Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,
Just wondering if anyone’s noticed this with their uros before? My two uros both do this alot. They just lie down for about 5 minutes, then get up and turn in circles as if chasing their tails, turning about 5-10 times. And then they kick their back leg out. They don’t do it at the same time but they still both do it. Anyone else seen this and/or know why they do it?

The circle dance is (apparently) a territorial marker. As far as I know, only males do this. If your two are housed together, it's time to get them separated! If not, then it's just them announcing they own that spot. I hear food dishes are commonly marked.
-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Uromastyx dispar maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.0 Uromastyx ornata (Scuttlebutt)
2.1 Anolis carolinensis (Bowser, Sprocket, and Leeloo)
0.1 African dwarf frog (Sheila)
1.0 Betta splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

Hello,
They ARE two males housed together. They have been together for mosto of a year now and have done this sinse they have been together and even before that. There is no problem with territory between them. They sleep together (quite often on top of eachother) and eat at the same time quite close. One is a maliensis and the other is a nigerian.

well, just so you know one day they could have a really ugly change of heart. i don't know of any lizards where they recommend having two males together. right now they may just not be sexually mature so it isn't bothering them, but once those little hormones kick in, well, they will act like a bunch of boys
-----
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 ***

lol!! for some reason i liked that post vonnie.

I know it is never recommended to house males of any species together, but I have found that, if housed together from juvenile, if there are no females around, males get along fine.

I raise horses, and it was always considered a no-no to keep stallions together. Well, I run my young stallions together, and always have, without any problems, as long as there are no mares within sight or smell.

I raise all my lizards in same sex groups from the time I can determine sex. They do fine, as long as you do not crowd them.
The major exception to that is chamelions. They seem to be wired differently as to territoriality.

jeune18,
I appreciate your reply and all but still, do you actually HAVE ANY experience keeping two male uros together? Because both of mine are well over 2 years old, mabye 3. They have had no problems yet so i highly doubt their male hormones are yet to kick in. So everythings been a smooth ride so far and hopefully will stay that way.

no i have never decided to risk keeping two males together. i have seen pictures on this forum of what a male and female uro pair did to each other and i can imagine two boys fighting would be equally as bad. however, there can be other signs of aggression besides fighting. also from what i have read sexual maturity varies in different uros but the minimum i have read is that it take 2-3 years to reach it. but if you are aware of the risks and think they are fine living together, then fine. i just wanted to make sure you were aware the possible risks
-----
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 ***

Vonnie was just trying to give you information so you won't have future problems. Not housing two adult males together is standard practice. It is fortunate that you have not had a problem and maybe never will. We always have to be on the lookout for subtle signs of agression though. I had a pair of female yellow ackies that were together since birth. I got them when they were two. One day they were after the same cricket and tussled over it, the next day I came home and one was dead. I won't go into the gory details. So you just never know. I was shocked and saddened. Had I seen any agression I would have separated them, but none was apparent. Glad yours are buddies and I hope they always will be.

Pam

Herp-keeper you write: “jeune18, I appreciate your reply and all but still, do you actually HAVE ANY experience keeping two male uros together?”

While I cannot answer for jeune, I can make mention that YOU have had some experience keeping males together. As a matter of fact, you created a thread on this very forum at the end of March titled: “Not in great shape” where you posted pictures of YOUR experience housing two males together.

I do have experience with multiple male enclosures and I would not suggest this practice to anyone. My guess is that there are probably several dozen failure stories for every successful one when it comes to housing multiple males.

Given YOUR past history and the territorial signs you are again seeing with your two males, I would suggest you separate before you end up with another uromastyx in the appalling condition your last one ended up in after you repeatedly ignored signs of aggression.

Just curious, you mention your ‘two’ uromastyx in your post- what happened to the third?

It would probably be advisable to have a bucket or box on hand for WHEN something goes awry.

Whether Vonnie has any direct experience with mixing males is fairly irrelevant as this is normal and accepted advice (like one should not feed Uros Pizza, Steak, or concrete). In recent days I've seen juvenile hardwickii snapping at each other where this species is touted as being "great colony animals", presumably males, where everything has otherwise been happy and gayful. Also in recent time, I've seen male on male aggression in geyri, female on female (x2) in ocellata. This weekend I witnessed a female macfadyeni retaliating back against an overly "exuberant" male.
I have not yet seen inter-species aggression, but I've only been mixing adult ocellata and juvenile hardwickii.

Two additional things I CAN tell you- once that Uros mouth closes on something, you're not going to get it open until it wants to let go and you'll only get back what it decides to let you have.
-----
2.4.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
3.7.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.3.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
"Yes, it's a problem. No, I don't want to talk about it."

A few replies up one of you guys mentioned about the third uro i had, that was the female, i had to give her away unfotunately because the male mali was picking on her and not mating. But anyways she has a good home now so its all good.
Also i've been thinking, could lizards be homosexuals?

Any two uros can fight but it's a much more common occurrance between two males. I currently have a male and female breeding pair that have been together for about a year now. I had no problems since day one of their introduction... until recently. After laying her eggs, my female has become very mean towards my male, biting him without provocation. I've had to separate them for now and hope that I'll be able to put them back together after egg season is over. That said, you can't predict what your uros will do. They can be the best of friends for a long time, then suddenly, they can turn on each other and cause serious injury or death. I intervened early so nobody would get badly hurt. Keep a close watch on your uros, though because you never know what can happen.
-----
1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)
1.1 Satanic Leaftail Geckos (Diablo and Samael)