Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i just bout a uro today at the chicago narbc reptile show i have her in a 20 gallon high with a 100 WAT bulb, a log, a water dish , and reptile carpet do i need any thing else?

he tends to run around the cage and climb the sides alot is this good ?

thanx for all the help u can give me

Hi there. A 20 gallon high is far too small for any uro. Sufficient floor space is very important, otherwise you will be unable to provide a proper temperature gradient for these animals. For the smaller species you should have at least a 40 gallon breeder, even for young animals. You really can't go too big.

You also need a high output source of UVB (such as Powersun mercury vapor or reptisun 10), a proper temperature gradient, a basking site, a hide, a substrate suitable for the age of the animal, and let's not forget proper diet and supplements!

Please take this to heart. I have been keeping Uros for many years, I find these animals throughly rewarding, but they are far from low maintenance and not inexpensive to house and care for.

Here is the url of a decent caresheet http://deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Care.htm

Best of luck

benedita

Oh, I forgot... water. It can be a controversial topic.
Unless the animal is dehydrated it will get all the water they need from their greens & veggies.
I don't offer water, or for that matter soak my uros, unless there I have a good reason to do so. Even then I would never leave a water dish in the enclosure. If a uro's tail isn't thoroughly dried after getting wet, it can suffer bacterial infections that leave the animal bereft of it's characteristic spikey tail.

--B

Take Benedita's wisdom to heart, otherwise your new Uro friend will be much the worse for wear I am afraid. A 40 gallon breeder tank is a good place to start for your new friend. More floor space is almost always better, but the 40 gallon breeders offer a nice compromise between manageable tank size for your house, and enough running around space for your Uro's house.

Congratulations to the world of Uros though. They are a fun, and rewarding hobby. However, they ARE living animals that have rather specific, and sometimes difficult to attain living requirements. This forum is a great place to get information, and please feel free to ask us anything. We all want to make sure all Uros get the best care and love possible. Once you have read the care sheet, let us know how you are doing, and ask any questions that you have! We look forward to hearing from you very soon!

Elizabeth
-----
1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes (May he rest in peace)
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

hey i am goin 2 buy play sand now for the beeding and a uvb and i am building a 4x2x2 foot cages for her

1 ? can i put in a uvb light bulb in nany hood?

Bigger is better Just ran sum numbers on floor space. 40 gal. breeder has 648 cu. in. of floor space, 75E (4x2x2) 1132cu. in. of floor space. Type of hood? Like for a fish tank? If this is the type of hood your talking about, be sure to remove the plastic or glass strip. UV doesnt penatrate either, also tube bulbs should be place within 10"-12" of the basking spot to be effective. I have the same size tank, so what i did was give my uros something to climb up on to get them close enough to my uv bulbs (plus side it also doubles as a basking spot).

Havent tried the mecury vapor bulbs, so hopefully someone else on the site my be able to help.

How old is your uro? It's advisable to keep uros younger than a year old on paper towels. It's also advisable to have a vet do a fecal test for parasites... if your girl has to be treated it will be easier to sanitize if you keep her on paper towels.

UVB florescents will fit in hood style lamps, unless it's a hood lamp for a 10 gallon tank, they don't make UVB florescents that short. Measure the distance between the sockets on the hood fixture and be sure you can get UVB flo's in the right length.
Many uro keepers just use standard fixtures you can buy at the Home Depot. You can put it on top of a hardware cloth screen top, or as you are building a long enclosure you can mount fixtures to the top or side on the inside of the enclosure... that way nothing will get in between your uro and the uvb.

That all said, I switched to mercury vapor bulbs for both UVB & heat. It screws in just like a standard incandescent light bulb, but because of the high heat you have to put it in a 10" dome lamp with a 200 watt ceramic socket.
The Capture the Sun and Powersun bulbs put out more UVB than any UVB flo's. You can also mount them at greater distances than florescent UVBs.
In a 14"Hx36"x24" enclosure with a 1/4" screen top, a 160 watt Powersun kept between 14 to 20 inches off the substrate will achieve the proper air temperature gradient. I raised a stone basking spot 5 inches off the floor to get the basking spot hot enough. The reason I use a lamp stand for a variable height of the lamp is that the base temperature in my apartment can vary wildly between 60 to 90 degrees.

If you do opt for mercury vapor, I advise buying two bulbs online (usually about half the cost than in a store, if you can even find a store that carries them). Powersuns have a one year replacement warranty, which is good, because the bulbs rarely last 3 months. If you have two bulbs you will have a spare on hand when waiting for the first bulb to be replaced under warranty. I don't know if Capture The Sun brand has a warranty, but I have read that they last longer and have even higher UVB output.)

best wishes,
Benedita

the main thing to know about Uro's is that they are vegetarian desert reptiles. they eat mainly leafy greens (dandilion leaves, endive, bok choy) and like a range of ait temp from 85-100 degrees.
they love wide sandy spaces (we use millet bird seed so that he can eat it and it still feels like sand), a bunch of rocks under the light that peak at 120 degrees. and many stable places to hide under, since they love to dig and hide.

we've had our mali for a year now, and he is the most amaizing little guy. at first his needs seemed great, but once established, he has been a treat and fairly easy to care for.

here's our Batista