Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought three mali's last Wedenday, a male and two females. When i got them the two females were a bit slow, not as active as i would have thought, the male on the lther hand was very active. The male seemed be the only one that was eating, but all three drank water. Well Tuesday i found the two females dead. with a yellow liquid coming from the mouth of one of them. At about the same time the male seemed to slow down also. Yesterday evening the male died.

The set - up for the enclosure is... four caves. two basking sites on slate (one reaches 125 and the other is about 118) the cool third or so of the enclosure gets down to 81 to 83. The lights are on from 7a to 10p. the substrate is washed play sand.
the enclouser is 6 by 3. I fed them a mixed diet of small bird seed (no sunflowers) romain lettus and thawed mixed veggies. the male seemed most interested in the bird seed

anyway, the kicker is that the company i bought them from says that i cooked them and that humidity is probably too low (45 to 50%) and the they would replace them but it is probably my fault. they did say that they would provide replacements, which was quite nice of them.

my question is... did i cook them. is my set up incorrect? please let me know if i have done anything wrong.

Thanks for your replies in advance... i have learned a great deal from your posts and this site in general

hmm, i don't think you cooked them. my basking temps are at 120ish and i know some people have layered basking spots with even higher temps. the cool end seems a bit cool, i would keep it closer to 90. i would recommend using more than just romaine as a leafy green, but i don't think that caused their demise. they more than likely came to you with something. i hope your second batch is better and i would definitely recommend them seeing a vet right away so if something happens to them, you can tell your supplier it is them and not you
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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 ***

I am sorry to hear that your malis died. The problem is, they were almost certainly wc, fresh imports. These poor things have been through unbelievable trauma from capture to your home. Most are highly parasitized, many get pneumonia or other respiratory problems. I don't think you cooked them. From the dimensions of your cage, they did have a choice of temperatures. With fresh imports, hydration is very important, and a diet rich in fresh greens like turnip, dandelion, endive, escarole, etc. with the addition of other veggies, calcium and vitamins is important. I would not give seeds to fresh imports until I knew they were well hydrated and eating their greens. To the importers, these are just commodities to make a quick buck, they get them, load them into holding cages and ship them out asap. It is import time for the geyris now too, so this forum will see quite a bit of posting from new owners who are having problmes with them. The fresh imports have a high mortality rate no matter how you look at it. Where did these come from if I may ask? (I already have a good idea) If you get more, you many want to soak them and offer them greens, no seeds, and when they are doing well, take a fecal in. Best of luck to you, I am sorry for your problems.

Pam

i got them from reptile city. i have mixed feeling about them. they are replacing the animals (as per their policy) for which i am very greatful. they also said that they were interested in why they died becuase the wholesale supply they got them from was usually very good...

has any one else dealth with them. I will undoubted buy more herps over my life time, and i would rather put all my money with a single company that i know is going to treat me (and more importantly the animals i buy) right.

thanks for your post

to take your new arrivals to a qualified herp vet for a complete physical as soon as possible. If the animals are diagnosed with a disease, you can rule yourself out as a suspect if the petstore claims that you killed these ones too. Do you know what to look for in a healthy uro? Do they (the petstore) let you look them over before you buy? If you have any doubts about the quality of the animals they have available, you should take your business elsewhere. As previously stated, Doug Dix (Deer Fern Farms) and Lindsey Pike (Urotopia) are excellent and trustworthy people to get uros from.

Good luck
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)
1.1 Satanic Leaftail Geckos (Diablo and Samael)

with the same or similar problems, from the same source. I think when they called about it they too got a BS answer. I would stop dealing with them immediately...in fact I wouldn't accept any replacements from them either. Go to a good source (sunfox posted a couple of the better ones), and you will have much better luck....especially if you happen to get something that's CB.

just my 2 cents. Now I'm going to go make grilled cheese and ramen noodles....this would be a really boring spring break if I wasn't so busy with my drumming (gotta lay down some drum tracks on a jazz cd tomorrow).

If everything is as you say, you definitely didn't "cook" them. My basking area is about 123-127 degrees. After my uros get heated up they leave the basking area as does any healthy uro.

how active are mali's? the two females i had spent almost all their time (90%) sleeping under the cooler of the two basking areas. the male on the other hand would bask, then run around the enclousue showing me his neck and chest, at time hs almost seemed to a little terror... are either of these behavior paterns "normal" if not what is normal. this way i will know what to expect for healthy annimals. all i have tried to keep in the past are leapord geckos (i've had them about 6 months) and they are largly noctural

Thanks for your replies btw... the supplier used the work "cooked" if someone was wondering, i was just repeating what they said

thanks again

My mali bask all day. When he is not basking he is walking or running all around his enclosure. IF he goes to his hide spot it is only for about 3 min or so then he is out again. This may be not normal but this is what he has done for almost 1 year. Even when he was SO sick he did not hide.
debs

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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

Tell them you want a refund, you do not wish to have them replaced , you would rather go to a breeder where you know your lizards will be healthy!

So sorry about those poor uro's, such a shame. Does not make you feel very well either as far as your first experience with uromastyx.

Thats what I would do, why take the chance of getting 3 more sick ones, that you may have to watch go down hill also.

Just the fact you were first told it was your mistake would have convinced me to ask for my money back!

I wish you all the best!
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PHEve / Eve

Their humidity is supposed to be low... And their temps are supposed to be that high in the warm end. If the supplier is criticizing those correct practices, that tells me that they are housing *theirs* incorrectly, which might explain their early deaths. Be prepared to receive replacements in similar condition.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your losses! I had a similar situation last year with the dealer I purchased from. The "replacements" were not much better, as expected. (I've lost 4 total, only 1 has survived) I learned the lesson of going with well-known, reliable breeders in the future!

As it was mentioned, the diet for your next uros should consist of more nutritional leafy greens. A good staple diet of escarole, dandelion greens, and/or curly endive would be sufficient. Romaine is good for hydration, but not so good as a staple.

Good luck!
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~ Vamppire
Queens, New York City