Hi, I am a first-time lizard owner. I bought my mali uromastix about 3 weeks ago from Pet Smart. I know he is a juvenile, and really don't know if it's male or female, just call it a "he." My kiddos named him Thunder. I bought an enclosure with lights, etc. that was made for a bearded dragon. It only came with one stick-on thermometer, so I placed that on the basking side of the enclosure. It gets above 110 degrees with lights on. Lights are on for about 12-14 hours a day, then I turn them off at night. We keep our house around 72-74 degrees all the time. The humidity in our house also stays low, although I don't have a humidity meter (my husband does heat/air and swears he designed our system to keep humidity down.). The enclosure has decorations and a cave/basking area I bought.The substrate came with the enclosure and is sand. About a week ago I put a background paper on the back of his enclosure. I placed the enclosure in our living room, so that he could get used to us being around, talking, noise, etc. I feed him a rehydrated reptile veggie mix I also bought at Pet Smart. I've tried collard greens, green beans, carrots, apples, and strawberries also. I add a little bit of extra water to his food dish, mainly to help keep it from drying out so badly. However, he doesn't eat. Granted, I'm rarely home during the day to watch him, but I've only seen him voluntarily come out of his cave one time, and he took one bite of his food and ran back into his cave. I'm not sure how much I should expect him to eat though. It seems like when I change out his food at night, it's mostly if not all still there though. It dries out throughout the day though, and so I can't really tell by the amount. Every evening when I change his food and check his cage to see if it needs to be cleaned, I remove his cave just long enough to check on him. He's always very sluggish at first until I pick him up, then he might look around a bit before he scrambles until I have to put him down. I tried once to bathe him, just to see if that perked him up, but it didn't seem to help. It just made him mad and he went back into hiding. The first few days, he looked really dehydrated, but now he seems more plump again. I've noticed he shed some skin from his back legs, and I've cleaned a salty substance off from around his nose area (that I read was normal.). The other problem is that we have 3 cats who are VERY interested in him. I have figured out how to arrange the top of his enclosure to keep them off of it, but they pushed in the mesh top a couple of times by walking on it in the first week. Now they just sit next to his cage and look in. If he is out of his enclosure (when I remove it from the enclosure for a few minutes), they bat at the enclosure and definitely want in. So, I'm sure they are part of the reason he hides all the time. Here are my questions: I've read I need to use a different substrate. I'm planning on getting some birdseed. In the meantime, will paper towels work? Should I try to syringe-feed him? If so, how do I go about doing that, and what do I use to feed him? Should I move him to a part of the house with less traffic? And should I keep him completely separate from the cats or continue to try to acclimate him to them being around? (Problem is, is that any time a door in the house is closed, be it bedroom, bathroom, etc., they freak out and scratch incessantly at the door until it's opened). Is it normal for him to still be hiding out all the time? What can I do to help him not be so afraid? I live in a small town with no access to a store with health foods, whole foods, etc. Also, Walmart is the best I've got for access to supplies. I bought him in a town about an hour away. Is there a place online that is good to order things like food, substrate, enclosure supplies, etc. from? Any ideas are welcome! The only thing that is not an option is to get rid of the cats, as they are our babies. Also, my husband is NOT pleased that I got a lizard, and really doesn't want him in our bedroom.
