Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a new female Uro, along with a new male. Both in seperate 20g-30g tanks, juvi/subadult uros. The male is eating, but the female is not. She is being offered yellow squash, collard/mustard/turnip greens, and peas covered in a moist Mazuri pellet diet (crunched up, soaked in water, and peas covered with them.

She has not been eating from what I can see, and is EXTREMELY flighty and hisses, Shes been in for a few weeks, and I have paper towels covering all windows so she isnt stressed.

Any help?

David
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David and Kevin

KDRKreatures.com
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Try frozen mixed vegetables. Use a food processor or chop them up very fine. If she eats that you can start adding other ingredients.

Our's was the same way when we got him. I got him to eat by giving him dandelion flowers. I would soak them and sprinkle Nutra-bac on them. Also Saharan will drink water a shallow bowl in the enclosure may help. Try mixing a small amount of salt and honey in the water. Also a really warm shallow bath 1/4" deep might help. Our's drank for nearly 30 seconds during the first bath. Just make sure to dry the tail really well. A hair dryer from a distance works well for this. Warm peas both green and black eyed work also. He ate them for a while piled on top his greens. Now he eats a few but loves his greens. Do a fecal check if you haven't. If a Uro is parasite loaded that effects appetite also.

If Spook's suggestion doesn't work, you can try some edible flowers (dandelion, rose petals, nasturtium, pansy or viola) - without pesticides or fertilizers, of course.

At a health food store in the refrigerated section you can find bee pollen granules - you can sprinkle this onto any of the foods you offer. This was how I got my first uro to eat finally.

If you have a larger cage, you can move her into it. My second uro was a WC adult Saharan and he refused to eat when he was in a smaller enclosure (I was *planning* on a hatchling, but got an adult). There were force feedings and vet visits. As soon as I moved him into a 75 gallon, he ate.

Be watchful that she doesn't lose too much weight - get her to a vet for fluids and vitamins if you start to worry about weight. Good luck and congrats on your uros!
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Uromastyx dispar maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.1 Uromastyx ornata (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
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)

your situation sounds just like mine. I have a *very* high strung female Saharan, who so far will eat dandelion greens and that is about it. At least she's eating something (I think....I've had her almost 3 months and she hasn't died yet so I'm assuming...). Let me know if you find a new trick that works--for a while she would take fruit babyfood off a spoon but now she won't let me get that close to her
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Sue
currently living with me:
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
1.0 Crested gecko (Gator)
0.1 Niger Uromastyx (Brit)
0.1 'found in someone's garage' kitty (Terra)

i just got three new females that wouldnt eat in front of me but i offered them a few rep-cal iguana pellets and they all went after them, i dont know if its the color or the smell that attracted them to them but all the pellets where gone in a minute or two

Just wondering if your girl has settled down yet? Is she eating yet? We weren't sure if ours was eating or not so we set up the video camera to find out for sure. You may want to give it a try. Yeah it's cheating but you know for sure that way. Also so I didn't have to keep changing tapes every 2 hours I bought a $30 black and white video servalance camera. I set it up looking at the cage and plugged in the other end to the VCR in the other room. I could record for 9 hours and flip over to the camera at anytime I wanted when I was home. She got the quiet she needed and I got to see what she was doing with out disturbing her.

Jon