Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My uros have had their burrow system for over a year now and it's working out great for them. The digging around the tank has stopped (except when Isis is experiencing nesting behaviour) and they are acting more like natural uros. If anything even remotely startles them, they make a dash for their burrow. They always go in there to sleep every night.
I've also noticed that they will primarily use the burrow that has 2 openings rather than the den that has the single one.
Both my uros eat a lot of food, bask a lot, run around and play on their stacks and logs.
Mating went well and they're still getting along for now.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

Hi, I would love to hear more about your man-made burrow system including design and materials. Or a link if you have posted elsewhere... thanks

I believe everything is explained here:

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=999167,999943
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

It sounds like they both are loving their tunnels, i wish my cages were tall enough to do something like that.

There arent too many people online that you can ask about breeding malis so i'd really appreciate if you could give me a bit of info.
I am hoping to breed my Malis next summer and was wondering if you could tell me how long and heavy isis is and give a bit more details on how you went about getting them to breed, would also really appreciate some details on your incubation setup and how many eggs you got in total.
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Coolherps

This has been the second time I've bred my malis. I can't really give you much info on my female because I bought her as a fully-grown adult from a reptile pet shop. All I can say is that she eats regularly and has a very thick tail and fat back legs. She's quite heavy but not overweight. She does dwarf my male.

Ra was a little over 3 years old when I first bred him. He started head-bobbing at Isis and would attempt to mount her by biting her on the neck. At this point, she'd take off running with him hanging on for dear life. To be honest, I have no idea how he managed to insemenate her, he was literally half her size. I had to separate them after she laid her eggs because she got very aggressive towards him. The aggression never went away and I had to keep them apart until breeding season this year. This year, he put her in her place and she is submissive to him when mating. There's no aggression yet.

She laid a total of 17 eggs (I only found 8 of them, the rest were shrivelled up and dead by the time I discovered them). I lost a few to mold. I only managed to hatch out 3 babies.

For brumation, I followed the instructions on the Deer Fern Farms website. Same with the incubation instructions. Just make sure that the incubator you get DOESN'T have the turbofan. The fan will dry out your eggs and kill them.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

thanks for the advice, i definitely wont be using a turbo-fan, by the time i breed iw ill have invested in a nice home-made incubator with a proportional thermostat.
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Coolherps

Yes, I think some "reminder' pics would be good.

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2.1 - Rocky, Runako, and RoxyIII (my care sheets)

The beauty of this setup is that a tall tank and special substrate isn't necessary. I can put a man-made burrow system in a standard 40-gallon breeder tank with no problem.

To build this, you need a large, short (not tall) Ziploc sandwich container and some kind of flexible tubing (preferrably ribbed for better grip) made either of aluminum or plastic. Cut holes in the container and fit the tubing into the holes. Glue in place with some non-toxic glue. If using aluminum tubing, seal the cut ends so they are no longer sharp. Inside the container, use either sand or paper towel for comfort. Bury the whole setup under the tank substrate (make sure the container itself sits on the bottom of the tank), just leaving the ends of the tube sticking slightly out of the substrate.
Your uros should explore the tunnels on their own. Don't panic if they don't come out again for a day or two. They're testing the safety of the den. During this time, please refrain from unnecessarily accessing the den. This will make the uros think the den is not a safe place to hide. After they get used to using the den to sleep and hide, they usually become more active during the day because they will no longer feel stressed. Only access the den if absolutely necessary.

Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

Do they crap in the hides as well as "above ground?" Looks like a good idea so long as they regard their dens as off limits to their natural urges.

They don't use "indoor plumbing"
They do their business outside of their dens. I guess nobody likes to sleep in their own feces.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)

I really like your cage design and thanks for sharing. I do want to comment on your statement that the digging around the tank has stopped.In the wild do the uro's stop making burrows once they have established a main home or do they make them whenever or wherever with no main nest being exclusive. Myself I think I would enjoy watching the digging.

The digging behaviour can be a sad thing to witness because it means they are trying (usually pointlessly because the substrate doesn't allow for a natural burrow) to make themselves a burrow so they can be safe and comfortable. It can also be a sign of stress. When the digging stops, it means they've found a safe and comfortable place to hide. That's the sign of a happy uro. An unhappy one can be digging for hours. There's nothing cute about it really, if anything, it's sad.
The only time you'll see positive digging is when a gravid female uro is digging out a spot to lay her eggs.

If you want to see your uros dig, you should go with Robyn's suggestion for diggable substrate, a more natural substrate which will hold a burrow.
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1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra, Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (Diablo)
0.1 Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko (R.I.P. Samael)