i took a few quick pics today of two of our Ornate Uro setups. these are 10 foot circular troughs (stock tanks) and have about 2 ft of soil. basking is 130-160F or so, ambients in the mid to high 70's. these are animals that were born in October of 2003, making them just a bit under a year and a half old now. they average perhaps 7 inches on the body, the male below clocked in at better than 380 grams.
not to re-argue the whole PE setup/theory/soil/humidity/won't work thing, but we have not had a single setback with this group of Uros, all have grown to be strong, healthy, beautiful animals, and quickly. i hope for some great breeding success in 2005 
this first pic is the male on guard. he retreated to the front of this burrow, stopped, and watched me as i was taking pics of his girls. on guard, but still close to a quick retreat to safety.

this is on the other side of the cage, 10 ft away. this is a non-cycling female, and she wasn't much interested in watching me, she just wanted to get in the hole, so the pic is fuzzy, sorry. i have no idea where the burrows go, they just go in and then meander around underground. the longest burrow we have managed to track and measure in these 10 ft cages was 12 ft long(!)

this is a basking (and bulbous) female in the same cage. they look pretty lumpy before i take the pic, but they kind of tense up, and smooth out, when i stick the camera down in the cage to get the pic. bummer. she has some dried soil on her back, those aren't little blisters 

this is another bulbous basker in another cage, she also smoothed out a bit, but you get the idea. i am anxious to see what's next with these guys. at this point, i still don't intend to dig up any eggs...

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robyn@proexotics.com



