Yemen bearded_dragon bearded dragon lizard We will be adding a tips and advice section when we get rolling and if you have any questions you want answered then feel free to ask and it is likely the question and answer will be seen posted here also. To send in any queries please use the email form on the contact page. Look forward to receiving any questions and hope you enjoy reading the tips and advice given. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions on Bearded Dragon Lizards What is the lifespan of the bearded dragon? A dragon’s lifespan ranges from 4 years to 15 years. The average is about 6 years What and how frequently should I feed the bearded dragon? You can feed young bearded dragons up to three times a day, with proper supplementation. Adults can be fed less frequently. Should my bearded dragon get exercise? Most certainly. The cage should be roomy enough for your dragon to move about briskly. You can also allow it to move about in the house and even outside, but always under your watchful eye. Why do bearded dragons twitch or shake? Calcium and vitamin D3 deficiency leads to metabolic bone disease. This causes twitching and shaking. To remedy this, raise the level of food supplementation and expose your dragon often to direct sunlight (not through a glass pane) How should I position the UV / warming lights? These lights should be 8 to 10 inches above the highest basking point, towards one end of the cage Can bearded dragons hear? According to experts’ accounts, yes. They seem to react to sudden or loud noises, though there is no mention that these animals produce any kind of noise themselves. Can they show affection? Not in the way the more common pets do. Still, they seem to give an impression that they enjoy being handled, carried or rubbed gently or being in your company Can I have more than one bearded dragon? It is possible to have more than one bearded dragon in one cage. But always provide alternate shelter in case the less dominant dragon begins to feed less and loses weight Do bearded dragons get depressed Failure to feed and reduced activity can be considered as a sign of depression in a bearded dragon which has been subjected to dominant treatment by a rival At what age should breeding of bearded dragons start? When both male and female are at least 12-18 months old. Females may take a little longer to attain sexual maturity. What is a healthy diet? A diet consisting of live prey (primarily crickets) and vegetable matter in the correct proportion, along with calcium and vitamin D3 supplements is ideal. Can you place an adult male with a juvenile female? Avoid it. Females mature later than males. An adult male may pursue the juvenile female with intent to mate and cause much harm to her. Should I give a daily bath to my bearded dragon? A bath on alternate days or even once a week should be sufficient, under a tap or a shower Do bearded dragons get along? Not always. They can be amiable and tolerant sometimes and aggressive and even violent at other times How do you train a bearded dragon? You cannot ‘train’ your dragon in the literal sense. By patient and persistent effort, you can make it tolerate, or may be even enjoy, handling by you At what age are they sexually mature? By the time they are 18 months old. What color mutations are available? The bearded dragon is primarily grey in color with darker shades during displays. Breeders however tend to concentrate on evolving dragons with red and gold tinted skin What is lizard substrate and why do they need it? Substrate is the material used as flooring for the bearded dragon’s cage. It is necessary to keep the floor relatively warm and to enable easy maintenance. How do you prepare a bearded dragon habitat? A pet dragon’s habitat consists of a cage with a variety objects termed collectively as ‘furniture.’ These objects include the substrate, plant or wood sections, potted plants, smooth rocks etc Why are they called dragons (instead of lizards?) The dragon’s tendency to blow out its spiny ‘beard’ and gaping gives it a resemblance to dragons and hence the name, though it belongs to the lizard family of reptiles. If you sprinkle calcium power on crickets, do dragons grow faster? Calcium is sprinkled on crickets before they are fed to the dragon. Along with vitamin D3, this accelerates bone development in young dragons How often should they have health checks? As bearded dragons are hardy animals, health check up at regular intervals may not be mandatory. A check up becomes necessary if they pick up some infection. How do you determine the sex of the lizard? A careful examination of hemipenal bulges on the underside near the base of the tail, is a sure method. Two bulges indicate a male and a single bulge indicates a female. What are the types of diseases can bearded dragons get? Terminal ingestion, thermal burns and respiratory and intestinal infections are common disorders that bearded dragons are susceptible to. Mite infestation is another disease. How do you take care of the crickets that dragons eat? Crickets you feed to your dragon should be young, healthy and well-fed. They are best suited as prey when they are freshly molted and when they are gut-loaded. What kind of plants can be placed in their cages? Potted plants like ficus, hibiscus, geranium, petunia, pothos, pursule and violets are some of the plants suitable for placing in the dragon’s cage. How do I know when they are sick? Loss of appetite, reluctance to bask, mucus collection around nostrils and at the edges of the mouth are all symptoms of sickness and infection. Stiffness or paralyses of hindlegs is a sign of a fatal condition known as terminal ingestion. How many hours should I set the timer for amount of daylight in the tank? 10 to 12 hours daily, during daytime. Do Dragon Lizards enjoy walks? Dragon lizards love to roam about the house and walk outdoors, especially in bright sunshine Can they cohabit with other lizards? They can cohabit with other dragon lizards, but not with other species of lizards HOUSING REQUIREMENTS: It is MY OWN personal belief that the bigger space you can give a Bearded Dragon, or Dragons the better! The bigger you can afford the happier they will be. I have several colonies with 2 and 3 animals in each, the vivarium sizes are 3'x2'x2', 4’x2’x2’, and 6'x2'x2'. The smaller size, 3'x2'x2' houses adults not yet ready to breed. I have just purchased 2, 6'x3'x'1.5' Bloody huge vision vivs! It is a very bad idea to keep male beardys together, it has been noted but only when they have grown up from tiny together, add a female and 99 times out of a 100 and one, male will end up badly mauled. If you are going to keep one on his own, then fine, even a female on her own is not a problem (there is a very minimal risk that she will lay eggs without mating, this rarely happens if the female has not been with a male.) But in my experience, beardys are much happier in groups or pairs, though I have a big male that as he is now so 'humanised' he prefers my company! They have a spotlight at one end, a uv tube running the length of the viv and a cooler end which has the ‘nesting’ box in it. The vivarium has various decorations in it, rocks under the spot( it does now!), bogwood and climbing branches, as well as a ‘nesting box. The rocks under the spotlight serve to absorb heat radiation and stay warm even if the spotlight is turned off by the thermostat, the bogwood is positioned under the very low uv tube so that they can get as close to it as possible. U.v tubes should not give off heat if matched to the correct wattage tube, so therefore the animals are at no risk of being burnt by it. The climbing branches are there for……you guessed it….climbing, they do like to clim , but I feel that it is not necessary to have a vivarium, higher than 2’ as a greater drop than this, has obvious greater risks of injury to your animal. You can add whatever furniture you wish as long as you can clean it and it is not toxic to your animals. HEATING REQUIREMENTS: Beardys seem to like it best at 100-110f under the spotlight, with a gradient of 80-90f in the centre and 70-75f at the cool end. It is absolutely vital that you have a gradient, if you do not have somewhere for your animal to cool down it will eventually die of heat exhaustion, due to not be able to regulate