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#2260932 Bloaxgondo View Profile	Heating idea I would really like to know if this would work for my Egyptian Uromastyx (Nimrod). Now I know they do not have the nerves in their underbelly to resist the heat of a heat rock. I have a cup burrowed in sand in Nimrod’s tank. I was wondering if I could put the rock under that, then have probably some cloth in the cup, then sand on top to heat up that just a little for a comfy area to relax in. It’s about 8 inches deep. My mother for some reason keeps slacking on driving 30 minutes to get proper heat lamps for his cage. the hottest it gets would be around 80 degrees and he’s running off of two heat lamps. Not lights, pure heat lamps. I do have a light in his cage however. I suppose my main question is just will that work? So say he gets too cold and wants to warm up, would that work? Would it harm him in any way? I’ve had him for six years now and I’d like to keep him more.
04/01/12  02:26am
#2260953 Rtl402 View Profile	Message To: Bloaxgondo   In reference to Message Id: 2260932  Heating idea 6 years without proper temps? The heat rock is not going to work regardless of what crazy ideas you try. Uromastyx need heat and UVB from ABOVE. In nature, all their D3 and heat absorption comes from the sun. This is the ONLY way your Uro will be able to properly digest food, regulate body temps, etc
04/01/12  09:58am
#2260962 Vers View Profile	Message To: Bloaxgondo   In reference to Message Id: 2260932  Heating idea I agree with Rtl. There is something very wrong with either your lighting setup, type of lighting, enclosure size and or the way you’re measuring your temps. In order for anyone to help you you will need to provide a lot more information--I would check out the ’Read before posting’ thread and answer each question within this thread; just copy and paste the questions from there to here. Also, posting images of the entire enclosure, lighting setup and the uro itself will help tremendously.
04/01/12  10:31am
#2261002 Bloaxgondo View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2260962  Heating idea 1) How long have you owned the animal 6 years. 2) Dimensions of the enclosure you are using. Measure it- do not guess or give gallon size 13 inches in width. 48 inches in length. 24 inches heighth. 3) Species (if known), length, and weight of the animal Egyptian Uromastyx, 11 inches long. Weight is unknown. 4) Listing of all animals kept in the enclosure referred to in the post Just the Egyptian Uromastyx. 5) Basking spot temperature and how that temperature was measured 90 degrees. Regular thermometer. 6) Temperature throughout the rest of the enclosure (warm and cool areas) and how these temperatures were measured e.g. digital thermometer, stick on dial thermometer. Provide the nighttime temperatures as well. about 70 degrees. Regular thermometer. 7) Acknowledge whether you are using a UVB bulb and if so, the brand, age of bulb, and distance from the bulb to the uromastyx Not currently using a UVB lbulb. We used to. 8) Diet items being fed and how often each item is fed Fed a handful of lettuce a day. 9) List of the supplements being used, how much is used, and how often the supplement is used Reptile sticks. I shake it in with his food once a day. about 10 pellets. 10) Type of substrate (cage bottom material). If this is sand, state whether it is calcium sand Bottom of structure is carpet. On top of it is about 5 - 6 inches of sand (Measured at highest and lowest points) 11) Describe your animal’s daily routine. When it exits the hide, when it retreats for the night, how long it is usually out throughout the day, is it active during this time, how much time does it spend sitting on the basking spot…. It spends about all day in the basking spot. Sometimes sleeps there too. He likes to run around lookiing for food. Normally when he starts to do this I will feed him. He’s random about going into his den. 12) Describe your animal’s appetite. Usually when I feed him he engolves most of it then goes and basks. Sometimes he doesn’t even touch it until it’s all but dried out. 13) Describe any unusual behaviors you are seeing or any recent changes in behavior. Also note whether any recent modifications have been made to this animal’s environment. e.g new enclosure, move to another room, new heat bulb.... Just yesterday I put the sand on top of his carpet. He’s loving it, I put a cup into his burrow for a little hiding spot. He has a huge den about half the height of the tank. He basks on top of it. He’s been exploring so much more since this and I like seeing him moving around more than usual. 14) Describe how often this animal is handled and the type of handling. I do not handle him. He hates it. He’ll hiss and whip his tail around. I only handle him when cleaning his cage so a couple times a week. I never handle him for my own amusement. 15) State whether the animal has been to a vet, when that was, and whether the animal was diagnosed with a medical condition. Also state whether the uromastyx has ever had a fecal check. If so states when the fecal check was done, what was found, and if medication was prescribed. About three years ago I would say he was to the vet, he wasn’t eating at all. The vet suggested rubbing baby food on his lips to get him to eat. We made it warmer in his tank and since then has been munching on lettuce and some green beans or other fruits we find to give to him.