Welcome to Reptile Rooms/Boards! Glad you found us and congrats on your new Mali! We have a link going with our on-going experiments on what our Uro's eat or don't eat.... Here is the link. If you'd like to read through that it's a running thread of ideas on what to feed your Uro As for your questions - 1) paper towels are ok to use but his claws might get stuck on them. Although it's not very pretty and the print might turn his belly a bit black, newspaper would work well, or non-adhesive shelf liner. Or tiles from a local home depot or lowes or other type of place. If you get tiles (which I LOVE to use for all my desert reptiles) I would suggest getting something that is more "natural" like slate or concrete or natural stone tiles because they have a texture and they are not slippery for your Uro. But the millet is a pretty good substrate as well, just be careful to keep it very clean and always pick up his feces right away before it can mold or anything. 2) I don't think you should stress him out with trying to syringe feed him... usually there is about a 2 week "breaking in" time in which your new reptile will not eat as much and won't come out, with Uro's this tends to take (I'm not kidding) up to about 6 months. They are a very solitary, shy reptile, especially when they are young, but they grow in to fun adults Of course there are always exceptions but from what I have read (and experienced) that's the norm. As for feeding him I would suggest reading through the other thread and seeing ideas on what has or hasn't worked for a couple of the other owners and deciding on what you would like to try to feed him 3) I don't think you should move him but it would be a good idea to tape paper on all sides of his tank and just leaving the top open, maybe leaving one of the smaller sides open as well so he gets used to seeing people sometimes but he feels secure walking around his tank. I also have 3 cats and they do the same thing, Luna used to sit on TOP of the tank before I arranged items on top so she could no longer do that.... be careful, cats are kind of heavy and those tank lids are not that strong... I was always afraid I would come home and Luna would be IN the tank with my uro 4) There are a few places online but not too much is needed for Uros in the way of decorating - a home depot or lowes or something would be your best bet for decorations (you can look through other threads in the Uromastyx forum for ideas ). As for supplies like calcium and such - I mostly get mine when there is a reptile expo in the area (AKA about 1-3 hours away from my house, lol), supplies are usually cheaper and you don't have to pay shipping obviously. Other than that there are a number of good places, one I order from frequently is pangeareptile.com, lllreptile.com and a couple other specialty ones. And I would never suggest getting rid of the kitties! They're like children Anyway, hope that helps!
Hello Shandy, and welcome to the boards and to the world of reptiles! You've chosen a pretty demanding lizard to start out with, so I will try to cover everything I can think of in my response to your post. This is going to be lengthy so you may want to take notes, haha. =P It looks like you've gotten the Zoo Med bearded dragon starter kit. Unfortunately, this kit is not a very good starting point, as many of the supplies that come with it are sub-par. (I don't even recommend it for bearded dragons.) The tank and lid are fine, as are the water/food dish (which should only be used for food; no water dish is needed) and dome lights (assuming you can get the temperature high enough with them). However, the thermometer, UVB fixture, and sand are all not recommended. I'll explain why as I go along. First, temperatures: very, very important. Maintaining correct temperatures are essential to any reptile's health as they need external heat to regulate body temperature and maintain their metabolism and other bodily functions. Uromastyx in particular need a lot of heat, with a basking temperature reaching between 120-130F and a cool side between 80-90F. Keep in mind that this is surface temperature and not air temperature. Therein lies the problem with stick on thermometers. They only allow you to get an imprecise reading of air temperature. The same is true of mercury thermometers and gauge style thermometers (and gauge thermometers give very inaccurate air temperature readings at that). I would definitely go to a hardware store and pick up either a digital thermometer with probe or a temp gun. These allow you to get an accurate surface temperature reading. Surface temperature can vary from air temperature by many degrees, so it's essential that you have one of these devices to get you an accurate measurement. While the air temperature is around 110F up where your thermometer is, I'd be willing to bet it's much cooler down on the surface. You may have to get a higher wattage bulb to reach the proper basking temperature; it really depends on your house temperatures though. You'll have to experiment a little until you get things just right. Important side note: make sure the wattage of bulb does not exceed the maximum wattage your lighting fixture can handle. I don't know how high the dual heat lamp fixture that you are using can go, so please take note of that. There should be a sticker on the fixture somewhere that tells you the maximum wattage you can use. If the fixture cannot exceed what you have now but things are not getting warm enough, you'll either need an additional heat fixture or will need to replace the current one with something that can take a higher wattage bulb. Speaking of heat fixtures, I would definitely pick up a rheostat (dimming switch) for your heat bulbs. You can also pick these up at a hardware store. I'm pretty sure the dual fixture doesn't have a dimming option. You'll need this to adjust the output of your bulb to get the correct temperatures, unless you want to be constantly raising and lowering your fixture