Hi, I'm new the forum and I've looked everywhere for a uromastyx forum that seemed to have members that actually knew what they were talking about! =]

I work at Petsmart and recently we got a mali uromastyx into our store [he was transferred from another petsmart] He was the most adorable, chubby thing ever and I ended up buying him, since we only have males in our store, I assumed he was male until I started doing research, he LOOKS like a female but I also read that males and females can sometimes look like the opposite gender. Not to mention he's really big, the size I'd expect a male to be.

Long story short, I bought another not even a week ago at another petstore that sells ONLY reptiles, the man who worked there checked out the glands on there bottoms and assured me that my new baby was a female. She's petite and colored just like a male would be. A day later I have 18 eggs in my tank, Im pretty sure I bought her already gravid. I've had the eggs for 3 days now, But the eggs aren't my issue.

Last few days I've had her, they've been fine together, cuddle at night and generally enjoyed each others company. But today, I come home early from work around 2:30 shes very aggressive towards him, she bites down on his toes, his sides, and clings to his back and hind legs when he just wants to run away from her. He never fights back, he just tries to run away or fly up the side of the tank. Whenever she even walks near him he panics and starts to run away and she starts all over again.

I'm thinking of doubling up on basking areas, and food dishes, and more hiding spots. I'd really hate to have to give her back, but in all fairness, my boy was here first and this is HIS home. Is this normal and will he be okay if this goes on any longer? My boy is double the size of my little girl, and she beats the living **** out of him. Or was I wrong and could my male be another female? I heard same sex pairs arent a good idea. I have no idea what the differance is between and male and females glands, I'm just so worried, my male is exhausted looks like he hasnt eaten in days, but I've SEEN him eat when I feed them before I go to work, what they're doing during the day is still a mystery to me, this could have been going on since she laid the eggs.

Anyone have any words of wisdom?

Your larger uro may infact be female and may have laid the eggs which would account for a rapid amount of weight loss.

Ideally you should separate them, adding basking areas and hides may help if the enclosure is huge, but you can't watch them all the time and it's not uncommon for the less dominate lizard to stop eating, get sick and die from the stress.

It's a risk anyone takes if they try to house two of anything together, you never know if they would get along. I mean if someone picked someone at random for me to share a house with I think I might have some issues with that too. (Unless the other person cooked and cleaned, bought the groceries, paid the bills, etc, haha).

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I totally agree with Lace. They need to be separated especially if she is bullying him. Even if they were both females they could be housed together but you are having a dominance issue that needs to be resolved and the best way to do that is separate tanks.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Not to mention any new animal should be quarantined for a minimum of 30 days to allow time to settle and and to make sure there is no illness. You wouldn't want both of your animals getting sick!

And reptiles don't really snuggle and enjoy company like humans do. They simply tolerate each other. Most reptiles are solitary creatures.

Tell us about the setup, like temps, size, humidity, diet, etc..

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Its about a 44 gallon tank, I went more width and length rather than height, its the biggest tank I had at the store, we have bigger tanks for fish and such, pushing almost 100 gallons, would that be more suitable? I'd have to definitely try to find a decent sized screen top also lol

I'm willing to do anything thats needed to keep my girl [toki] shes a such a sweetheart to anyone but my boy[nathan] But seperate tank this size would be too much, and I'd feel horrible if I abandoned her back at the petshop.

I keep the basking area around 110, and the cooler side around 80 to 90 [it varies throughout the day] The highest the humidity ever gets up to is 30% in the early morning before I turn the day-lights on, I try to be as strict as possible on the humidity factor.

I feed them a mix of peas, carrots, kale, mustard and collard greens. I'm switching them to millet seed tonight after I read so much about how bad calcium sand can be,

I suppose its possible for "nathan" to have the eggs, but he-she has only been around another uromastyx since monday when I got Toki and tuesday was when the eggs showed up.

here is the size care from our caresheet. If they can be kept together, then they will need more hides and additional basking spots. And remember this is for ONE, so you need to double the size if you have two.


A hatchling maybe kept in a 20 gallon long (30 x 12 x 12 ½) until they reach juvenile stage. They should then be moved up to a 40-gallon (36 x 18 x 17) or a 50-gallon (38 x 13 x 21). Adults should not be kept in any smaller. Uromastyx require many hide spots to make themselves feel secure. They like to burrow in to the ground, so many keepers provide hand made tunnels made of large pvc piping or dryer tubing and hide boxes.
You can also use pieces of slate, they add beauty to the enclosure and also double for a place for the uromastyx to bask, and they are great heat holders.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I can double the size of the tank easily, my only issue is them.

This is the first day I've noticed anything, and my boyfriend who leaves for work later than I do, hasnt seen Toki do much of anything besides sit on top of her hiding box, she was housed with many other females and one male in the petstore, I thought she would be used to being around others. Nathan was the one I was worried about since hes so big and was solitary for most of his life. So this is literally coming out of the blue for me.

Do you think its best for me to give her back to the petstore? Or perhaps keep a watchful eye on them, and wait until the pecking order is established? she hasnt broken skin with her bites at all, but it upsets me to see him so scared of her.

i would reccomend seperating them and if you decide to then breed then only do so during the breeding season and seperate again. if your going to keep them together you would need a floor space of 4-5 ft in length and 2-3ft in width. bigger the better and alot of hide spots and seperate basking spots. the cheaper option is to go with 2 breeder tanks if there under 3 years old.

This is a possibility indeed - as previously stated - and if both are female there can certainly be aggression and a gravid female will be even more aggressive to another - so maybe your new 1 is gravid too

Again, if it is the new Uro that laid the eggs - she will now be aggressively trying to defend her clutch, more-so if both are female.

Another possibility is that your girl is a boy and wants to mate with your boy thats a girl, but the post on the weight loss of your 'boy' that maybe laid the eggs seems more likely - unless you have had 'him' too long (or the new one not long enough) for it to be that.
Laying usually takes place 4-6 weeks after matings - but this is dependant on several factor, including the species.

Maybe the best indicator is the attitude change where one has now become aggressive after egg-laying, this would indicate she is the female, but I would think size and shape would be a dead give-away as to who laid them.

May be best to have them professionally sexed so you know where u stand.

hope you're going to incubate them eggs correctly and pray for success
tsk.. tsk.. tsk some people have all the luck - buying gravid females

good luck with that

Lynx

I have serious doubts that the pet store owner knew what he was talking about when he tried to sex the Uros. Uros are very difficult to sex by the glands. Only someone very familiar with Uros would have much success.
After laying they are very thirsty. Try putting a dish of water in to see which one drinks.

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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