their own body temperature, known as thermoregulation. The have no way of controlling their own body temperature other than by sitting under a direct source of heat radiation and then being able to move away from it when they need to cool down a touch. I have heard people putting heat mats down the ‘cool’ end of the viv, this is really not necessary, they will only go and lay down that end if they are too hot or if they wish to sleep or to hibernate(see brumination). The adult Beardy has a liking for half burying itself in the substrate at night, ( for security?)and to be cool, this way, you will not ever have to turn off your thermostat, the animals will thermo regulate themselves entirely, without the need for you to have a ‘night time’ drop on the thermostat, though if your room only drops to between 70-80f you could happily turn of the spot at night. I prefer to use an incandescent heat source for my hotspot, I use a blue daylight bulb or a white light bulb, there is some research to indicate that either of these types of light blend with the UV and create a more natural sunlight effect. The other reason is simple; I cannot see if a ceramic is on visually and that bothers me, if an incandescent has blown, I can see it immediately. I match the size of the bulb to the viv, in the 6' viv there is a 250 watt white spotlight, i have found that 100-150 watt par spotlights work very well. THERE IS NO PLACE IN A BEARDY TANK FOR HEAT MATS, THEY ARE LETHAL!! It is very important that when you set your hotspot up to check the temperature, I put a stick on thermometer under the spot, one in the middle if the viv and one down the cool end. I now have also purchased several digital ones with probes which are very useful for periodically checking. In order to achieve a steady and safe temperature a good quality thermostat should be used, I recommend Habistat or Algarde thermostats ‘others’ that I have tried have let me down, those two haven’t. If you use a light bulb, to get the best life out of them I would recommend the use of dimming thermostats, they are kinder on the bulbs and your eye, the light goes off suddenly with a normal temp stat, and believe me if you have several of them going at once it will look like a disco! Having said that if its all you can afford, they work effectively. If you use a ceramic the best thermostat to use is a pulse proportional which keeps the constant temperature by ‘pulsing’ electricity through it, it is very efficient and cheap to run, all my snake enclosures run off pulse proportionals as I use heat cables. I also have 4 inch deep vents running all the way across the back of the vivariums to allow good ventilation for the lizards, the warm are is regularly replaced this way and does not become stagnated. LIGHTING: All diurnal lizards require UV light from the sun, in order to produce vitamin d3 which they require to metabolise calcium, the single most important element that a lizard requires. I have heard people say that they have maintained Bearded Dragons on liquid d3 drops and calcium supplements, I know someone who did, the animals I believe suffered from too much as it is very difficult to gauge an accurate liquid dose, all his animals die young from liver and kidney failure and a lot of them are also infertile, so I do not recommend this practise. Your dragon will need a minimum of a 5.0 UV tube, there are 8.0 on the market these days, but my animals have done well with 5.0 so I don’t feel the need to change them at this moment in time. What a lot of people do wrong is to put the tube too high, UV from these tubes only penetrates a maximum of about 12” so it is important to have them at a level where the animals can get the most benefit from it. My animals can climb onto it a lie on it if they so wish, they know when they need UV and will deliberately spend several hours a day lying under or on it, Uv tubes should be changed yearly at the minimum, what I have in some of my vivariums is two starter units and run my first tube for a year then add a second one, when the first one then reaches 18 months I replace it, thus hopefully getting the maximum I can expect from each tube. The length of time you have your UV on depends on the time of the year, winter I have them on for 8 hours a day, summer they are on for 14 hours, this can also serve to ‘cycle’ your animals to winter and summer thus helping to convince them that it is spring and time to mate as you gradually increase your light levels up from 8 to 14 hours over a few weeks. SUBSTRATE: For adults, I use bird sand, the use of bark chips and wood chips should be discouraged, beardys are very zealous feeders and can ingest lumps of bark/chip blocking their guts leading to a painful death or an operation. I dont use any substrate for hatchlings till they are big enough to go into an adult colony or are about 6 months old. You will find that it is sufficient every few days to manually remove the faeces from the substrate, you will also find that it will become colonised by baby crickets and little beetles that evolve from the fuzzy caterpillars that you get in with your crickets, do not worry about them, (unless your herps are in the house, then you don’t want them or they will colonise your flour, breakfast cereals and just about any other edible substance in the house.). The Beardys will generally dig them out and forage for their own food which I feel is good occupational therapy for them. I change the whole substrate about every 2-3 months and sieve it one or twice a week, and give the vivarium a complete clean out using a polti steam cleaner, but don’t worry if you don’t have one of these excellent gadgets, a diluted bleach solution will do just as good a job or one of the proprietary vivarium cleaners. ADULT DIET: This is the easy part; Beardys are not that fussy fortunately. As an adult mine get black and brown crickets every day, giant mealworms once or twice a week, (my belief is that a healthy animal will not be harmed by these), locust when available, a pinkie, a fuzzie or a rat pup once a week (more frequently immediately after egg laying), moths that fly into my shed, beetle larvae (pacnoda), again when available, waxworms, one good thing about Beardys is that they are one of the few lizards that ignore the stench of cyanide and eat the beetles and the pupae, that the giant mealworms turn into. Most kinds of green and red leafed vegetables at least twice a week and any other insect unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! To this diet I add, calcium powder, human grade very fine pure calcium carbonate to ALL the crickets which are also gut loaded with trout pellets, potato peelings and any other veg available., and twice a week a dose of nutrobal, which contains all the vitamins required, sprinkled over the crickets. WATER: Some people like to spray beardys, I do not, I believe that it creates too much humidity in the tank which in turn can encourage bacterial growth and cause respiratory problems for the animals, mine have a fresh water bowl placed in the viv every other night, if they have pooped in it, EVERY night. BRUMINATION: Brumination is allowing your animals a ‘cool time’ to mimic their natural seasonal reproduction cycles, you may hear it called ‘cycling’ or ‘cooling’. Basically it is a period of time that you lower the temperature in your animals enclosure to mimic or induce winter. I have found that dropping the spot to 80f is enough to let the cool end go down to 60f, so the animals can choose where they want to be. Reduce the UV level down to 8 hours per day, feed them once a week, and ensure fresh water is available. I leave them like this for 2-3 months. Then when ready to 'wake' them up, gradually over 2 weeks increase the uv up to 14 hours a day and the spot back up to 100-110f. BREEDING: Once your animals have gone through their hibernation they will then slowly increase their dietary intake and then start mating! This can seem to the untrained eye and a little brutal, the male will grab the female by the spines on the ridge on the back of her head, wiggle his body into place under her and insert one of his hemi-penes( lizards have 2 penis so that they can mate from either side of the female….very handy….) from either side of her body. Mating will take place regularly, even