New Uromastyx New Reptile Parent

[PharaohKorain]

Hello, I purchased my Uro about a week ago, unfortunately wild caught. He was advertised as a Juvenile, not sure exactly how old he is though. I'm worried as he seems to be underweight. Since day 1 he's been off and on with feeding and Basking. Sometimes he will come out, bask, eat, and glass dance. Other days he will bask and glass dance but won't eat. Today is the second day he has spent just hiding.

I'm sure I have his Temps proper. Basking is around 128-130, ambient 80-100. Cool side is 77-85. He has a 22" uvb tube that runs side to side in the center(will be adjusted to cover basking spot). I feed him Collard and Mustard greens, started with red and green leaf from spring mix because I didn't have access to better until recently, dried split green peas and lentils occasionally, and zoomeds dried flower food topper occasionally. He doesn't seem to want anything to do with calcium. The only time he hasn't eaten has been when I put calcium with no D3 and today when I had put repcal Herptivite on his greens. Also he hasn't pooped yet, though I've been told this is normal for new uros.

I'm hoping he is healthy and just needs more time to adjust but I can't help worrying. Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Beautiful Uro! Looks like a Yellow Saharan?
Where did you get him from?

I had a red Saharan many years ago. Uro's are awesome! A bit harder to tame than dragons IME, but it can be done. How is his temperament?

I wouldn't worry too much about the eating right now. He still needs to settle into his new environment. It's good that he is eating at all.

-Brandon

 

[PharaohKorain]

Thank you! I got him from BigAppleHerp. Most people I talked to said they were good. Whenever I get near his enclosure he freezes and watches me. The only time he runs is if I move too fast or make a loud noise. I tried taking him out to clean the enclosure but he ran back and did his body wiggle.
I am curious how I get him out in order to clean his enclosure. I don't want him to hate me for force handling him.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow, he is beautiful, very colorful!
He should eventually get used to you, they do go through relocation stress. Have you
tried hand feeding him yet?

Tracie

 

[PharaohKorain]

Tracie,

I have, he just looks at me. He still freezes up when I walk into the room. After about 10 or so minutes of me in the room he'll start moving around but he won't let me touch him or hand feed him. If I move too much he will stop and stare again, then eventually crawl into his cave.


Also, I still haven't seen any poop. I'm not sure if he's going in his cave, eating it, or it's just drying up. But I have a pet cam on him and I haven't seen anything.

Thank you everyone.

 

[Claudiusx]

Calcifer (my Uro) basically didn't even feel comfortable being outside of her hide when I was around for the first year lol. Truth be told though, for that first year I didn't really try too hard to build that trust, but either way it was still a much slower process for me than with any dragon i've ever had.

-Brandon