Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought Bob in '02 at the St. Louis Reptile Show. Can anyone give me a definite ID on Bob? Bob looks like a female to me so probably not the most suitable of names. Thoughts anyone?

Bill

The photo is a bit hard to tell but my guess would be a female Mali. Also is this a current photo? She looks a bit dehydrated and thin. I can't tell if what she is eating is lettuce but you definitely need to give her a variety of greens and veggies to get a balanced nutritional diet.

For my Uros I give a large variety of greens including Turnip, Mustard, Kale, Collards, Radiccio and mixed greens. I also shred acorn and butternut squash plus green zucchini. Malis also love green beans and Peas. I buy french cut frozen beans and baby Peas and give those on occasion too.

Hope this helps and FYI below is one of my old female Malis by the name of Morgan. I probably have her about 9 years.
'

Well Bob has a sweet little face=) I do think the other poster is correct in that you may have a female there but she looks a little dusty and dehydrated. I don't have much to add by way of nutrition that the other poster didn't already suggest....they were great suggestions. I would say your little Bob (or Bobby? =)) will really show her beauty once you get her proper nutrition and proper temps in your setup so she can take advantage of that good nutrition. For my uro's I do give peas once or twice a week especially when they've been stressed or are coming out of winter slumber or just before winter because they seem to really help put a little weight on and hydrate them well.

Good luck and hope you enjoy her!

Actually I've had Bob for going on 9 years and she's always fluctuated like that. Her diet and setup have been fairly consistent throughout her time with me. A good mix of greens with the occasional cricket or superworm as a treat. She's a bit on the thin side at the moment but it's not unusual for her to lose weight during the winter months.

Thank you for the definitive ID as well as for the care tips. Now that I'm back to frequenting the forums I'm sure I'll be able to continue my education on uros as well as the other critters in my care.

Bill

Maybe to help get some weight on her you could try Rep-Cal Juvenile Iguana pellets. Basically all my Uros have a large low bowl of this in their tanks that they can snack on at any time. My ones that do the best eat this regularly along with greens and veggies.

Now this won't hydrate her at all but it definitely may help her weight in the long run. Also I never put large clumps of greens into my gang. I shred all greens and veggies to very small strips. I actually have a food cutter called the Lettuce king that has 3/16" blades. That is how I cut all my greens to feed.

You can get an idea from this video below of the size of the pieces. I found if the pieces are too big most of mine will not finish swallowing them.

I can never understand why all the "experts" on this forum never promote the nutritional benefits of "seed" or "solid" foods. Most of you concentrate on "greens" & in such a way that they can never find in their natural environments. They simply do not come out of their burrows every day to a plate full of wet vegetables. Include items such as barley, bulghar wheat, wheat groats, oat groats, lentil seeds, mung beans (they love 'em!!), crushed corn, etc, etc. They live in very arid environs Don't try to make them tropical.

I will try to not take offense to your frustration about the 'experts' in this forum...but I do need to correct you about two things...one, I haven't seen a single person here claim to be an 'expert' though there are breeders and many educated people here, in general most are offering advice from personal experience and education and as this is a forum, I would suggest you and anyone else take it as 'advice' or don't take it at all..afterall, this is all voluntary. They're your pets afterall...their care (or lack thereof) is up to you and you can't criticize those participating in a public forum for it.

Second, while most people try to simulate a natural environment, that isn't exactly possible. When referring to them not coming out of hides to freshly cut vegetables, I'd say 'DUH!' (much like feral cats don't use a litter box or eat cat food...should we provide the best we can or relegate them to hunting mice around the yard??). But maybe a better response is that in their natural environment, there is dew and they do need hydration (another DUH!) so whether you provide that in the form of vegetables misted with water or provide seed/beans and then mist the cage each morning (and risking two things: upping the humidity in the cage...because again, as I stated above, you can't exactly replicate their environment in a terrarium....or the misted water drying before you Uro gets to it), the point is to have vegetation and some form of hydration available. And for most people here that has been in the form of misted greens which provide nutrition and hold the water longer than a cage misting (in my opinion, of course). If you look back through much of the food advice here and with the breeders that participate here, you'll find many provide a mix of seed/beans/greens.

I always appreciate those willing to help in this forum though I may not always take the advice and would hope you would as well.

Thanks,
Molly

Dang, but your buttons are easily pushed! Calm down. Nothing hostile meant in my post. I say "experts" with tongue in cheek simply because for years I've seen so many posters acquire a mali one week & start giving advice to others a month later. The vast majority of nutrition discussions on the forum have always dealt with choices of greens & have ignored flowers & seeds. Just a fact. Been a reader for quite a few years & just notice the obvious. Don't know how all this applies to feral cats...
But, unlike Uros, they do require lots of water!

Dan.

Thanks for the tip on the peas. She devoured them. She devours most things that are green so I didn't think anything different would happen but it's always nice to see her really go after something.

Bill