once the female is gravid. From mating the female will then lay eggs, from 4-6 weeks later. You will see her getting notably larger and actually be able to see the outlines of the eggs as they swell up with water 3 days before she is due to lay them. She will then start to search for a suitable place to lay them. I use a 2' square box with a lid box and fill it with moist peat patted down firmly and filled to the brim and place it at the cool end. When ready to lay the female will dig a tunnel and disappear into it(that’s why the peat needs to be firm) she will then turn around with her head poking out of the hole and proceed to lay her eggs, usually anywhere from 15 to 42(my record amount) small round eggs. She will then fill in her tunnel and crawl off somewhere to rest and recuperate. At this point I will give her 4-5 pinks to regain some of the large amounts of protein and calcium etc that she has exhausted producing her eggs. A good tip before she lays her eggs is to clip her toe nails, beardys more than Rankins can 'pop' eggs accidentally with their claws, just use a pair of human nail clippers and snip the very ends off. You will have to learn to recognise when your females have laid their eggs (their belly goes saggy for a few days) as often you will not know they have been in the laying box as they cover it over so well. Once they start laying, even if you remove the male, the females will lay between 1 and 3 clutches a year! I have heard of 5 in one year but that is unsubstantiated. INCUBATION: You will need to have your incubator set up at least 2-3 days before your female is due, get it ready from the time you can see the visible bulges in her sides. Incubator choice is down to the individual. I used to incubate my eggs in vermiculite a naturally occurring mineral that you can get from most garden centres and herp shops. I had a good success rate using it, about 95% of all eggs hatched. A couple of years ago someone introduced me to Perlite, it is a soil lightener, which has an advantage that while the lower level stores water you can put a dry level on top then the eggs aren’t in direct contact with moisture I now have virtually a 100% hatch rate. They are then covered with sphagnum moss. As a rule of thumb, I don't bother measuring humidity anymore, as long as there is some condensation on the lid then that's fine, if not and you need to add some water, don't put it over the eggs pour it into the corners and keep a bottle in the incubator to keep it at the right temperature. I use clear sandwich boxes for my egg boxes with tiny holes drilled all the way around the rim at the top to allow air exchange. If you incubate the eggs at 85 Fahrenheit you will get an even mix of babies out, ie males=females, and at this temperature they will hatch in 50-70 days. I have had years when they have all hatched at 50 days and one year where they all took 70, yet the temp was no different, I can not explain the phenomenon. HATCHLING CARE: Hatching is another imprecise process, sometimes they all come out together, other times they may take 3-5 days to all come out, never throw away an egg that has not yet hatched, I have had them hatch 2 weeks after the rest, and equally as important, don’t be tempted to cut them open, this will lead to a guaranteed dead hatchling. You must also NOT be tempted to help them out of the eggs, if you do it too early you can rupture their equivalent of the umbilical cord and they will bleed to death. Let them come out themselves, and then leave them in the incubator for at least 24 hours to absorb their yolk that is in their stomach and to allow the ‘umbilicus’ to atrophy and fall off. You can then put them in a vivarium set up exactly the same as the adults, but without substrate. Beardys are ‘lunge’ feeders and tend to get sand with their food which can lead to impaction, so I no longer use it. Just clean them out every few days. 1 Hour old. 1 Week Old. JUVENILE DIET: Once they are over 24 hours old, you can start introducing no.2 crickets(browns) 3 times a day, just pour in a handful, wait till they eat them then add a few more till they show no further interest, it is advisable not to leave too many free roaming crickets as it may stress out very young hatchlings. All crickets get dusted with human grade calcium, and twice a week nutrobal which has all the vitamins and minerals that the animals need. After 2 weeks of no.2 they then get upgraded to number 3's crickets, then to no.4's which they get fed till they are 16 weeks plus before I start to give them the occasional small waxworm each, and start to introduce small to medium brown crickets, enough that they eat them all and again don’t leave too many roaming around, they have a nasty nip, be careful not to feed them crickets that are too big, they will eat and very much enjoy stalking and killing them, but it can lead to impaction. If in doubt give smaller rather than larger prey. As a treat I will sometimes give the youngsters a fruit fly culture, they love to chase theses around and it keeps them occupied for days. Even more importantly than with the adult, you will need to give Bearded Dragons hatchlings a clean fresh supply of water every day, they will walk through It, foul in it and bath in it, so you must clean it daily. I also give my hatchling a constant supply of water cress, they will eat this from a few days old, they really seem to enjoy it and if you sit it in a water bowl it will thrive till it is all eaten, my adults still get it too. Yemen Chameleon Chamaeleon lizard Description: The Yemen chameleon is a large arboreal chameleon distinguishable by its large casque on top of the head. The male Yemen can obtain a total length of up to 23 inches and the female up to 17 inches. Being arboreal Yemen’s are not heavily bodied appearing thin from a front profile but almost round from the side. The colour of the sexes is quite different with the females being light green whilst males are a slightly darker green with veins of black and prominent thick yellow stripes going vertically through the body. Both sexes will darken if their environment is not the correct temperature. Females will develop orange spots when expecting eggs. Distribution: Yemen chameleons are found in the vegetated areas that stretch over the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Feeding: The Yemen chameleon feeds mainly on insects, commercially produced black and brown crickets, locust, mealworm and wax-worm. Crickets and locust should be the main livefood offered w hilst mealworm and wax-worm can be offered for variety. The Yemen chameleon will also take some vegetation such as watercress and rocket. Other vegetation can be offered but they seem to prefer soft leaves. All insects fed to your chameleon should be gut loaded with the appropriate food and a suitable vitamin powder should be used 3 times a week. Water: Yemen Chameleons will not readily drink from static water, they much prefer to drink droplets of water from leaves and branches so they must be sprayed every morning for between fifteen to twenty seconds at a time. Occasionally Yemens will drink from a dripper system attached to the roof or from a moving waterfall but not all Yemens will do this so it is not advisable to solely rely on these. A way to tell if your Chameleon is dehydrated is if the eyes are sunken in, the eye should totally fill the socket and this must be looked at on a daily basis. Vivarium: Yemen chameleons are arboreal so a tall vivarium is required; the smallest size suitable is 24 x 24 x 36. It is important that the vivarium has suitable ventilation as the air can become stagnant when the vivarium is being sprayed daily. Without ventilation the chameleon can develop respiratory problems. Heating: Yemen chameleons require a daytime a ir temperature of 85 - 90ºF with a basking area of 100-110ºF. This is best achieved with the use of a guarded spot bulb or a mercury vapour lamp. A ceramic heater can be used but as they give off no light the chameleon may be reluctant to bask below it. Heatmats are of no use to these chameleons. All lights must be turned off at night and the vivarium can be allowed to drop as low as 55ºF. Remember all spot bulbs and ceramic heaters must be securely guarded. Lighting: Yemen chameleons require U.V.B lighting weather it be a