All you need to know about the Uromastyx

First off when picking the type of Uromastyx for a pet, you must decide on one of the 13 species in this genus. These lizards come from and are adapted to arid regions. They are found in areas ranging from India, Asia,Arabian Peninsula to the Sahara of Africa. Other names for these lizards are the Spiny tailed lizard or the Dab lizard. Housing for these animals is somewhat simple. Uros are found in the desert, so you will need to set up your tank to resemble desert conditions. As far as substrate goes, you can use sand or dirt depending on your opinions of either. If you use rocks for basking make sure they are well placed or secured firmly to your tank or vivarium, because Uros are avid burrowers. Tempatures should not exceed 120 degrees in a basking area. The lizard should be able to retreat to areas in the tank that are in the low 90's. This means you should place at least two thermometers in your setup to keep track of the tempature in the tank. Night time temps should or can drop into the low 60's. As far as water is concerned, you wont need it often. Being that most species of this genus come from arid areas they have adapted to not having water for long periods of time. In most areas it rains less than 2-4 inches a year. So if you do put a water bowl in the tank make sure it is small, or you remove it once your herp is finished drinking. Most Uros will even drink from water sprayed on the side of a tank one a week or less. As far as food is concerned, the Uromastyx is Omnivorous meaning they will eat both animal and plants. However vegis are more suited for adults.For young Uros you should offer a wider variety of insects such as waxworms,crickets, and or superworms a few times a week. Adults will eat many vegies. Kale,Sweet Potatoes,Carrots,Peas,Corn,Green Peas, Mustard Greens and on occasions Collard Greens, Split Peas,Navy Beans, and other types of Beans may be offered. You may indure slower growth in your Uros if insects are not offered occasionally.... I hope some of this helps... If you need more info please feel free to IM me or just post your questions

 

Nice post I have one thing to add. The basking spot can be more than 120 degrees, 120-140 is preferable. They have been known to bask on surfaces of 180 degrees(not for very long but they get to their desired temp faster and are out in the open for less time). Just make sure that they have a temp gradient. Achieving these high temps is as easy as raising the basking spot closer to the light, you dont need to have a mega wattage bulb. I think its best to provide them with options on the basing temps, a retes stack is perfect for this, It also serves as a hide. this explains it much better than I could so look here http://www.proexotics.com/FAQ_answers_What...etes_Stack.html . Good Luck

 

Generally speaking, most species of uromaztyx are herbavores but, being that they are feeders of opertunity, might take insects if offered. None of my ornates, ocelatta, acanthinurus, or benti (both Rainbow and Lowland) would touch insects, but some individuals of my other species (mali, hardwiki, geyri, and aegyptius) would sometimes take feeders, while most of them didn't. Most of the well known uro keepers believe they are strickly herbavore and should only be fed accordingly. I'm not certain since many fecals on fresh imports showed a variety of parasites not usually associated with a vegan diet. On the other hand, when looking at the conditions of capture, storage, shipping, and importer's caging arangements, it's not hard to fathom how these guys get loaded up with intestinal parasites.

I also agree with nomad85 about the basking temps. Uros are masters of heat and the minimum basking temp I used was 125 with max hitting 140 to 150 for some species.

And one last thing... To make a post telling readers "all they need to know about uros" would require about 400 "pages" of text, and by the time you finished posting it, someone out there will discover something new and there would be more info to add =0)

Ronnie

 

very true. I have read that collards are not good for ornate uros, due to high levels of mustard oils. Is this true?

 

I don't know, never heard about mustard oils before. My staple diet consisted of Turnip, Mustard, Collards, Kale, Bok Choy, Chickory/ Endive, Escarole, Asparagus, Red and Green Peppers, Clover, Dandelion, Beets, Carrots, Parsley, Parsnip, Hibiscus (flower and leaves), Ice Plant, Melons, Butternut Squash, Raspberries, Watercress, Strawberries, Grapes, Sunflower Sprouts, etc, with the fruits making up about 10% of the diet. I also use a product I created for herbavores and omnivores based on my experience with my uros and iguanas called Salad Topper. The Salad topper contains Wheat, Buckwheat, Wheat Middlings, Wheat Germ, Whey, Rice, Brewer’s Yeast, Oats, Barley, Soy, Almonds, Peanuts, Walnuts, Cashews, Pecans, Coconut, Red Milo Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Safflower Seeds, Alfalfa, Dried Beets, Dried Sunflower Petals, Dried Safflower Petals, Dried Rose Petals, Dried Rose Hips, Dehydrated Pineapple, Dehydrated Papaya, Dehydrated Banana Chips, Dehydrated Apples, Dehydrated Dates, Dehydrated Apricots, Dehydrated Strawberries, Dehydrated Raspberries, Raisins, Pepitas, Bee Pollen, Acidophilus, Bacillus Subtilis, Lactobacillus Lactis, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Oleuropein, Bioflavanoids (Quercetin and Rutin), Calcium Carbonate, and a Multi-Vitamin Supplement which provides probiotics, complex carbohydrates, protein, folic acid, antioxidants, calcium, and other beneficial nutrients. All-in-all, when I grab other food items at the grocery store, their weekly intake of salad might have as many as 75 or more ingredients. I've also been a big advocate of covering nutritional needs by providing a huge variety in the diet.

