pretty much same food mix). He eats a little bit, but not as much as he should, so we are wondering if there are any ideas to entice himto eats as well?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Randy Bevis

My firstUro did the same thing for about that first 2 weeks I had him, after that, he was fine.

>>I got a 9" WC Mali Uromastyx in from Reptile Depot last thursday and I'm not sure if I'm having problems with him or not.

Maybe only a couple hints. Reptile Depot feeds their animals lots of insects. I don't know what kinds of greens they offer.

When I visited there to pick up some geyri and instead took home a pair of ocellated after some dealing. Basically, I rethought acquiring unacclimated geyri and settled on something longer term.
Enclosures were generally narrow/tall format appropriate for arboreal animals, large lots of geyri were in much wider "iguana" tanks, but sheer quanitity of their geyri and the size of their bandeds made any space cramped. I know the ocellateds weren't getting appropriate temperatures, nor were the hardwickii, banded, or ornate. Don't remember seeing what they might have had mali in at the time and didn't look long at the geyri. I can't recall substrates except that my animals were on paper.

How does this correlate? It may not. Both of mine are VERY active, healthy, and vibrant. This weekend I'll check out their animals in DelMar and see what wants to come home.
The female I have eats like there's no tomorrow. The male I have has lost some weight, but is totally skittish and stops eating whenever I look at him (cage is at work) so I just covered the cage. Like all my Uros, they're fairly apathetic to the "proper" greens but they LOVE their lettuce. Red lettuce has been acting like a catalyst to get any of my Uros to eat that AND whatever else is in the cage (Romaine has worked okay). I've seen lettuce fed as a primary food at other local stores and I'd expect it's a low cost way for importers to maintain the animals briefly so I suspect that would be normal practice there too.
It's probably not a whole lot different from normal other than "small" specialty shops that have Uro specific knowledge.
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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."

you can try keeping the food closer to the cool end to keep it from drying up so fast. usually a new uro will need some time to acclimate and they can be very shy and not eating. also since it is a wild caught it is probably not a bad idea to get a fecal done at the vet to make sure he does not have any parasites. parasites can make them skinny and make them not want to eat. congrats on your new uro!
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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 ***

That's some good information. Since you just got him less than a week ago, it's not unusual for him to be stressed and therefore not eating much yet. Also, your basking temp is too high. You don't want it to exceed 120 F, so either raise or angle your light, or get a 90 watt flood at Home Depot or Lowes. You might try warmed frozen peas lightly dusted with Miner-Al 1 to increase his appetite, and I understand that bee pollen crystals dusted over the food works great to improve appetite. You can get the crystals at health food stores.

Here's a link to a great care sheet that you should read for additional ideas and information. Doug also sells uromastyx specific supplies that I have used with great success including the Miner-Al 1.

good luck!

Craigo

You can run, but you can't hide... unless you're a uro
Uromastyx care sheet

Well, maybe it would be a little too high if you don't have a multi-level basking spot. Ra prefers his basking spot to be 140 F (Isis likes it slightly cooler than that). I guess it depends on the uro. Also be sure to have a good temp gradiant going. If you can get a retes stack, that works great for basking spot temp gradiants.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)
1.1 Satanic Leaftail Geckos (Diablo and Samael)

What's a "retes stack"? Can you buy them at a pet store?

check out this link for an explanation and pics...
Pro Exotics FAQ on wood basking stacks

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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Yeah, I think it is uro dependent. I have pretty much always had my basking area around 110-120F. After reading a few posts here recently that talked about 140F temps, I pointed my basking light down directly and checked it to be 140F. Gus (my egyptian) didn't like it, and stayed off the rock. Since returning the light back to the original position, he's back to rock top basking

I also checked some care sheets, and haven't found any that recommend a temp as high as 140F. A retes stack would definitely be the way to offer that kind of heat. If it works for you, more power to you, or rather your uro

Craigo

You can run, but you can't hide... unless you're a uro

sunfox
did you make your own stacks of did you buy them from somewhere? god knows if i had to work with tools, i would end up in the hospital
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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 ***