Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Help finding a pet

Calgary4LIfe · 03-18-2016, 01:24 AM

I highly recommend the Uromastyx. There are various species and color morphs, and they aren't too difficult to find either (though some of the colors are quite expensive).

I kept one years ago. Why did I choose this?

1) No water necessary. Wait - forget 'not necessary' - don't you dare put a water dish in the enclosure or your lizard may get rot. They get all their water needs through their food. They can't deal with high humidity or exposure to water.

Now, why is the 'no water' thing important? First of all, it is one less thing you have to worry about. Secondly - water stinks. It can spill and soil the rest of the terrarium. Some lizards even seem to like pooping in their water dish too (at least, many types of iguanas do). No water necessary = much less smell and mess.

2) Easy to feed - veggies (please, no romaine lettuce - use collared greens, kale, bokchoy, dandelion greens/flowers (make sure from a non-herbicide/pesticide sprayed area!!), etc.). They get all their water needs from this believe it or not.

Birdseed. Yes. Buy birdseed. Always keep clean birdseed in a dish in their terrarium. They eat a lot of seeds in the wild. You can hear them crunching down one the seed throughout the day just like a bird. Birdseed is essential to their health (and hey, it is cheap!).

3) Environment - they come from a hot DRY dessert. Keep the terrarium dry. Much easier to keep up with cleaning (like, barely anything to it), and very little to no smell (your wife will appreciate it!).

3) Less chance of salmonella - (less chance, not zero chance - so take proper precautions always, especially with children and elderly people - iguanas and monitors are notorious for salmonella and other bacterium). The no water, no mice/meat diet helps keep your house cleaner and smelling better - and who wants to buy frozen mice or baby pinkies? You can buy crickets, but keep these to a treat of one or two per week. They can't tolerate a high-protein diet. They relish insects, but they just can't tolerate many. They can be perfectly healthy without crickets or other insects in their diet if memory serves - I rarely ever bought them for my uro.

They seem to fit the approximate size of what you are looking for (much smaller than bearded dragons, but they are not tiny like anoles either).

Here are some examples of what they look like (spoiler tags for size, nothing disgusting):

NSFW!

You should really do a bit of research on these lizards if you like the look of them and feel they fit what you are looking for. Also, just google image search "Uromastyx" if you want more pics of different varieties - there are loads of closely related species with vastly different colors.

Also, the short care info I provided is for the Mali Uro. I am sure that perhaps some species of them would need a water dish, or perhaps slightly different foods/environment, so make sure you research them well. If it helps, I bought my Uro from Riverfront Aquariums back then for $100. No idea if the price has been jacked up with them becoming more popular, or went down since there are a tonne more breeders working with these lizards now.

03-18-2016, 01:24 AM	#23
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I highly recommend the Uromastyx. There are various species and color morphs, and they aren't too difficult to find either (though some of the colors are quite expensive). I kept one years ago. Why did I choose this? 1) No water necessary. Wait - forget 'not necessary' - don't you dare put a water dish in the enclosure or your lizard may get rot. They get all their water needs through their food. They can't deal with high humidity or exposure to water. Now, why is the 'no water' thing important? First of all, it is one less thing you have to worry about. Secondly - water stinks. It can spill and soil the rest of the terrarium. Some lizards even seem to like pooping in their water dish too (at least, many types of iguanas do). No water necessary = much less smell and mess. 2) Easy to feed - veggies (please, no romaine lettuce - use collared greens, kale, bokchoy, dandelion greens/flowers (make sure from a non-herbicide/pesticide sprayed area!!), etc.). They get all their water needs from this believe it or not. Birdseed. Yes. Buy birdseed. Always keep clean birdseed in a dish in their terrarium. They eat a lot of seeds in the wild. You can hear them crunching down one the seed throughout the day just like a bird. Birdseed is essential to their health (and hey, it is cheap!). 3) Environment - they come from a hot DRY dessert. Keep the terrarium dry. Much easier to keep up with cleaning (like, barely anything to it), and very little to no smell (your wife will appreciate it!). 3) Less chance of salmonella - (less chance, not zero chance - so take proper precautions always, especially with children and elderly people - iguanas and monitors are notorious for salmonella and other bacterium). The no water, no mice/meat diet helps keep your house cleaner and smelling better - and who wants to buy frozen mice or baby pinkies? You can buy crickets, but keep these to a treat of one or two per week. They can't tolerate a high-protein diet. They relish insects, but they just can't tolerate many. They can be perfectly healthy without crickets or other insects in their diet if memory serves - I rarely ever bought them for my uro. They seem to fit the approximate size of what you are looking for (much smaller than bearded dragons, but they are not tiny like anoles either). Here are some examples of what they look like (spoiler tags for size, nothing disgusting): NSFW! Mali Uromastyx (most common) Rainbow Benti Ornate General size they get - not to small, but definitely not large lizards that need careful handling either (I handled mine often, even though for some reason he was never tame - never bit me once) You should really do a bit of research on these lizards if you like the look of them and feel they fit what you are looking for. Also, just google image search "Uromastyx" if you want more pics of different varieties - there are loads of closely related species with vastly different colors. Also, the short care info I provided is for the Mali Uro. I am sure that perhaps some species of them would need a water dish, or perhaps slightly different foods/environment, so make sure you research them well. If it helps, I bought my Uro from Riverfront Aquariums back then for $100. No idea if the price has been jacked up with them becoming more popular, or went down since there are a tonne more breeders working with these lizards now.