New Uromastyx!

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Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
After a few weeks of shopping around.. then two weeks of trying to get the uro I purchased here to my house.. hes finally here. He has no name yet.. but here he is. (More pictures to come as he gets adjusted!)
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He seems a bit dehydrated from shipping. I could not get him to eat any salad today.. but he went nuts for peas. If anyone can give me feeding tips it would be greatly appreciated!
 

FranktheTank

Gray-bearded Member
A great site for you to check out to learn about diet, and proper environment for your new uro is UroWiki.com. I've been told a few times if a new uro isn't eating it's probably not hot enough in their enclosure, but you did say he ate some peas so that's good. Also you can talk to the breeder you purchased him from to learn about what your new uro likes to eat.

-Kaleen
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
It is about 92 degrees on the hot side... his basking spot is about 126.. he has a cool side of about 86 but he never hangs out over there. I put the food on the cool side because thats what the uro care sites say to do.. but maybe thats a problem since his house is 6 feet long? If I put the food on the hot side though.. I think it would crisp up fast. He ate the peas yesterday.. probably about 10 of them. He did not eat anything at all today. He mostly glass danced and sat in a hot spot. It wasnt his basking spot though.. he sat under a different light.. where it only reaches about 100.

He does not seem afraid of any of us. He roams around.. glass dances alot. When I turned on the lights this morning at 8am.. he did not come out. By noon he still wasnt out so I uncovered him. He woke up and started moving around. I dont know what to do.. and what not to do... I just worry about him getting dehydrated. I want him to adjust and be happy and live a nice long life with us.
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
He slept till my son came home at 3pm. My son removed his hide and woke him again... he glass danced for a bit then hid again. He ate one pea about an hour ago.. but nothing else. He seems to glass dance only along the hot side of his house. All the food is on the cold side. I am starting to worry about him not eating.
 

FranktheTank

Gray-bearded Member
Don't panic. Uros are burrowers and some owners will tell you they rarely see their uros. If I were you I'd move his food bowl over to the hot side. I have mine for my uros on the hotside just not under the basking lamp and it does okay. If they haven't come out of the cave when I put their food in mid morning I place a piece of their food in to the cave entrance and that usually gets them interested enough to come out. Also when he is out glass dancing try hand feeding him... Also I've been told to never remove their cave off of them when they are inside. It needs to be their safe place, so when they're inside do not remove it off of them.

-Kaleen
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thanks.. I keep yelling at my son when he does that.. but hes a teenager and does not listen to anything I say. We bought him a proper hide that he likes now. The hides I made him with brick and slate must have been too large for him to feel secure. I made them big enough to fit him as an adult.. but hes just a tiny baby right now. I got him a very low, very small hide made for leopard geckos. He seems to love it and even feel safe enough to poke his head out and roam around. I also think that his hot side was not getting hot enough. Even though the floor temps were up in the mid 90s.. the ambient temp never went over 90. I got a heat lamp from lowes and the ambient temp is more like 98 now.. with the floor temp around 110. He even came out after it warmed up and ate a green leaf and a lentil! I am hoping that a whole day of warmth today will get him eating a little more.
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
My son has named him Gordo... not sure if the name is going to stick.
He still only eats peas and lentils.. but he is roaming around the tank all day.. not hiding at all. He does not mind being touched or picked up.
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Glass dancing...
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Poking out of his cool hide..
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Whole house..
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FranktheTank

Gray-bearded Member
Aww look at those pictures, he's sooo cute! I love the name Gordo, he just might grow in to it. My male could definitely fit in to the name Gordo, he's a chubby little thing! Any how Gordo looks great, and lentils and peas are really good for uros so his choice for food is a good one. Maybe try feeding him a variety of mixed veggies, like carrots, peas, lima beans, and corn. Also if he's not interested in his leafy greens try hand feeding them to him, he may not know they're food. If he's still not interested try a different type of leafy green. My uros love love love the mixed spring greens and I mix it with mustard and collard greens. They absolutely love Kale too. The one thing you should not ever feed them is fruit or spinach leaves, I've heard those can make them sick.. Your set up for him looks awesome. The new hide was an excellent Idea too. I think you're doing a great job, and it probably just wasn't hot enough for him to get hungry, so fixing the temp will definitely help with his appetite. I can't wait to see some more pictures of Gordo! Oh and if little Gordo doesn't like your son picking up his cave off of him, your son will learn the hard way just like my fiance did to never do it again! Our Dougie got really mad at my fiance one afternoon when he pulled the cave up off him. He whipped him super hard with his tail, started hissing at him and tried to bite him!!! Once Dougie realized it was my fiance he did calm right down, but he was pretty startled at first.. It scared the heck out of me because Dougie is the sweetest boy ever, there's not an aggressive bone in his uro body, but you scare them or threaten their safety and it's a whole new game. That actually just happened recently and we've had him over a year. Our new female was in the cave with him, and he's super protective over her, so I'm pretty sure he was trying to keep her safe. They are the cutest little pair, I'll have to post some pics of them snuggling together. Daisy is our female, she's about a 1/3 of Dougies size, but he's so sweet and gentle with her. Most of the time when they're basking little Daisy will climb up on Dougie and lay on his back while he keeps an eye on the tank! It's sooo funny! When it's nap time he always makes sure she is in the cave first and then he goes in and snuggles her. When I put the food in, if some of the leafy greens are too big he shreds them up for her and then pushes her towards the smaller pieces! I got to get that on video one of these days!

-Kaleen
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Gordo sat and posed like this for a while so I ran for the camera and got a few pics.
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This is the Gordo pancake...
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Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
He really is adorable.. and now that he has gotten comfortable in his home... his colors are showing. He has a mostly yellow back.. with lime green sides. Most of his tail is green with an orange stripe in the middle! I can not wait for summer so I can take him outside and get pics of him in the sunlight!
 

BruinsFab

Member
Do you find that he is out a lot ? I know they are borrowers, but not sure how much they really rely on burrowing. I have a BTS who spends 90% of his time either burrowed or in one of his hides, so I'm curious how these guys differ
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Original Poster
I think it depends on the animal. Gordo wakes up around 10am.. which is 2 hours after lights on. He roams around ALL DAY.. takes a small nap between 4-6 then hes out again until about 10pm. He eats probably around 1pm.. then again around 7pm. I have heard some people have Uros that hide alot.. it could be that their house isn't kept warm enough.. or they weren't socialized enough as babies. Wild caught uros are much more likely to hide. Captive bred ones are usually much more hyper / friendly. I can pick Gordo up and pet his back.. hes not afraid of us at all. He does like to keep moving though.. so hes not one to sit still in my hand. Maybe a minute at the most.. then he wants to run again.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
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