you also must keep in mind the surface area in the wild is much different then a tank or enclosure. your uro can tunnel all the way around the glass and there could be 10 lbs or more that can collapse on top of them I am shure that would be death if not caught quickly. in the wild they can dig forever and are not stuck in a sqare tank. the force of it coming down in a tank is much more centered then in the wild. As I said before its best to cut the chances of injury down to nothing in a lizards enclosure. why chance it?

Also eggs are not burried down in 4ft of solid dirt. there only inches down and in dirt/sand mix that is prepared by the female. so its alot softer then you think.

I'd agree that some play it safe. But it could also be considered playing it safe to setup an enclosure as close as possible to their required living conditions. I've bred Uros and monitors with close to the same substrate conditions. I've never had a problem with cave-ins. When the Uros were not breeding I would allow the substrate to dry out more than usual. Sure tunnels would collapse but never a complete cave-in.
Eggs are not buried down a few inches, not sure where you read that. They require stable temperatures for incubation. This is impossible at that depth. The sun is way too hot in their native environment. Also if you consider the high humidity required for Uro eggs. Then they must be quite deep where the moisture is.
I've always tried to mimic the native habitats of all herps. It is a leap forward from basic husbandry though that most will never take because of the added time involved. Is it risky? I could say yes I guess. It is risky to introduce higher humidity into a Uro enclosure but no more risky than not providing enough. Same with the substrate depth issue. I believe it to be a necessary step to keep a herp healthy for a longer lifetime.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

I'd have to agree with mike here. I prefer keeping enclosures as close as possible to their required living conditions, these are animals that have evolved over many hundreds even thousands of years to live in the areas that they do, I Like to go as natural as possible for any of my animals, and though it does take more time, and more money, i think it is well worth the effort, and as long as the correct precautions are taken, won't be any more risky then otherwise.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

You can agree with mike if you want but this isn't a debate. If you were so concerned about keeping a enclosure as close as possible to their REQUIRED living conditions then why not use a whole room and make it one big enclosure or better yet your whole back yard. Even zoo's that have uromastyx on display don't do what your are proposing to do. They make fake rock structures out of grout and cement. Also when you breed Uros in the home you use a nesting box and take the eggs out and incubate them seperately from the enclosure. So Kriminaal how do you raise your babys again?

When you say required living conditions is kinda weird. They don't eat escarole or endive or hibiscus or 90% of the things we feed them that they don't get in the wild. Are you going to go to Africa and get some wild shrubs and flowers for it too.

All I am saying is you cut chances down of injury. Calci sand is recommended for uros but is it safe? of course it isn't. You get my point I am sure. I also am sure a tank with deep substrate so they can make there own hides and tunnels would be cool to look at. From what I have researched is that Uros tend to stay out of the sand and spend most of their time in rock structures and in between cracks in rocks. which is why some peoples Uros will wedge in between something and the glass and can sleep straight up. As it would do in between a rock crack in the wild.

But its not my eyes im am trying to please. I just choose to make sure that I give the lizard the best care and least chance of injury possible. I am ending my responses to this thread here. I believe I made my point and there is no need to turn this into a rant debate.

You haven't ruffled my feathers. All we're doing is discussing our opinions on a subject that others are undoubtedly reading. We're just causing them to think about how they raise their Uros and to question their methods. Everyone needs to question their husbandry methods because most of us have learned something from someone else. That doesn't mean those people actually had everything right.
As for the nest box. I tried it and had no luck. They would never lay their eggs in it despite my best efforts to get everything right.
When you say it's not your eyes you're trying to please I can't agree with that to some degree. We like to watch our reptiles climbing and doing this and that. If we didn't set them up to do this things some people would lose interest.
In the end we do what works to keep them healthy.
We are all entitled to our opinions. Providing they are OUR OWN opinions from our experiences. Not what we've read or heard from someone.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

i agree and im going to stop on this thread I said all I could.

Just by agreeing with someones opinion I am not calling this a debate, this is a discussion, i am voicing my opinion.

Zoo's do this so the animals they have can still be viewed, would you go to a zoo if almost every single animal was buried under dirt, or hiding inside a hollowed out tree, or behind so much foilage you would never see them?

That throws me off a bit too actually, i meant to say Natural Living Conditions. I would assume required living conditions would be, so much space, food/water, proper temps and humidity, so on.

I'm assuming your point then is you "choose to make sure that (you) give the lizard the best care and least chance of injury possible"
Thats perfectly understandable, and i'm not saying there is anything wrong with the methods you use, I'm stating my opinion, and what I feel on the situation.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."