Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am happy to have found this forum and appreciate all the helpful info. I would appreciate some help. We purchased a Mali Uromastyx for our ten year old three weeks ago from a pet store. She is about 7" long and we were told she was ten months old.

We have been feeding her spring mix lettuce rinsed with water and dusted with calcium powder, bok choy, carrots, peas, millet, ground lentils, sweet potatoes and occasionally grapes and apples. We are in a small community in Alberta, Canada and can't get organic here but we wash well. We fed her three small worms yesterday as we were worried about her eating habits.

Her vivarium is 4 feet long 20" deep and 2 feet wide and we made it from plexiglass. We have a exoterra solar glo heat lamp and another heat lamp as well as we couldn't get it hot enough for her with just one. We use reptisun bulbs for light. Her hot side is 120 and her cold side is 82 during the day. We used play sand as a substrate.

When we bought her she was on crushed walnut, she was being bathed weekly and she was given vegetables daily and worms weekly. When we got her we noticed that the tip of her tail looked like dried up wood and seemed to be drying up and rotting and it seems to have gotten a bit worse since then. I am wondering if this is tail rot and if so, what to do? She does eat some of what we offer every day but I am wondering how much she should be eating as her skin is looser and she has more wrinkles than when we got her a few weeks ago. Her face has started to shed in the past couple of days.

She has a vet visit scheduled for January 3rd but as we are in a small community we can't get in earlier and have to drive an hour to get to a reptile vet. Any advice on how to keep her comfortable during transport?

I have attached some pictures of Ally the Mali. Thanks for your help.

Not sure if the pictures worked, I'll try again

Oops - husband just measured her and she's 11 1/2 inches. Does that make sense for her to be ten months?

I see a few issues here. First, how are you measuring temperatures? Basking should be measured with an IR gun and should be between 120-140F. Hot end ambient should be around 100F, cool end 80F, measured with a digital thermometer. Stick on or analog dial ones are inaccurate up to 20%.

Secondly, if the Uro is 11" there is no possible way for it to be 10 months old. The pics paint a very ugly picture of mistreatment before you purchased this Uro. It is incredibly thin and I am not sure what the discoloration is on the tail, hopefully somebody will be able to shed some light on that for you.

As for diet, do not feed any animal protein at all, worms, crickets, etc. Uro's can't handle the protein. Staple greens that should be fed daily would be endive, escarole, chickory, dandelion greens. The other foods you are feeding are ok as rotational foods and in moderation.

Also, as you mentioned this is for a 10 year old. You need to teach your child right away that Uro's are not a 'take me out and play with me' pet. They need very high temperatures and do not tolerate handling very well. They can stress easily and any disruptions in normal behavior can cause issues.

You did mention you have an enclosure of proper size, which is great. Also the UVB is a necessity which you have. Just be sure there is no screen or anything blocking the uvb rays from the Uro, as screen tops will filter out a lot of the uvb rays. Other then those things I would get the Uro to a vet ASAP. If there is a fungus growing in the tail whorls it needs treatment now, not in a few weeks. Try to call around and see if you can get an appt. sooner. Other then that, looks like your on your way to providing well for this Uro. Good luck.

Thanks so much for the reply.

We do use a temperature gun to guage the temperature - hubby's a mechanic and had one already. We are at 120 on the hot side but needed two heat lamps to get to that. There is a mesh screen on the top of the vivarium but the holes in the screen are quite large so I hope that's OK?

Where we live, we only have three grocery stores and I've only been able to find endive or escarole but not both and not on a regular basis. We'll have to feed only one type of those greens and use spring mix when the better greens aren't available as that's the best we can do out here. I am going to order uromastyx dust, miner-Al supplement, and mazuri tortoise pellets as I can't buy them here. Also going to get a scale so we can monitor her weight.

Our daughter only takes her Mali out once per day for about 15 minutes and she is not stressed by us. She doesn't hide when we go near or into her cage and she'll eat her food right out of our hands.

Only two vets who treat reptiles near where we live they're booked until January 3rd so I have no choice but to wait until then. It's an hour long drive there and an hour back though, so I'm wondering how best to transport her?

Since we arent sure whats going on with her health i wouldn't hold her at all currently - the fact that she "tolerates" handling well probably speaks more to her poor health than anything else...most uros are extremely active and really dislike handling. Please do not handle her any more until you figure out whats going on.

As the other poster mentioned, she is much older than you were told - unless she was fed a very high protein diet as a baby causing her to grow too fast (which is a whole nother issue!) my 2 year old mali is just about 10 inches now - they are slow but steady growers.

You do want to get the basking temps up closer to 130 if possible. You can add more heat bulbs or build the hides up higher. Uros are very specific in their hide requirements - shelters should be low (low enough that when they stand their back brushes against the top) and narrow enough for them to really wedge themselves in.Most commericial hides do not offer the proper security. I make my hides out of tiles and paving stones. I put the tile over the top of the paving stones and silicon them inplace - if the paving stones are too tall or too short you can use peices of broken tile ( with the edges rounded out) stacked on top of each other, with a big peice of tile across the top. These types of hides are very low, as they should be, but you can make several hides and stack them on top of each other to get closer to the bsking spot.

What is her behavior like currently? Does she bask all day? hide all day? run around, etc?

A healthy Uro should be VERY active - if the basking temps are appropriate they can heat up very quickly - so they should be hiding, then basking for a bit, then running around, then basking some more, then hiding - etc etc...very, very active. A uro that hides all day or basks all day is not healthy - or has inadequate temps, or has hides that arent offering good security.

If the walls of your tank are see through then you may want to cover the sides and back of the tank to add extra security.

Its too bad that you cant ge your Uro to the vet sooner - but int he meantime make sure you have proper hides, bump up the basking temps a bit and please stop handling her. When she goes to the vet definately have a fecal checked.

Also, you mentioned you had a UVB bulb - i think yo even mentioned the brand, but i cant remember (im sorry!) If the UVB bulb is not a repti-sun 10.0 then you should probably get one. And make sure its the long fluroescent tube variety, not the compact or coil variety. Make sure there is no plastic, glass, or screen between the bulb and the uro, and make sure the uro can get with in 12-14inches of the bulb.

Good luck with your Uro!!
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog

"There is a mesh screen on the top of the vivarium but the holes in the screen are quite large so I hope that's OK?"

Nope, the UVB light must be 100% unobstructed

"I am going to order uromastyx dust, miner-Al supplement, and mazuri tortoise pellets as I can't buy them here. Also going to get a scale so we can monitor her weight."

The scale is a great idea, stay away from Uro dust. I (and others) have had poor results from using it and I will never use it again. MinerALL is ok though.

"Our daughter only takes her Mali out once per day for about 15 minutes and she is not stressed by us."

This is 15 minutes of stress. 15 minutes away from the proper heat source. 15 minutes of adding to the decline of the Uro. Please stop handling immediately until it gets into proper health.

Rt is correct - when using a fluorescent strip UVB its best if its unobstructed - while larger mesh is better than very fine mesh, its still going to filter some of it.

You can cut a slit in the mesh, or mount the bulb inside the cage
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog

Vanessa,

Just wondering - how is your Uro doing?
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog

Well, she is shedding now and she's less active than before although I wouldn't call her lethargic. She's eating less and her skin does seem to be a bit looser. From what I can gather online, I think it's likely she has parasites and will get a fecal check done at the vet. I got some good advice to spray her greens with a mister to try to get her a bit more hydrated but one long-time uro expert on a local forum said that it doesn't look like dehydration but rather parasites so now all we can do is wait for the vet to help.