to different distances to adjust the temps. Now that we have heat covered, let's talk about UVB. Proper UVB is extremely important to the health of diurnal reptiles. Without it, they cannot maintain proper calcium levels and are prone to "metabolic bone disorder," or MBD. MBD is a blanket term that covers a lot of symptoms, but basically it is a calcium deficiency that leads to a lot of health problems such as poor bone strength, loss of appetite, weakness, etc. If not caught soon enough and/or not corrected in a timely manner, this is a fatal condition. The best way to fight MBD is to prevent it, and the best way to prevent it is to have a quality UVB light, as well as a diet supplemented with a calcium/vitamin D3 powder such as Rep Cal. Different UVB bulbs have different specifications, so I here is a quick guide on the different styles available. You'll notice that the coil/compact UVB bulb that comes with the Zoo Med starter kit is not recommended. These have had poor results in the past and deteriorate at a very quick rate, and are simply not a good long term choice for UVB light. Better alternatives should all be covered in that quick guide. Make sure to take note of the correct distance the bulb needs to be from the basking spot, as well as how often you need to replace the bulb. Moving on to substrate, sand is generally not recommended for smaller reptiles such as your baby mali, and vitamin sand is not a very good option if you do decide to use sand at some point later down the road. Birdseed is a fine option, just make sure that you are cleaning out any waste on a daily basis, as organic materials can grow mold and fungi rather quickly if you let them stay damp. Paper towel is also a good option, and is probably what I would actually lean towards myself. Young reptiles poop a lot, so having a non-particulate substrate will be easier as far as clean up goes. You can always switch to birdseed as your uro matures and his metabolism slows down a little. Now for feeding, stick with the fresh foods (collard, mustard, turnip greens, etc., fresh fruits and veggies) as your staple. The freeze dried mix that PetSmart sells is not very good as a staple food, but you can use it as a treat if you want. This page is a great reference when choosing a well rounded diet for your uro. The page was made for bearded dragons, but is also applicable to uromastyx. Try to stick to the staple food items on that page and you should be good to go. Keep in mind that while mali uros are omnivorous, they need very little protein in their diet, so feeder insects should be kept to a minimum. Don't worry about giving him too much extra water in his dish. You can mist his fresh foods for a little added moisture, but uromastyx need very little hydration and obtain what they need from their food. Standing water in a uromastyx's cage actually poses a safety hazard. Because the spiky scales on their tails layer and overlap, water can get trapped in them very easily, which can lead to a condition known as tail rot. It's for this reason that you should limit bathing as well, and make sure you towel dry your uro 100% when you are done. The hiding and refusal to eat are perfectly normal for a reptile that has just been introduced to a new home. Stress does strange things to reptiles, and they may even refuse to come out or eat for a week or two. Just keep offering food every day and eventually he should come around. Do not try to force feed him. At this point it's unnecessary and will only cause unneeded stress on your animal. Force feeding should only be used in extreme cases, usually at a veterinarian's discretion. One thing you can do to help with the hiding issue is put a background on the front and two sides of the cage. This offers a little more of a closed in feeling, which gives reptiles a sense of security--they don't like open spaces and feel exposed in all glass enclosures. Give your lizard some security and try to keep things quiet around his cage while he settles in and he should start coming out at some point in the near future. It just takes patience. As long as the cats are strictly observing Thunder, they should be fine. He will get used to them; again, it will just take some time. The main issue with cats and reptiles is getting them to keep their paws off. You definitely will want to secure your lights on top of your screen lid. You can do this by drilling two holes on opposite sides in the plastic/ceramic fixture and tying the fixture down to the lid with wire or even a twisty tie. This will stop your cats from knocking the lights off in a moment of curiosity. (Obviously heat lights will melt your carpet if knocked over which may cause a fire.) Finally, you asked for some online resources for ordering supplies: http://reptilesupply.com http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/ And even amazon has supplies you can order. Hopefully that should be a good start. =) Okay, I think I have covered everything I wanted to get to. Sorry this is so lengthy, but I like to cover all my bases. Of course, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! Once again, welcome to the boards and to reptile keeping! =D
Thank you both so much! I have placed paper on all sides of his enclosure now. I will definitely look into getting a digital thermometer or gun, as well as better bulbs for UVB and temp, and a dimming switch. I'm going to get some tiles for his cage for now, for easier clean up. I might switch to millet later, once I get to take the paper off the cage and it actually looks pretty, lol. Will the tile, or paper even, cause him stress because he can't burrow? I will look into finding him some squash (do I grate it?), endive, and mustard greens to go with his collard greens. It looks like those are daily staples according to that website (thanks for that!). I have dried mealworms that I just gave him, and it looks like he might have actually eaten a couple! What I haven't found is how MUCH he is supposed to eat.