U.V.B. tube, compact U.V.B lamp or a mercury vapour lamp. U.V.B is essential for your chameleons bone growth and general health. If this lighting is not available it could be extremely detrimental to the animals health, resulting in weak or deformed bones and ultimately death. These lights need to be on for between 10 and 12 hours a day. It is essential lights are turned off at night so the animal gets a day/night photo period. WARNING: These lights should be within 12 inches of the animals basking areas as this is the maximum range of the U.V.B. output. All tubes and compact lamps must be changed at least every 10 months, preferably sooner so the animal receives sufficient levels of U.V.B. Substrate: Beech chip is a suitable substrate as it is dust and mite free. Sand can also be used but it has to be sand that has been specially developed for reptiles as other sands can cause gut impactions resulting in death if eaten. Any substrate used must be dry, clean and changed on a regular basis. Decoration: Yemen chameleons require plenty of branches to climb on as these animals dislike being on the floor. The branches should be strong enough to hold an adult chameleon and secured in place so there is no chance of them moving or falling. The branches should cross the vivarium so the chameleon can get close to the basking area and U.V.B tube. Your chameleon also needs some green plants, preferably artificial to give it somewhere to hide. This is not as important with adults but is essential with youngsters. Potential Problems: Yemen chameleons should not encounter many problems provided heating, lighting and feeding is correct. There are some issues to be aware of; de-hydration can be a problem especially with hatchlings so a morning spraying regime must be strictly adhered to. Keepers must be aware of the date the U.V.B. bulb was last changed so there will be no problems with metabolic bone disease. Female Yemens have to be mated on their first ovulation otherwise there is a high possibility they will die egg-bound. For this reason it is unwise to have a young female unless you plan to breed her as soon as she is mature. Finally do not house sub -adult or adult male chameleons together as they will fight and could kill each other. Common Name:Green Iguana Latin name: Iguana Native to: Central and South America. Imported iguanas are generally from Columbia, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, and Surinam. Size: Adult iguanas range in size from four to six feet in length. Life span: If properly cared for, iguanas should live more than 20 years in captivity. Special Note: While many people consider the green iguana a beginners pet, nothing is further from the truth. Iguanas require specialized care and management that is generally beyond the knowledge of most novices. It is because of this lack of knowledge that a majority of juvenile iguanas die prematurely. Iguana owners need to be aware of the specialized diet and housing requirements that the green iguana requires. If looking for a great beginner reptile or amphibian pet, consider a corn snake, milk snake, ball python, leopard gecko, bearded dragon, or pac man frog. All of these species are fun and a great way to begin in the hobby! General appearance: Iguanas are what most people think of when they think "lizard." They have five toes on each foot. They posses a fleshy flap of skin under the chin called a dewlap. All iguanas have spines that run the length of the back. Contrary to popular belief, not all iguanas are green. Most juveniles are bright green, but as they age and grow they can range in color from a dull green to brown or even orange with striped tails. Housing requirements: Enclosure: The enclosure for an adult iguana is very large. The enclosure should be at least six feet tall, about 1½ to twice the length of the iguana, and 2/3 to one full length of the iguana wide. For a six foot adult iguana, this is an enclosure that is 9 to 12 feet long, four to six feet wide, and at least six feet tall. Sufficient branches and shelves for climbing and lounging should also be provided. To give you perspective on the size of the enclosure, most small bedrooms are only 9 feet wide. This is why many owners dedicate a separate room as their "iguana room." Some owners also allow their iguanas to "free range" throughout the house. If you allow your iguana to live in its own room or free range, be sure the keep the area the iguana will frequent free of small objects that the iguana may accidentally ingest. Temperature: Iguanas come from a tropical climate and need to be kept warm. Daytime temperatures should be 80° - 85° F with a basking spot of 90° - 95° F. There should be a range of temperatures offered to the iguana to allow it to thermoregulate itself. Nighttime temperatures should be 75° - 80° F. All temperatures should be verified with a thermometer regularly. Heat/Light: Ultraviolet lighting providing UVA and UVB is required for proper calcium metabolism and skeletal development. Without the proper lighting your will become sick and die a very painful death. Proper lighting can be provided utilizing fluorescent tubes specially made for use by reptiles as well as mercury vapor bulbs that also provide some heat as well. Additional heat can be provided utilizing infrared ceramic emitters and incandescent basking bulbs. Hot rocks should never be used under any circumstance as they can severely burn your iguana. Substrate: Iguanas will often tongue lick their surroundings. Because of this most particulate substrate (wood shavings, mulch, sand, or powder types) are not appropriate for most iguanas. Newspaper with non-toxic ink, butcher's paper, paper towels, indoor/outdoor carpeting, or artificial grass all make excellent choices. If using indoor/outdoor carpeting or artificial grass please be sure that there are no dangling strings that could tangle in your iguana's nails. It's also recommended that you have multiple pieces so that you may replace the soiled pieces with the clean set and then clean and disinfect the current set to use for the next cleaning. Environment: Iguanas come from a tropical climate and require a humidity level of 65% to 75%. To achieve this may require several mistings a day. Many people opt to purchase an automatic misting system instead. Diet: Iguanas are strict herbivores. Many older literatures will suggest feeding animal protein or even cat food. While some wild iguanas may ingest the occasional insect while eating leaves, it is not a significant portion on their diet. Iguanas that are fed too much animal protein will develop health problems and will die prematurely. A well balanced iguana diet will consist of about 40% to 45% greens (this includes, but is not limited to collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens (with flowers), escarole, and/or water cress), 40% to 45% other vegetables (this includes but is not limited to green beans, orange-fleshed squashes (butternut, Kabocha), snap or snow peas, parsnip, asparagus, okra, alfalfa (mature, not sprouts), onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, and/or carrots), 10% or less of fruits (including, but not limited to Figs (raw or dried), blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, mango, melon (cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon), papaya, banana, and/or apple), and less than 5% of other grains or commercial diets. Iguanas should never be rhubarb as it is toxic. Certain lettuces such as iceberg, romaine, and Boston butter lack sufficient nutrients and should only be fed occasionally. Acidic fruits (citrus, tomatoes, kiwi, pineapples, etc.) should also be only fed occasionally as well. Tofu can be occasionally offered as well for supplemental protein, though if too much is given it can lead to long term health issues. Wild plants and flowers are not recommended since they may be toxic to your iguana or may contain pesticides that could be toxic as well. Maintenance: Cleanliness of the enclosure is essential. Waste products should be removed daily and the enclosure should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly. A 5% bleach solution provides and excellent disinfectant. Be sure to thoroughly rinse the solution from the enclosure before placing the iguana back in. Fresh water should also be offered