getting a uromastyx

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curtbone123

Juvie Member
hi everyone im thinking about getting a uro can someone please give me everything i need to care for them? what do they eat? how many inches do they get? whats the difference between all these different types of uros? do they bite? thanks i would really apreciate it :)
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Ok..First you need a house. I would not get anything smaller than the size of a 40g breeder tank. 2 feet wide.. and 3-4 feet long at the smallest.. same as I would suggest for a bearded dragon. That is for MOST breeds. If you want an Egyptian uro.. you need to go bigger. Size ranges... Ornate and Arabian Uros are among the smaller ones.. only just over a foot or so. Mali and Moroccan uros can get up to about 16-18 inches. Egyptian uros can reach over 2 feet though. I have not seen a uro bite.. but anything with a mouth can bite. They usually smack you with their tail. Heat is a big part of having a Uro. Their basking spot needs to be around 125-130 degrees. The ambient temp at the hot end of their house needs to be around 100 and the cool side in the upper 80s to low 90s. My uros house is 102 on the hot side and 89 on the cool side and his basking spot is 126. I check it every few days to make sure nothing has changed. They eat veggies.. curly endive, escarole, and dandelion greens are the best but my uro wont eat either the endive or escarole. I keep trying but he would rather not eat at all. Squash is also good... the winter ones and the summer ones. Main difference in uros is their colors.. and in the case of the egyptian.. the size. Most Saharans are wild caught.. so they are skittish and could have parasites.. but they are cheap. Ornate babies.. are captive bred.. and probably one of the most friendly and inquisitive ones. I have a Moroccan and he is VERY active.. and isnt scared of us.. but doesnt much like being picked up. Arabians are as far as I know.. all wild caught. Malis and egypitans are often bred in the US. Deer Fern Farms is a good site to buy from. Doug usually has mali, egypitian, ornate, and banded uros for sale. Oh.. and if you are looking for a lizard like a beardie.. that you can handle and play with and take on outtings.. a uro isnt the right lizard. They need to mostly stay in their own house to maintain the high heat they need. They don't like to sit still either. Check out Urowiki.. tons of info there.

http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Species.htm

http://urowiki.filecore.net/Main_Page
 

curtbone123

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Spikeshuman":145aclfu said:
Ok..First you need a house. I would not get anything smaller than the size of a 40g breeder tank. 2 feet wide.. and 3-4 feet long at the smallest.. same as I would suggest for a bearded dragon. That is for MOST breeds. If you want an Egyptian uro.. you need to go bigger. Size ranges... Ornate and Arabian Uros are among the smaller ones.. only just over a foot or so. Mali and Moroccan uros can get up to about 16-18 inches. Egyptian uros can reach over 2 feet though. I have not seen a uro bite.. but anything with a mouth can bite. They usually smack you with their tail. Heat is a big part of having a Uro. Their basking spot needs to be around 125-130 degrees. The ambient temp at the hot end of their house needs to be around 100 and the cool side in the upper 80s to low 90s. My uros house is 102 on the hot side and 89 on the cool side and his basking spot is 126. I check it every few days to make sure nothing has changed. They eat veggies.. curly endive, escarole, and dandelion greens are the best but my uro wont eat either the endive or escarole. I keep trying but he would rather not eat at all. Squash is also good... the winter ones and the summer ones. Main difference in uros is their colors.. and in the case of the egyptian.. the size. Most Saharans are wild caught.. so they are skittish and could have parasites.. but they are cheap. Ornate babies.. are captive bred.. and probably one of the most friendly and inquisitive ones. I have a Moroccan and he is VERY active.. and isnt scared of us.. but doesnt much like being picked up. Arabians are as far as I know.. all wild caught. Malis and egypitans are often bred in the US. Deer Fern Farms is a good site to buy from. Doug usually has mali, egypitian, ornate, and banded uros for sale. Oh.. and if you are looking for a lizard like a beardie.. that you can handle and play with and take on outtings.. a uro isnt the right lizard. They need to mostly stay in their own house to maintain the high heat they need. They don't like to sit still either. Check out Urowiki.. tons of info there.

