So I took in 3 uros a little over a week ago from a lady who's son moved and abandoned them. She wasn't familiar with them, or their diet or needs, so needless to say, they weren't is the best condition. The lady showed up with them in a tupperware tub. 3 Uros and 2 Bearded Dragons. All adults.

Anyway, it was obvious that the male has been feeding much better than the two females, but still didn't look up-to-par to me. She said they had all been living together. They had a FOUL smell which seemed very strange to me. Each of the lizards had stained vents and stomachs. She said she was keeping them on Alfalfa bedding, which you could tell hadn't been changed in ages from the smell. BLEH!

I got them home, set the Bearded Dragons up in a 30g each, and I had a 64g tank and 2 20 gallons. I started with all of them in the 65g and got worried that they wouldn't have enough room, so I separated each of them. The male in the 65, and the two females in the 20s (AS A TEMP FIX). The problem with that was that I was still lacking one uvb lamp and one basking lamp. I was switching off for the females, but noticed that they seemed unhappy. I truly think that this trio NEEDS to be together. As soon as I joined them, doubled up on the UV and the Basking lamps, they started thriving! They weren't eating when separated, but now seem to be doing much better. Soon I plan to get a larger aquarium, but think I'll keep them together as a trio, since they seem to prefer each others company. They all gather in the hide and cuddle. :-) Temps are good - 116-128 on the hot side (hotter when I have BOTH lamps on) 96-102 on the cooler side. 0-5% humidity. I have literally spent every day since I got them sitting in their room just observing them to get a hold on their behavior and personality. The male is doing exceptionally well. He has a very dark skin, even shiny!! One female is SUPER fat and round! I wonder if she may be gravid. The third one, the "second female" as I call her seems to be much weaker. She is significantly smaller, and skinnier and her skin seems to be a different color and texture than the other two. I've seen the male TEAR his food up, which was obvious from his size. I saw the first female eat as well, but have yet to catch the second female actually eat. I've noticed her skin getting dryer and dryer and getting spots like she's ready to shed. I wondered from her looks if she may be dehydrated, so I offered her some water from a bowl which she actually spent about 3 minutes drinking out of! This first tells me that she may be a juvie (right?) and that she was freakin THIRSTY!

The lady that had them mentioned that she fed them a lot of fruit, WHOLE GRAPES IN PARTICULAR so I'm concerned that they have a calcium deficiency. I was confident that I was giving them a good variety of food until I read the "BASKINGSPOT.COM" post about the iguana diet. I have been feeding them fresh baby spinach greens (which I thought was great, but apparently not), bok choi (this is a no too?!), collards and sprinkling in some apples, strawberries, and watermelon pieces to help hydrate them a bit. Now I read that fruit is a no-no. The male gobbled up the fruit SO quick! But the entire bowl of food was gone (95% greens) real soon. I've been putting small amounts in the bowl mornings and evenings, and cleaning the tank every day to help the sand stay dry and clean. I've only noticed one small green pellet-like poop and some urate chunks, but obviously not nearly as much waste as I would have expected (and still do).

I took a bunch of pics the other day and will post soon, but I just wonder if anyone has any comments. What would be a good staple diet variety? I get different opinions from every website, but found the baskingspot.com to have some great info.

My dog trainer recommended a reptile vet, which I called today. It's a $35 exam fee without any fecals. Does that seem normal? What would a typical Uro vet exam consist of?

Kudos on the rescue,
Maybe it differs by area, but my vet charges $60 just to "walk in the door", $35 doesn't sound too bad.
I'd definitely have the smaller female checked out, and honestly, it's probably worth taking them all in for a basic exam and fecals.
I'm not really knowledgeable about uro's but it sounds like your on the right track. I might suggest separating the weaker female from the other two though.

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

I would suggest moving the one away as well. See how she does away from the other two.

Here is our caresheet on uros. It goes into diet quite well.

Uromastyx Caresheet - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

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

I too suggest getting them all checked out for fecals and blood tests. It's best to start off knowing they don't have an worms or internal parasites.
I kind of chuckled when you stated the humidity was 0-5%. You are in Texas.
Plus your house is probably at 35-45%. Anyway enough about that. The humidity is fine at those ranges.
Recovery is all about eliminating stress factors and providing good nutrition.
Keep an eye out for on the weaker female. You may need to hand feed her for a while to ensure she's getting a good share.

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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 did separate the female from the other two for about a week. They all sulked! Even the male, who is a great eater quit eating!! When I put them back together, they were fine again, and seem to actually prefer each other's company.

I bought a digital thermometer and hydrometer combo which is pretty cool. I think it's fairly accurate because it reads humidity in all of the other habitats I have, and yes, about 45% when I left it out on the kitchen counter, but when it's in the Uros tank, I never see the humidity going over 5%, and if it's directly under the heat lamps, it's at a constant 0, which reads --%. When I first put their enclosure together, I think it read about 30%, but as the sand dried, it's extremely low, if non existant, which seems to be drying out the uros, which is good I guess. I do occassionally take a small tuppaware of water and place it in the enclosure for an hour or so a couple times a week, to see if they will drink. The smallest female has actually drank from it, which told me that I should at least offer it. :-)

My concern, (and I can't seem to find an answer on this) is that it's obvious that they each have suffered from some tail rot. The females tails look worn down, with almost no points on the scales. The male is very healthy, active, and his tail looks great, with the exception of a few scales here and there that seem to be "scarred". The best way to describe the females tails is "worn down". You can see where some of their scales have fallen off and haven't grown back. Obviously the lady wasn't familiar with the husbandry needs of the Uros because she kept them with 2 adult Bearded Dragons, so they obviously didn't have the dry enclosure that's needed to keep their skin healthy. Will they recover?

Do you know how old the female is. Often the spikes wear down as they age.
Unfortunately if they have suffered from tail rot it will not grow back. Could be as well that they did not shed properly causing the skin to die underneath.
You're right on the humidity. The bulbs will cook it off.

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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 sent an email to the lady that I rescued the Uros from. She has NO knowledge of the ages of the Trio. :-/ Is there anyway to get a idea of age?

Not really, even the size would not be an indication since they grow at different rates. How long did she have them?

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MARSHA

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

I didn't even think to ask her that. Her son had them and moved, so she got "stuck" with these animals. I sent her some pics of them. Maybe she'll respond and I can ask her then.

Females:


Male is in the middle:


My pride & joy:

I've always kinda guessed by their appearance and condition of the tail.
I would say they look 5+ yrs old.

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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