at all times. Always wash your hands after handling your iguana or any of your iguana's cage accessories. Heating/Lighting Your main goal in setting up your iguana's heating and lighting is to provide a warm basking area (90F-94F) and a cooler area (75F-84F) so that your iguana can acclimate itself to the temperature IT chooses to be in at any given time and get the necessary UVB rays so that it can metabolize calcium. Click the name of each item for a picture. All lights must stay on for 12-14 hours and be off for 10-12 hours. Iguanas need to sleep at nighttime in darkness (black lights are available for nighttime heat but will usually disrupt your iguana's natural sleeping patterns). UVB Fluorescent Lighting UVB Fluorescent Lights are cool lights and give off no heat, they must be used together with basking lights. You will need to provide your iguana with a UVB light in an area of its enclosure that it spends most of its time in, preferably high up where it can climb to. It must be positioned 8-14 inches away from your iguana, shining on it with no glass or plastic cover (large holed screen is okay to shine through). Wherever you set up your basking spot is where you will also put your UVB light. This type of light gives off no heat, so other bulbs will be needed to create a basking spot that is (90F-94F) degrees. These type of lights need to be replaced every six months because they loose their effectiveness even if they don't burn out. Iguana Light, Reptisun, and Vitalite are popular ones and can be found in most pet stores in different sizes. You can save some money if you buy the fixture from a hardware store and just take off, and do not use, the plastic cover that most come with. Basking Lights Basking Lights are responsible for heating your iguana and MUST be used with UVB fluorescent lights. In setting up your basking area (90F-94F) you can use any of a number of basking lights available. However, there has been some controversy as to whether these special lights do anything special at all. Using regular white incandescent lightbulbs like the ones you use in your lamps will do the trick just as well. Use round bulbs (not spot or reflector lights) in a silver dome fixture. If you do decide to use spot or reflector lights, use them in a fixture without a dome, otherwise the light may get too hot. The silver backing on spot/reflector lights take the place of a dome. Do not make your iguana's entire cage 90-94 F. The basking area should be at that temperature and your iguana should be able to escape to a cooler area of the enclosure any time it chooses. The cooler area that you set up in your cage should be about (75F-84F) degrees. Your basking area should be the highest area in your cage, a place where your iguana can climb up to like a branch or shelf. Ceramic Heaters Instead of using basking lightbulbs, you may use a ceramic heater. Be sure you use these in special porcelain light fixtures that are specially made to withstand the high heat that the base of the ceramic heaters give off. If you decide to use a ceramic heater be very careful to monitor the temperatures in your cage and basking area. Ceramic heaters can get VERY HOT! Heating Your Iguana At Night For juvenile iguanas (about up to two years old), the enclosure should be about 78-84F degrees at night. Adult iguanas can tolerate nighttime temperatures of 74-82 and even prefer it a little cooler than juveniles. This can be accomplished by using either ceramic heaters or black night lights. You can also find red ones available for night. I personally believe that blue or red light disturbs the natural sleeping patterns of the iguana, therefore I will only use ceramic heaters. When the weather is warm, an adult iguana can safely stay without any heaters on at night if your house temperature is around 74. Never position your iguanas nighttime heating device to aim directly at your iguana, it should always be off to the side of it, so as not to cause burns. Your nighttime goal is not to create a basking area, but to create a warm (not hot) climate according to the above nighttime temperatures. Ceramic bulbs are hotter than light bulbs according to wattage, so you will need to experiment with different wattages and a good thermometer. Heat Rocks I have only one thing to say about heat rocks. HEATROCKS BURN IGUANAS. Iguanas in their natural habitat are heated from above by the sun. And you should be able to create a properly heated basking area for your iguana to bask in, therefore not needing a heat rock. If you absolutely feel that your iguana wants to get belly warmth, or maybe you have been using a heat rock successfully for a long time and your iguana loves it, then get Zoo Med's heat pad and rheostat so that you can regulate how hot the pad gets. And never put your heat pad directly under your lights. It makes the pad much too hot. Thermometers To make sure your temperatures are correct use a thermometer. It is a bit difficult to get an accurate reading by just sticking a thermometer in your iguana's cage. Here are some tricks I use: First of all you should have at least two thermometers in your iguana's enclosure. One should be in the cooler area and one in the basking spot. When I test the temperature I try not to face the thermometer in the basking spot directly in the ray of the light or ceramic heater because it can give a false reading (so my vet has told me). I try putting it in upside down or covered with a piece of paper or move it all around while my iguanas are roaming the house(supervised of course!). After I read it I take it out. I do have one attached to the wall besides the one I test with. In closing this section let me take the time to say, please make sure your iguana is heated correctly because this is one of the main things people do wrong. Check, double check, and triple check, then check again. Don't only trust thermometers, watch your iguana's behavior. Does try to get closer and closer to the heat source? (and I don't mean fluorescent-they give off almost NO heat) then it's probably too cool. Are they running away from the heat source? Staying far away in the other corner? Then it's probably too hot. Use your judgment. bearded_dragon lizard female HOUSING REQUIREMENTS: It is MY OWN personal belief that the bigger space you can give a Bearded Dragon, or Dragons the better! The bigger you can afford the happier they will be. I have several colonies with 2 and 3 animals in each, the vivarium sizes are 3'x2'x2', 4’x2’x2’, and 6'x2'x2'. The smaller size, 3'x2'x2' houses adults not yet ready to breed. I have just purchased 2, 6'x3'x'1.5' Bloody huge vision vivs! It is a very bad idea to keep male beardys together, it has been noted but only when they have grown up from tiny together, add a female and 99 times out of a 100 and one, male will end up badly mauled. If you are going to keep one on his own, then fine, even a female on her own is not a problem (there is a very minimal risk that she will lay eggs without mating, this rarely happens if the female has not been with a male.) But in my experience, beardys are much happier in groups or pairs, though I have a big male that as he is now so 'humanised' he prefers my company! They have a spotlight at one end, a uv tube running the length of the viv and a cooler end which has the ‘nesting’ box in it. The vivarium has various decorations in it, rocks under the spot( it does now!), bogwood and climbing branches, as well as a ‘nesting box. The rocks under the spotlight serve to absorb heat radiation and stay warm even if the spotlight is turned off by the thermostat, the bogwood is positioned under the very low uv tube so that they can get as close to it as possible. U.v tubes should not give off heat if matched to the correct wattage tube, so therefore the animals are at no risk of being burnt by it. The climbing branches are there for……you guessed it….climbing, they do like to clim , but I feel that it is not necessary to have a vivarium, higher than 2’ as a greater drop than this, has obvious greater risks of injury to your animal. You can add whatever furniture you wish as long as you can clean it and it is not toxic to your animals. HEATING REQUIREMENTS: Beardys seem to like it best at 100-110f under the spotlight, with a gradient of 80-90f in the centre and 70-75f at