http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Species.htm

http://urowiki.filecore.net/Main_Page
wow thanks you helped me out alot!!! i really apreciate it thanks :) anything else you like to add for a beginner
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
I saw you post on the other thread that you are having trouble finding a uro. There are some on Kingsnake.com under the classifieds.. sometimes you can find them on faunaclassified.com.. Doug dix at deer fern farms should have some at the end of summer. If you are looking for a baby then you will probably have to wait till some become available.. but juveniles are a good choice too.. and those are what you are likely to find on the classifieds at the moment. Check out Rockabirdie reptiles on facebook.. sometimes he has uros.. thats where I got mine.

I just paused my post to look at Rockabirdie.. the only uro I see him listing at the moment was an Ornate female. Backwater reptiles seems to have some Uros. I know nothing about them.. just that they have some listed. Underground reptiles has an ocellated uro listed. Just took a peek at Kingsnake.com classifieds too.. they have several listings under uromastyx. Good luck.. and post pics when you get one!
 

curtbone123

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Spikeshuman":1tg6pw82 said:
I saw you post on the other thread that you are having trouble finding a uro. There are some on Kingsnake.com under the classifieds.. sometimes you can find them on faunaclassified.com.. Doug dix at deer fern farms should have some at the end of summer. If you are looking for a baby then you will probably have to wait till some become available.. but juveniles are a good choice too.. and those are what you are likely to find on the classifieds at the moment. Check out Rockabirdie reptiles on facebook.. sometimes he has uros.. thats where I got mine.

I just paused my post to look at Rockabirdie.. the only uro I see him listing at the moment was an Ornate female. Backwater reptiles seems to have some Uros. I know nothing about them.. just that they have some listed. Underground reptiles has an ocellated uro listed. Just took a peek at Kingsnake.com classifieds too.. they have several listings under uromastyx. Good luck.. and post pics when you get one!
thanx!! but i tried all those unfortunetly but i havent tried rockabirdie reptiles do you know there website where i can see all his uromastyx instead of on facebook
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
He lists his lizards on Kingsnake.com. His name is Thomas. The best way to find out what he has is to contact him.
 

Vianeth

Member
Spikeshuman pretty much said it all. Uro's are from desert climates, and therefore come from environments where they only see maybe 2 inches of water per year, so the trick to replicating this for them in your tank would be to leave out the water bowl, no baths, no soaks, no misting. They get all the hydration from their leafy greens. Sprinkle their veggies with calcium powder. Provide Reptisun 10.0 t8 bulb, or whenever possible, natural sunlight that isn't blocked by a window. They need UV and/or sunlight to thrive.

Try to get it checked out by a qualified reptile vet. I've recently adopted two juvenile Uro's, both of which have some pretty scary blood work. You never know how your Uro was raised before you bought it, best to get it checked out early so you know what you're dealing with.
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
My poor gordo went without eating for two weeks so I took a fecal to the vet. He had bacteria so the vet gave meds which I had to give thru syringe and I think the stress from that may have sealed his fate. It is now over 3 weeks since he has eaten and I'm afraid he might die. Do you have any thoughts Vianeth? I have been leaving him alone entirely.. and offering fresh food every morning and evening. I don't know uros well enough to know if he can / will come back from this. I adore him so much and I want him to live but it seems everything I have done to help has made things worse.
 

Vianeth

Member
Not eating could be a variety of things. Lack of heat to push the bowels, impaction, brumation, viral disease. Of course poop has bacteria. Was it parasites?
My reptile vet said that Uromastyx don't fully absorb antibiotics orally, they absorb the drugs better when injected. Did they give you a de-wormer?
Try getting bloodwork done, that might show a viral disease, white blood cell count, etc.