04/01/12  04:01pm
#2261010 Vers View Profile	Message To: Bloaxgondo   In reference to Message Id: 2261002  Heating idea Ok, there appears to be quite a bit wrong with your husbandry, which would explain why your Egyptian, assuming it is actually an Egyptian, is undersized. At six years of age your Egyptian should be larger than 11". T touch on each issue as presented above, I’d first like to point out that the enclosure is far too small for an adult of this species, which can grow up to three feet in length. The recommended minimum enclosure should be 4x the lizards adult length in width and somewhere around 2x in depth. Height depends on the type of lighting and enclosure type used. That said, the minimum enclosure size for an Egyptian should be no smaller than 6x3 (WxD) and ideally larger. The enclosure/tank you currently have it housed in is smaller than the recommended minimum for even the smallest species of uromastyx. Assuming your temps are correct, which it’s very likely they are not especially if you’re using an analog thermometer, 90f is far too low for basking. It is recommended that basking temps be somewhere in the 120-130f range and the basking spot itself must be large enough to allow the entire lizard to bask. The same applies to ambient temps in the rest of the enclosure. A temperature gradient should exist and create an ambient temp somewhere in the mid to high 90’s on the warm end and somewhere in the mid 80’s on the cool end. This allows the animals to thermoregulate. In addition to this, at least two hides must be offered. Substrate is something that needs to be clarified as well...what specific type of sand is being used? In terms of specific lighting, uromastyx require UVB in order to properly synthesize vitamin D3, without it they can face serious health issues. You should be providing, at the very least, a quality UVB fluorescent with a rating of 10.0 (ZooMed ReptiSun 10.0 OR Arcadia). A better form of UVB output are mercury vapor lamps, otherwise known as MVB lamps, which produce both heat and UVB. A good option at the moment are ZoMed’s PowerSun 160w MVBs. Both standard fluorescent and MVB lamps must be mounted within a specific distance from the animal (usually 8-12" for fluorescent and ~18" for MVB). As stated above, you must create a temp gradient with a basking area of at least 120f. This can be achieved in several ways. If you decide on an MVB there is a chance it will do that on it’s own, but if not you should add a secondary form of supplementary heat to get temps up to where they are needed. You can use a standard outdoor halogen or a ceramic heat emitter, ideally on a rheostat or dimmer switch/cord which will allow you to control heat output easily without finagling with distances and different wattages. You should use a similar setup with a standard UVB fluorescent. It’s important to note that the entire enclosure should be very well lit. If you happen to need additional lighting on the cool end I would recommend daylight rated (6500k) compact fluorescent bulbs with decent output (23w or higher). I’m assuming the diet being offered is also off base--a "hand full of lettuce" is too general. In short it should be receiving daily amounts of curly endive and or escarole with various other food items mixed in every so often. A complete list of food items can be found on UroWiki, a wiki page dedicated to proper uromastyx husbandry. I would recommend reading through every chapter in order to get a better handle on the genus. I hope that this helps and that you actually implement the above suggestions to provide a better life for your animal...I’m sure you will see a large positive change in behavior.
04/01/12  05:08pm
#2261012 Vers View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2261010  Heating idea Also, grab yourself a digital temp/humidity gauge and an ir temp gun to accurately obtain enclosure temps.
04/01/12  05:22pm
#2261158 Bloaxgondo View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2261010  Heating idea Thank you, I should be getting a job soon with my license in June. Since my mom doesn’t have the money to pay for it (And doesn’t feel like driving 30 minutes for some reason) I will get him all set up. Thank you!
04/02/12  05:06pm
#2261567 Wild_life10 View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2261012  Heating idea Hey vers. Great job. Much nicer then i would have been. What do u own? Cheers
04/05/12  09:12am
#2261568 Wild_life10 View Profile	Message To: Bloaxgondo   In reference to Message Id: 2261158  Heating idea Hmm. Uros are a very expensive "pet" to own young one. Perhaps you should consider a less expensive one.. Im very surprised that after 6 yrs of dangerous husbandry that nimrod is still alive. Vers has made many great suhestions. I would apply quickly. Best of luck
04/05/12  09:17am
#2261586 Vers View Profile	Message To: Wild_life10   In reference to Message Id: 2261567  Heating idea Only passing on what I’ve learned in hopes that information will help someone else. Currently I have two imm. Ornates and two imm. Philbyi.
04/05/12  01:27pm
#2261689 Wild_life10 View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2261586  Heating idea Very nice. I bet you just love them to pieces. i own 3 mali’s, 2 occelates, 3 orantes and 11 sarahans.... I would love to own philbyi and moraccans one day. Cheers.
04/06/12  10:56am
#2261691 Vers View Profile	Message To: Wild_life10   In reference to Message Id: 2261689  Heating idea They are a great genus of lizard. I’ve always had an interest in them but things never lined up well enough for me to responsibly invest in them. I’d like to add a few more species down the road as well, but will need a larger space to do so. I’d love to find some Algerian, Macfads and or, going far out on a limb, Princeps but the much more common Geryi are on my radar as well. One step at a time though :)
04/06/12  11:21am
#2261724 Wild_life10 View Profile	Message To: Vers   In reference to Message Id: 2261691  Heating idea be nice to own one of every species. lol. hope you get what youd like sometime down the road. cheers
04/06/12  02:48pm
#2261824 Rtl402 View Profile	Message To: Wild_life10   In reference to Message Id: 2261724  Heating idea hey wild_life hows it going! I forgot you had that many saharans! lol My female mali is gravid again this year, got the nest box setup this time though :) Hoping for good eggs again that will survive into the incubator. Hope all is good with all of your little ones!
04/07/12  08:15am

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