I can't believe I forgot to mention this website.... http://www.deerfernfarms.com/ That site and the owners of the farm are the leading expertise on most of the species of commonly (and even uncommonly) kept Uromastyx. The owner is a ridiculously nice man who truly loves the species and has years of experience. As long as you have nice dark hides (they like small spaces, just big enough to turn around in) they won't get stressed from not being able to burrow Also, it's actually better for younger Uros to not have any feeder insects and just have a wide variety of greens and seeds. Your little guy looks big enough to handle the mealworms but don't be surprised if he doesn't readily eat them. As far as how much he is supposed to eat... it varies. As you can read through in the other thread a lot of us are asking ourselves that same question! The basic answer is as long as he is not losing weight and he is active during the day (coming out to bask and "forage") then he is eating enough to keep up his metabolism and keep himself healthy Some days my Uro eats his entire bowl, others only one or two pieces of greens, but he has constantly put on weight and comes out to bask and explore his tank every day Good luck and keep us posted on his progress!
Well...... i'm glad they said(typed) all that, so i didn't need to type all day LOL!! I myself have 5 of these magnificent lizards The older they get the more beautiful they become. Ok.. the only thing i can add is try to get a small digital scale, to monitor his weight. He looks to be around 40 grams. If he loses more than 12-15 grams i would be worried. If he isn't eating for more than 5 days give him a HOT bath, with a digital(infra-red) thermometer get the water 115deg, and just deep enough to cover his belly to rehydrate him. he doesn't need to necessarily drink the water, it will be absorbed through his vents. More times than not they will drink. You will see them close their eyes and lay their head flat with the water, and slightly open their mouths. I highly recomend checking out deer fern farms care sheet. Congrats on finding us, I hope you will keep us informed on your Maili's progress P.S your Maili looks very healthy
It looks like you already got your answers, but nice pics! Thats a good looking Uro! How is he doing now? You cats look VERY interested in him lol. I have one cat, he is 12 or 13 years old and is probably to coolest cat in the world. I introduced him to my Uro and he isn't too sure about him, but doesn't try to go after him, just watches. He looks uncomfortable when the Uro licks him lol.
I hate it when people post ?'s, get answers, then dissapear with no conclusions or feed back from the answers given.
I actually tried to reply to this Friday when I read the post from my phone, but it wouldn't let me for some reason. Thunder is doing well, although still really skittish. We've had our step-daughter and 2 granddaughters staying with us for the last month though, so there has been a lot of commotion in the house. He comes out to bask more often now, and is eating better too. I got a digital thermometer which puts the tank temp between 105-115.
Oh nice! Sorry about not being able to post from your phone... that's weird, the forum *should* work on all platforms. A bit awkward on some though! Lol I'm glad he's eating well for you and coming out more They are one of the more skittish reptiles but eventually he should calm down and let you hold him Good luck and keep us updated, we don't have many Uro owners here, every one counts!