My Egyptian (I recently adopted a few weeks ago from a reptile expo) has been to the vet, as it's very dehydrated, skinny, and not eating much if at all. I had blood work done and still have to turn in a fecal.
My egyptian showed that it had a very high white blood cell count, it likely has a viral disease, and that treatment is hit or miss. There's apparently not much research done on various types of viral disease so they are unsure how to properly treat it. They wanted to do more bloodwork in two weeks to see how it's progressing in my care with proper husbandry (You could tell it was either neglected in it's previous home or wild-caught and just in poor health/sick).
Another idea they wanted to try was exploratory surgery to see what the organs and stuff looked like. Since I can't afford any of that right now, I'm supposed to give it great husbandry, good temps, good food, calcium, all of that. The vet said that these lizards have a way of healing injuries that are remarkable, and that it's body could recover from this sickness on its own. But if it continues to decline, I could of course euthanize it.

With Gordo, just in terms of what my vet told me, eliminating the parasites internally may not fix the lack of appetite. It might be the indications in the bloodwork taking it's toll on the Uro and not giving it that drive to eat for whatever reason.

My vet wants me to soak my Uro to help with the dehydration, but I'm wary of this. It just makes me nervous, because I was told that you may not be able to completely dry out the tail. If you do bathe it, you need to get it completely dry afterwards. (Sticking it under the basking light helps). Bathing is recommended for Beardies who won't poop. Uro's also are dry lizards and too much water can cause really mess up their lungs and cause respiratory infection. But if you want to try soaking your Uro to get it to poop, that's your call as it's your Uro.
 

beardieparents7780

Hatchling Member
I adopted my uro that was seriously burned and neglected. She had a bad burn on her back and shoulder. The back left knee was burnt /scraped as well. After I got her home the scab on her knee came off and you could see little tip of the bone. She weighed around 220 grams at that time. We treated her wounds with antibiotic cream and kept it clean. Her wounds healed very fast and she's healthy and happy now. Like Vianeth's vet said they really heal remarkable. She's now 280 grams and eating great. As for soaking her I only did it once after she was healed and it was very brief we made sure we dried her very well. They can get tail rot which is not a good thing at all.

null_zps9713e91e.jpg

She'll have a scar there for years. I was told before it would never go away but then I talked to Doug at deer fern farms who is very knowledgable,helpful and took the time to look at pictures I sent him. He also gave me some advice over the phone. He said the scarring would go away a bit but would take years.

null_zps432247d8.png

Had to post this one of her just hanging out lol
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
As wonderful and miraculous as those stories sound... did any of your animals stop eating for a month. Once I see him eating again I know that things can only go up from there. To answer some questions.. no he had no parasites whatsoever. The doc he saw is one that always avoids medicating if possible.. so if he thought an antibiotic was needed.. then it probably was. He has never medicated my beardie or my leopard gecko.. even when the gecko lost his foot and it became swollen and really disgusting. He said it would heal on its own. As for temps... his house is HOT.. so it can not be poor temp causing an issue. His hot side is 102.. his cool side is 89.. his basking spot is 126. He has pooped twice since he stopped eating. Once around one week after he stopped eating .. and once about a week after that. There can't be anything else left in him since he has not eaten. As for bathing him. I have done so twice now. He drank water the first time.. but I honestly thing it does more harm than good. The ordeal itself REALLY stresses him out.. plus I worry about the risk of tail rot.

I am now leaving him totally alone and offering fresh food twice a day. Including some dandelions in the morning.. but he still touches none of it. He used to come running for lentils and dandelions.. now he wont even bother with them. I dont know how long he can last with no food.. but I know he has gotten much skinnier... and hes dehydrated. Doug said that the belly is a bad indicator of weight loss because it gets big with food.. and skinny with out food. His arms and legs don't look like they have changed much. I am just SOOO worried that I am going to lose him.
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
This is what he looked like before he stopped eating.





These are after his soak last week.





This is today.


I think his little legs did get thinner.
 

Spikeshuman

Juvie Member
Currently I am cutting spring mix into bite sizes and putting 3 dandelions in the bowl. I also offer sprouted lentils. He used to eat butternut squash. He loved green peas which I didn't offer very often and now he won't touch any of it.
 
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