the cool end. It is absolutely vital that you have a gradient, if you do not have somewhere for your animal to cool down it will eventually die of heat exhaustion, due to not be able to regulate their own body temperature, known as thermoregulation. The have no way of controlling their own body temperature other than by sitting under a direct source of heat radiation and then being able to move away from it when they need to cool down a touch. I have heard people putting heat mats down the ‘cool’ end of the viv, this is really not necessary, they will only go and lay down that end if they are too hot or if they wish to sleep or to hibernate(see brumination). The adult Beardy has a liking for half burying itself in the substrate at night, ( for security?)and to be cool, this way, you will not ever have to turn off your thermostat, the animals will thermo regulate themselves entirely, without the need for you to have a ‘night time’ drop on the thermostat, though if your room only drops to between 70-80f you could happily turn of the spot at night. I prefer to use an incandescent heat source for my hotspot, I use a blue daylight bulb or a white light bulb, there is some research to indicate that either of these types of light blend with the UV and create a more natural sunlight effect. The other reason is simple; I cannot see if a ceramic is on visually and that bothers me, if an incandescent has blown, I can see it immediately. I match the size of the bulb to the viv, in the 6' viv there is a 250 watt white spotlight, i have found that 100-150 watt par spotlights work very well. THERE IS NO PLACE IN A BEARDY TANK FOR HEAT MATS, THEY ARE LETHAL!! It is very important that when you set your hotspot up to check the temperature, I put a stick on thermometer under the spot, one in the middle if the viv and one down the cool end. I now have also purchased several digital ones with probes which are very useful for periodically checking. In order to achieve a steady and safe temperature a good quality thermostat should be used, I recommend Habistat or Algarde thermostats ‘others’ that I have tried have let me down, those two haven’t. If you use a light bulb, to get the best life out of them I would recommend the use of dimming thermostats, they are kinder on the bulbs and your eye, the light goes off suddenly with a normal temp stat, and believe me if you have several of them going at once it will look like a disco! Having said that if its all you can afford, they work effectively. If you use a ceramic the best thermostat to use is a pulse proportional which keeps the constant temperature by ‘pulsing’ electricity through it, it is very efficient and cheap to run, all my snake enclosures run off pulse proportionals as I use heat cables. I also have 4 inch deep vents running all the way across the back of the vivariums to allow good ventilation for the lizards, the warm are is regularly replaced this way and does not become stagnated. LIGHTING: All diurnal lizards require UV light from the sun, in order to produce vitamin d3 which they require to metabolise calcium, the single most important element that a lizard requires. I have heard people say that they have maintained Bearded Dragons on liquid d3 drops and calcium supplements, I know someone who did, the animals I believe suffered from too much as it is very difficult to gauge an accurate liquid dose, all his animals die young from liver and kidney failure and a lot of them are also infertile, so I do not recommend this practise. Your dragon will need a minimum of a 5.0 UV tube, there are 8.0 on the market these days, but my animals have done well with 5.0 so I don’t feel the need to change them at this moment in time. What a lot of people do wrong is to put the tube too high, UV from these tubes only penetrates a maximum of about 12” so it is important to have them at a level where the animals can get the most benefit from it. My animals can climb onto it a lie on it if they so wish, they know when they need UV and will deliberately spend several hours a day lying under or on it, Uv tubes should be changed yearly at the minimum, what I have in some of my vivariums is two starter units and run my first tube for a year then add a second one, when the first one then reaches 18 months I replace it, thus hopefully getting the maximum I can expect from each tube. The length of time you have your UV on depends on the time of the year, winter I have them on for 8 hours a day, summer they are on for 14 hours, this can also serve to ‘cycle’ your animals to winter and summer thus helping to convince them that it is spring and time to mate as you gradually increase your light levels up from 8 to 14 hours over a few weeks. SUBSTRATE: For adults, I use bird sand, the use of bark chips and wood chips should be discouraged, beardys are very zealous feeders and can ingest lumps of bark/chip blocking their guts leading to a painful death or an operation. I dont use any substrate for hatchlings till they are big enough to go into an adult colony or are about 6 months old. You will find that it is sufficient every few days to manually remove the faeces from the substrate, you will also find that it will become colonised by baby crickets and little beetles that evolve from the fuzzy caterpillars that you get in with your crickets, do not worry about them, (unless your herps are in the house, then you don’t want them or they will colonise your flour, breakfast cereals and just about any other edible substance in the house.). The Beardys will generally dig them out and forage for their own food which I feel is good occupational therapy for them. I change the whole substrate about every 2-3 months and sieve it one or twice a week, and give the vivarium a complete clean out using a polti steam cleaner, but don’t worry if you don’t have one of these excellent gadgets, a diluted bleach solution will do just as good a job or one of the proprietary vivarium cleaners. ADULT DIET: This is the easy part; Beardys are not that fussy fortunately. As an adult mine get black and brown crickets every day, giant mealworms once or twice a week, (my belief is that a healthy animal will not be harmed by these), locust when available, a pinkie, a fuzzie or a rat pup once a week (more frequently immediately after egg laying), moths that fly into my shed, beetle larvae (pacnoda), again when available, waxworms, one good thing about Beardys is that they are one of the few lizards that ignore the stench of cyanide and eat the beetles and the pupae, that the giant mealworms turn into. Most kinds of green and red leafed vegetables at least twice a week and any other insect unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! To this diet I add, calcium powder, human grade very fine pure calcium carbonate to ALL the crickets which are also gut loaded with trout pellets, potato peelings and any other veg available., and twice a week a dose of nutrobal, which contains all the vitamins required, sprinkled over the crickets. WATER: Some people like to spray beardys, I do not, I believe that it creates too much humidity in the tank which in turn can encourage bacterial growth and cause respiratory problems for the animals, mine have a fresh water bowl placed in the viv every other night, if they have pooped in it, EVERY night. BRUMINATION: Brumination is allowing your animals a ‘cool time’ to mimic their natural seasonal reproduction cycles, you may hear it called ‘cycling’ or ‘cooling’. Basically it is a period of time that you lower the temperature in your animals enclosure to mimic or induce winter. I have found that dropping the spot to 80f is enough to let the cool end go down to 60f, so the animals can choose where they want to be. Reduce the UV level down to 8 hours per day, feed them once a week, and ensure fresh water is available. I leave them like this for 2-3 months. Then when ready to 'wake' them up, gradually over 2 weeks increase the uv up to 14 hours a day and the spot back up to 100-110f. BREEDING: Once your animals have gone through their hibernation they will then slowly increase their dietary intake and then start mating! This can seem to the untrained eye and a little brutal, the male will grab the female by the spines on the ridge on the back of her head, wiggle his body into place under her and