Wellll Helllloooo there!!! Good to see you're back I'm happy as well as that things are going well. As Sticky said every URO owner counts here, keep us informed, maybe a picture woud be nice some time
So Thunder isn't very active lately. I haven't changed the lighting/heat in his enclosure, but wondered if it might be because of the season? He seems to be eating less too. The only thing I can get him to eat is turnip greens, so I haven't really been trying him on anything else. I do offer him these bearded dragon bites I found at the pet food store a few months ago, mainly for the vitamins and calcium they contain, because he NEVER eats his food if it's dusted with the vitamins or calcium/D3 powders. I rarely see him active at all. If I happen to be around at 9-10 AM or so, that's when I've seen him out, but when he is out all he does is frantically go from one corner of the cage to another scratching at the sides like he's trying to get out. I took the paper off the front of his cage a few months ago to see if that helped, but it didn't, just made the cats more interested. And, if he sees anyone moving in the room, he immediately scurries back to his hiding place. Otherwise, he stays in one spot in his cage, half burrowed under a log. If I don't happen to see him at 9-10 AM out and about, I never know if he's even been out of his hole. I never did weigh him, but it doesn't look like he's lost weight. He seems longer, but not as big as I'd think considering we've had him now for over 7 months. I'm guessing he's about 7 inches long. I'm getting ready to order new supplies online. I'm ordering new light fixtures and bulbs. Any recommendations for specific ones?
It's about the same here...i do think, as for the inactivity level, my uros are not as active. They're only out for about 3-4 hours. This is my first full season so i really don't have a good perspective on seasonal behavior changes yet. However my uros at eating well when they are out. There's a thread in the uro forum, that is discussing feeding our uros, you may get some ideas there. I did experiment with green beans recently, it went well however you should dust with a multi vitamin,i use the repashy super foods supplement.you can get this from deerfernfarms.com just look at the uro supplies,& care sheet for more ideas. I did purchase some dragon pellets, my uros didn't care for it, but that doesn't mean anything for your uro. It really is all about experimenting all the time. It's allot of work, but when you find what works it gets much easier & worth all the work. Give your uro a soak in hot 75% pedialyte 25% water, about 120deg. for about 10min to ensure hydration once a week. If the uro isn't eating much or drinking water their kidneys shut down it's next to impossible to recover from that. I hope I've helped,P.S. You really should get a scale to weigh your uro, it's really hard to tell if they've gained or lost 10 grams, which can be valuable info.
He's so cute hiding in his spot In the winter almost all reptiles feel the seasonal change and have some sort of "slow-down"... over the passed month or so my little guy has definitely slowed down his eating quite a bit (I offer food every day but he only eats about half the quantity that he had been). I wouldn't worry about it, he will perk up in the warmer months I would definitely get a scale if you're worried though... like Naykid said, anything over a 10gram drop is time to worry, anything less than that I wouldn't worry about him too much, it's just seasonal changes. As for his running around and trying to get out... mine does the same thing, I thought it was because he wasn't happy in his tank so I have changed it around, changed the substrate, layout, etc. but he just seems to like doing it :-/
I thoroughly cleaned his cage (vinegar/water) and accessories and changed out his substrate, and I let him soak in the pedialyte/water mix while I was doing it. I was excited to see him drinking and dunking his head. Now, he's out exploring his "new" home. (I did change the layout a bit too). He's even coming up onto his basking area, which he never does. Maybe he just needed a recharge of the sugar/salt in the water? I also got a new UVA/UVB light bulb for him. I tried mixing his vitamins/calcium in water in a spray bottle and misting his food with it. Maybe he'll eat it better that way. I also changed up his food to some organic spring mix (red and green swiss chard, tat soi, arugula, and spinach) and added some endive. We'll see how he does with it. He's also molting like crazy. I hope it's just a normal molt and not indicative of something wrong. I've seen him molt in small bits at a time, but he just about shed his entire skin in a huge chunk! And I forgot to weigh him while I had him out, dang it. I'm going to use our digital food scale since it does grams. But I guess I'll wait a few days so I don't traumatize him any more today! Thanks everyone for all the suggestions!
Sounds like you are a great uro owner The shedding came off due to the long soak deerfeernfarms.com also carries a calcium dust made by Repashy super foods. View attachment 1964 View attachment 1964