Ronnie

 

would you use repcal type supplements with the salad topper or jsut the topper on its own. Is the topper similar to the T-Rex Uro Dust I think it was developed by allen repashy.

 

Take a look at the product page http://www.cricketfood.com/product_info.ph...products_id/181

I think that will answer your questions and save me a lot of repeat typing from what's on my site =0) I'm not sure about the Uro Dust since I've never bought any. I guess you can compare the ingredients and see what the difference is.

Ronnie

 

Cricket dust unappealing?

My geyri will not eat crickets with Herpcare Cricket Dust if he knows its there. Should I try some other type? or what? :?

 

Try mealworm Beatles... Just buy some mealies, and put them in sand with some oranges and POOF you should end up with Beetles...Dont feed them all at once. Just one or two in there to see if your Uromatyx will eat them.

 

The two thermometer's being placed in the tank, unless digital are nice to look at but useless. The cheap stick-on's have been found to be up to 15 degrees off. Mine were both nearly 10 degrees off. The temp needs to be checked with a digital probe meter or a non-contact laser thermometer (Infared). Substrate is a whole issue of it's own. The soil has to be organic and free of any extra's like peralite. Sand is a sand trap depending on the brand, grain size and extra's like calcium which can be an over-dose. Crushed walnut shells should never ever ever be used ever! I could go on and on. The post should have been titled a general over-view of Uro care.

 

sorry messed up there.

 

I had 2 Fluker dial style thermometers when I first set things up. All the temp looked good so I went and got my Mali. She just didn't seem to be acting right so I got on the board and poked around. I found out that others had an issue with the dial temps. So I went out and got a digital temp gun. Checked the temps and they were both wrong. One was 10 degrees cool and the other was 7 degrees cool. I pitched them both and re-set the temp with the temp gun. The next day I got a probe temp to verify the readings I got with the temp gun and have been faithful to the gun since.

 

Does the temp gun measure the surface heat? Wouldn't you also need to know surrounding temp?

 

It is mainly for surface temps but you can do ambient with it. The ambient is tricky at first but it once you do it a few times it's easy. I do use the digital probe to double check the gun for ambient readings. But when the hot spot is at 118-122 the warm end is 98-105 and the cool end is about 89-94. If the enclosure it set up right and you get proper air flow the ambient temp sets it self.

 

So you just need proper airflow and room temp and it should set itself according to the hot spot surface?

 

Thermal Dynamics

The Second Law of Thermal Dynamics states: "Heat will flow from hot to cold using the path of least resistance". So we have a hot end and a cool end. At the top of the cool end you have a vent or screened area. Now on the hot end you have a vent or screen. This allows the the hot air from the hot spot to circulate from the hot end across and to the cool end. Eventually traveling upward to the vent/screen at the cool end. This circulates the air and regulates the temp at not only the hot end but the cool end also. If you are not getting the right temp at the cool end (to hot) you can enlarge the vent/screen on the cool end. If you are not getting the correct temp in the hot end but are getting the correct hot spot then you can enlarge the vent/screen around the hot spot to allow more air to enter at the hot end. If the room temp is to high and the cage temp is up simply turning on a ceiling fan can bring the temp back down. This moves the cool air in the room mixing it in the hot air causing the temp of the room air to change. This in turn changes the thermal dynamics in the enclosure. Because the hot air moves to cooler air in the room.

 

How do you measure the ambient with a temp gun?

 

My temp gun has an option to measure ambient temp (room temp). But you can measure ambient temp by checking the temp of items in the enclosure. The items take on the ambient temp of the area it is in after the temps have leveled out for a period of time. Which would be room temperature (ambient temp) of an object. It takes sometime to verify what items in your enclosure reach ambient temp and when. Rock takes longer to reach ambient temp after the lights come on. Yet it holds the heat and releases it after the lights go off. Metal changes temp quickly as the temp around it changes. It just depends on the material the item is made of. With wood it depends on the type the harder the wood (Oak) the longer it takes to heat up. If your temp gun will do ambient temp (depends on the temp gun) or if it has an adaptor for a probe then you are all set. If you are lucky and have access to a thermal imaging camera you can use it to get a very clear view of what is happening in the enclosure. Know any fireman, military personel, industrial maintenance techs, electricians, or chemist with access to one?

 

Darn, I was hoping there was some kind of trick for this. Taking a surface reading of an item in your cage does not necessarily mean you're getting an ambient temp reading. In fact you aren't, you're getting a surface temp reading. Even if you let the item stabilize for 4 hours if it's in the path of any type of lighting that item will take on a different temperature than the surrounding air(ambient temp). If the item is a dark color it will be warmer due to absorbing more heat from the light source. If it's a light colored object it will be cooler due to reflecting more of the heat from the light source. Density and conductivity of the material also play a role in how much different the object will be than the surrounding air(ambient) temp. The only way to get a true ambient temp reading from an object in your enclosure is if you're temping something that is entirely in the shade.