insert one of his hemi-penes( lizards have 2 penis so that they can mate from either side of the female….very handy….) from either side of her body. Mating will take place regularly, even once the female is gravid. From mating the female will then lay eggs, from 4-6 weeks later. You will see her getting notably larger and actually be able to see the outlines of the eggs as they swell up with water 3 days before she is due to lay them. She will then start to search for a suitable place to lay them. I use a 2' square box with a lid box and fill it with moist peat patted down firmly and filled to the brim and place it at the cool end. When ready to lay the female will dig a tunnel and disappear into it(that’s why the peat needs to be firm) she will then turn around with her head poking out of the hole and proceed to lay her eggs, usually anywhere from 15 to 42(my record amount) small round eggs. She will then fill in her tunnel and crawl off somewhere to rest and recuperate. At this point I will give her 4-5 pinks to regain some of the large amounts of protein and calcium etc that she has exhausted producing her eggs. A good tip before she lays her eggs is to clip her toe nails, beardys more than Rankins can 'pop' eggs accidentally with their claws, just use a pair of human nail clippers and snip the very ends off. You will have to learn to recognise when your females have laid their eggs (their belly goes saggy for a few days) as often you will not know they have been in the laying box as they cover it over so well. Once they start laying, even if you remove the male, the females will lay between 1 and 3 clutches a year! I have heard of 5 in one year but that is unsubstantiated. INCUBATION: You will need to have your incubator set up at least 2-3 days before your female is due, get it ready from the time you can see the visible bulges in her sides. Incubator choice is down to the individual. I used to incubate my eggs in vermiculite a naturally occurring mineral that you can get from most garden centres and herp shops. I had a good success rate using it, about 95% of all eggs hatched. A couple of years ago someone introduced me to Perlite, it is a soil lightener, which has an advantage that while the lower level stores water you can put a dry level on top then the eggs aren’t in direct contact with moisture I now have virtually a 100% hatch rate. They are then covered with sphagnum moss. As a rule of thumb, I don't bother measuring humidity anymore, as long as there is some condensation on the lid then that's fine, if not and you need to add some water, don't put it over the eggs pour it into the corners and keep a bottle in the incubator to keep it at the right temperature. I use clear sandwich boxes for my egg boxes with tiny holes drilled all the way around the rim at the top to allow air exchange. If you incubate the eggs at 85 Fahrenheit you will get an even mix of babies out, ie males=females, and at this temperature they will hatch in 50-70 days. I have had years when they have all hatched at 50 days and one year where they all took 70, yet the temp was no different, I can not explain the phenomenon. HATCHLING CARE: Hatching is another imprecise process, sometimes they all come out together, other times they may take 3-5 days to all come out, never throw away an egg that has not yet hatched, I have had them hatch 2 weeks after the rest, and equally as important, don’t be tempted to cut them open, this will lead to a guaranteed dead hatchling. You must also NOT be tempted to help them out of the eggs, if you do it too early you can rupture their equivalent of the umbilical cord and they will bleed to death. Let them come out themselves, and then leave them in the incubator for at least 24 hours to absorb their yolk that is in their stomach and to allow the ‘umbilicus’ to atrophy and fall off. You can then put them in a vivarium set up exactly the same as the adults, but without substrate. Beardys are ‘lunge’ feeders and tend to get sand with their food which can lead to impaction, so I no longer use it. Just clean them out every few days. 1 Hour old. 1 Week Old. JUVENILE DIET: Once they are over 24 hours old, you can start introducing no.2 crickets(browns) 3 times a day, just pour in a handful, wait till they eat them then add a few more till they show no further interest, it is advisable not to leave too many free roaming crickets as it may stress out very young hatchlings. All crickets get dusted with human grade calcium, and twice a week nutrobal which has all the vitamins and minerals that the animals need. After 2 weeks of no.2 they then get upgraded to number 3's crickets, then to no.4's which they get fed till they are 16 weeks plus before I start to give them the occasional small waxworm each, and start to introduce small to medium brown crickets, enough that they eat them all and again don’t leave too many roaming around, they have a nasty nip, be careful not to feed them crickets that are too big, they will eat and very much enjoy stalking and killing them, but it can lead to impaction. If in doubt give smaller rather than larger prey. As a treat I will sometimes give the youngsters a fruit fly culture, they love to chase theses around and it keeps them occupied for days. Even more importantly than with the adult, you will need to give Bearded Dragons hatchlings a clean fresh supply of water every day, they will walk through It, foul in it and bath in it, so you must clean it daily. I also give my hatchling a constant supply of water cress, they will eat this from a few days old, they really seem to enjoy it and if you sit it in a water bowl it will thrive till it is all eaten, my adults still get it too. CARE SHEET FOR THE GENUS UROMASTYX your uromastyx INTRODUCTION These interesting lizards have become more popular during the last few years. Unfortunately there is little known about the genus. The following guidelines will help maintain these animals in captivity. Hopefully as more people work with the genus success stories will become more numerous. The only way to ensure better husbandry for these unusual lizard is for all herpetoculturists to share their information. TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION There are approximately 13 species in the genus Uromastyx. These lizards are adapted to arid regions and are found from northwestern India throughout southwestern Asia and the Arabian Peninsula to the Sahara of Africa (Moody 1987). Members of this genus are referred to as dab lizards or spiny tailed lizards. There are six species (U. aegyptius, U. ornatus, U. ocellatus, U. acanthinurus, U. hardwicki, and U. benti) which are occasionally available in the United States. The other seven species are seldom if ever imported. Uromastyx aegyptius is the largest member of the genus with individuals reaching 30 inches or more in total length and weighing several pounds. The other species are usually under 14 inches in total length. Coloration is variable between and within species. Uromastyx aegyptius and Uromastyx hardwicki are usually dark to light brown. Uromastyx acanthinurus can be yellow, green, bright orange or a combination of these colors. Uromastyx ornatus are sexually dimorphic with adult males being green or blue green with blotches of yellows and oranges. Females have more subtle yellows, browns, and some orange. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Behavior differs between species and even individuals within the same species. Some, Uromastyx acanthinurus and Uromastyx aegyptius, can be very shy, often retreating to a hide spot when someone approaches the cage. Others, Uromastyx ornatus, will often be tame. Individuals differ in their behaviors and you can find exceptions to the above generalizations. Large numbers of Uromastyx aegyptius and Uromastyx ornatus have been imported into the country during the last few years. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that 7,000 members of the genus were brought in 1994. For unknown reasons the death rate for Uromastyx ornatus is rumored to be as high as 80% during the first two months of captivity. Uromastyx aegyptius is hardier and with proper treatment adapts to captivity. Uromastyx acanthinurus have not been imported from Morocco for several years, however, a few animals occasionally come from Europe and a only two private breeders are known to occasionally produce captive born animals. There is probably less than 100 animals in the United States. This species adjusts well to captivity even if reproductive success is not common. SEXING The presence of large femoral pores with waxy protuberance and hemipene bulges can often distinguish males, however this is not obvious on all species. Males tend to have broader heads but this is often subtle or misleading. Uromastyx ornatus are the easiest to sex due to enlarged femoral pores on the males and adult males are more colorful than females. Uromastyx acanthinurus can be extremely difficult to sex. Probing does not work with Uromastyx acanthinurus and may not be a useful tool for the genus. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR Most lizards are territorial, which means that the male and sometimes the female will defend an area from members of the same species or even other species. Often in captivity two male lizards will fight openly. Even if aggression is not overt, the submissive male can be adversely affected. Research with green iguanas indicates that submissive males in sight or smell of a dominant male have slower growth rates. Uromastyx males should be housed separately. Some herpetoculturists even house females individually and only introduce them to males during the breeding season (Matt Moyle, personal communication). CAGING Each species of lizard is adapted to specific environmental conditions. Knowledge about a species macro and micro habitat is critical in designing a cage setup, however limited information is available regarding habitat type for each species of Uromastyx. Generally the species are found in deserts, therefore they are best kept in desert set-ups. Cages can consist of glass aquariums, metal stock tanks, or wooden boxes. Sand, dirt and newspaper are often used for substrate. Rocks or other objects should be placed in the cage to allow climbing and basking sites. Any heavy objects, such as rocks, must be securely anchored or the lizard will burrow underneath causing the rock to fall and crush it. Hide boxes provide the animals with a sense of security and are especially important for gravid females. Uromastyx can and should be kept outside during the summer or all year in the southwestern United States where temperatures seldom drop below the mid 60's F. A variety of outdoor caging types can be constructed, including a simple sheet metal ring sunk 12 inches in the ground and standing 24 inches above ground (the height is adjusted depending upon the size of the animals). Outdoor cages should be secured with a wire top to prevent predators (e.g. cats, birds, raccoons) from entering. TEMPERATURE These lizards are adapted to hot desert conditions. The cage should have a daytime hot basking spot where the temperature exceeds 120 F, however the lizard must be able to retreat to areas in the low 90's. Incandescent spotlights can provide hot basking spots. The wattage selected depends upon the size of the cage. Thermometers should be placed at both ends of the cage and monitored to ensure a proper temperature gradient. Under tank heaters can be used to supplement heat, however these are diurnal species and regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun. Spotlights more accurately approximately the way diurnal lizards obtain their heat naturally. Night time temperatures should be less that the daytime highs. Temperatures should be allowed to drop into the mid 60's F. LIGHTING Ultraviolet light is believed to be important for most lizards. Unfiltered sunlight (i.e. not through glass) is the best sources of ultraviolet light and lizards should always be exposed to sun whenever possible. There are several full spectrum fluorescent light bulbs on the market. Most claim that they duplicate the sun's light spectrum, however it is unlikely that any can achieve the intensity of ultraviolet light emitted by the sun. There is no scientific research supporting the assumption that these bulbs are beneficial, however there use is recommended since there is some antidotal evidence that they provide psychological benefits to the lizards. The new ZOOMED full spectrum bulb appears to have the highest UVA and UVB of any of the full spectrum bulbs on the market, therefore it is recommended. WATER Most desert species are adapted to live without free water. Uromastyx ornatus comes from the Sinai Peninsula where it rains less than 2 inches per year. Many species obtain moisture from the food they consume. There is evidence that some species, such as the Australian Moloch and North American horned lizards, collect morning dew on their scales which is then channeled toward the mouth. Many herpetoculturists soak their Uromastyx aegyptius in water and claim that the animal swells as it absorbs water. Whether the animal is actually filling up with water or only filling it's body cavity with air is unknown. Considering that this is a desert species, soaking in water seems inconsistent with adaptations to arid conditions and could lead to respiratory infections if the animal does not thoroughly dry after soaking. Water can be provided infrequently in a bowl. The bowl should not be left for long periods in the cage or it can raise the humidity to possibly unacceptable levels. Baby Uromastyx ornatus will drink water sprayed on the side of the cage. FOOD Uromastyx are omnivorous which means they consume both animal and plant materials. Since there is no data about the specific nutritional requirements of this genus a large variety of food items should be offered. Young animals more readily accept insects such as wax worms, crickets, and super meal worms, which should be offered three or four times per week. The following vegetables should be offered; kale, collard greens, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, and green peas. In addition, dandelion greens, alfalfa, grass, and flowers can be added to the diet. Beans such as split peas, lentils, navy beans, and other should also be provided. Some of these beans can be sprouted prior to feeding. Bird seed should also be mixed in with the salad. A reptile vitamin containing calcium should be sprinkled on the salad. Some of the commercial iguana chows can also be mixed in with the salad to ensure better nutrition. There are some indications that nutritional needs are not easily met for this genus. Several herpetoculturists who are raising young Uromastyx aegyptius and Uromastyx acanthinurus report slow growth rates. For example, I obtained two captive born Uromastyx aegyptius that were three inches long. Within eight months one animal was five inches long and the other 11 inches and much bulkier. The only difference in husbandry was that the larger animal would eat insects and smaller one would not. I have also observed slow growth in captive born Uromastyx acanthinurus. REPRODUCTION Several zoos (Christie 1993, Thatcher 1990, Wheeler 1988) and private breeders have successfully bred Uromastyx aegyptius and Uromastyx acanthinurus. However reproduction is not a regular occurrence. All breeders provide a winter cool down to stimulate reproduction. Apparently Uromastyx take several years to reach sexual maturity. As a comparison, North American chuckawallas, an ecological equivalent, take five to seven years to reach sexual maturity. Some of the smaller Uromastyx may reach sexual maturity in two or three years. LITERATURE CITED Christie, Bill. 1993. The Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard at the Indianapolis Zoo. Captive Breeding 1(3):20-25. Moody, Scott. 1987. A preliminary cladistic study of the lizard genus Uromastyx (Agamidae, sensulato), with a checklist and diagnostic key to the species. In Proceedings of the Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the Societas Europaea Herpetologica; (eds.) J. J. van Gelder, H. Strijbosch and P. J. M. Bergers. Thatcher, Terry. 1990. The reproduction in captivity of the North African spiny-tailed lizard, Uromastyx acanthinurus. British Herpetological Society Bulletin. 40:9-13 Wheeler, Scott. 1988. Husbandry of the spiny-tailed agama (Uromastyx acanthinurus) at the Oklahoma City Zoo. In Proceedings of the 11th International Herpetological Symposium on Captive Propagation and Husbandry. (ed.) Michael J. Uricheck.