mali uromastyx

[halfwaynowhere]

My mom and I were at petsmart buying cat food, and absolutely fell in love with a mali uromastyx. She had the biggest personality... I thought bearded dragons were full of personality, but this girl had the beardeds topped. I asked to hold her, and she was just so cute. I want her, but I won't buy from Petsmart. They had her in with a heat rock, they said it was because heat lamps don't get hot enough for her. I suggested the use of a UTH. And I have a pretty good feeling that she's wild caught, too. So I won't be buying her. But now I'm doing some research, and came across someone on craigslist selling a pair of them, with all accessories, for less than what petsmart was asking for the one. So tomorrow we are heading out there to pick them up.
I'm pretty excited, but I've got a lot of things to pick up in my room to make room for them...

 

[froggyman]

mali's need alot of space id say at least 75gallons for an adult pair also their basking spot needs to be in the 100's..thats all i know...keep us updated

 

[J_dUbz88]

most like it 120 or even higher, what do you plan to use as bedding? Have you given thought to a mercury vapor bulb?

 

[halfwaynowhere]

well, for now i'm going to stick with the setup i'm given, and will upgrade it as soon as possible. They are in a 20 gallon, which is way too small, but my sister has a bunch of empty tanks, and she said I could have one of them. So I'll probably get them into a bigger tank sometime next week.
Not sure what to use for substrate yet. and I don't know what kind of light they have. I'll upgrade all that stuff after my next paycheck, though. I figure they've been set up however they are for awhile now, so it won't hurt them to stay that way for another week or two... unless there's some serious danger to how they are set up.
money is a bit tight right now, just registered for school, and still need to buy books. luckily i'm starting a second job soon, lol. and i'll gradually get these guys in the perfect set ups, as soon as i can. but i figure it won't be too hard. most herps seem pretty easy once you get the right equipment and have it set up properly.

 

[J_dUbz88]

a greta idea for set up is millet seed as seeds are a part of their diet in the wild anyways. Mali's are also notorious for getting mouthfuls of substrate, so if they take on a mouthful of this it will just be like getting a mouthful of food. Millet also stays very dry which is needed for mali's. If you have any questions feel free to shoot them this way.

 

[Philth]

Most likely the pair your buying is WC too. In fact most of the "CB" Uro's are WC.

Later, Tom

 

[halfwaynowhere]

my biggest issue with seeds is the moths. I've had birds before, and have had moths come in from the birdseed... And now i've got a big bag of rabbit food that i'm using as substrate for my tortoise, and I've got moths again. and i'm severely lepidoptheraphobic, so its a big issue for me...
i was thinking of newspaper, but i know they like to dig, so that's not the best thing for them. And sand seems like it would be a big no-no as far as impaction.
after we pick them up, we'll swing by amazon reptile center, and have them all checked out and everything, and pick up substrate, and any crucial supplies.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Most likely the pair your buying is WC too. In fact most of the "CB" Uro's are WC.

Later, Tom

yeah, i think they might be wild caught, but the biggest difference is that i'm not buying them from a store that bought them as wild caught. I'm buying them from a family who bought them and decided that they can't keep them. so while the lizards are likely WC, I'm not directly supporting the store that had them imported.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

i got the pair home. They are still fairly small, the male is between 8-10 inches from nose to tip of tail. the twenty gallon tank they are in seems plenty big for them for now. They are already on millet substrate, so i'll keep them like that. they've got two lights, I think one is a compact flourescant full spectrim, and the other is a heat bulb. its 108 F on the substrate right under the bulb, so i'll look for something a bit warmer soon.
the male is the friendlier of the two, although I was told they were both pretty easy to handle. Right now they are a bit stressed from the drive. I got a few pics of the boy, but the girl is just too crazy right now... she bit me, and when she let go, she bit the boy, and held on for a minute or two. So I'll get pictures of her on monday.
Their names were Dora and Diego (family had two very young kids). I renamed them Nick and Nora. So, here is Nick:

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Nora was a bit more calm this morning, after cooling down a bit during the night, so I got a few pics of her... She still wasn't very happy, and kept making a weird growling/hissing sound, and went into an attack pose or something... It was really interesting to watch. Anyways, here she is.

 

[xBurntBytheSunx]

they look neat, what do you feed them?

 

[halfwaynowhere]

yesterday i gave them a salad of bok choy, mustard greens, and cactus leave, sprinkled with vitamin powder. They don't get a water bowl, they need it really dry. They get all their water from their food. pretty awesome. They can have crickets occassionally, but not very often, once a week at the most, but i'll probably give them once a month or so.

 

[J_dUbz88]

good call on the crickets. In the wild its not apart of their diet and should be only fed as a treat, if you feed too often their can be health issues.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

they've both mellowed out a bit, not staying in their hide all day. The hide they had was just a cardboard box, with a hole cut in the front. I didn't like it. their temps were just a bit on the low side for my liking. So I decided to make them a combo hide/basking spot. I took a few paving stones, broke them up into tiny pieces, and then glued them under one stone to create a cave. They seem to love it! and it looks all nice and natural. Biggest downside is that its super heavy. But I won't need to take it out very often, its easy to clean around.
today is the first day i've seen them this active. pretty awesome pets. and they are better with being handled, not as jumpy as they were the other day.