How to Hydrate Uromastyx Lizards

Pets provide comfort and joy to their owners while asking little in return. For the owner, your duty is to make sure that that "little in return" is returned in the proper way. This means learning how to properly care for your animal. This may be a no-brainer for a cat or a dog, but caring for a uromastyx lizard is slightly different. Make sure they feel refreshed all the time by reading on to learn how to hydrate uromastyx lizards.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Purchase your lizard. Obviously you have to own the uromastyx lizard before you care for it, but this step also has another function to it. Where you've purchased your uromastyx lizard will depend on how you take care of it at first. Lizards that have been raised locally in captivity will require less adjustment then a lizard that has been imported from abroad.

2. Provide the uromastyx lizard with ample space to move and good ventilation. Uromastyx can be highly active, so the cage should be at least four times the size they are when full grown. The most important part is that the cage should be well ventilated. Humidity is not good for these desert fairing animals.

3. Soak the uromastyx lizard twice a day for five minutes, if you had the lizard imported from abroad. It will be dehydrated when it arrives. A couple of quick soak a day should do the trick. You can let the lizard drink the water it is in as well.

4. Leave a shallow dish of water in the cage. Don't leave a lot. Humidity is not good for the uromastyx lizard. They will want to drink water occasionally, but they won't need to all the time. The reason will be explained in the next step.

5. Care for your lizard with a healthy vegetarian diet. Uromastyx are herbivores by nature, so avoid giving them too many flies or things of that nature. They actually get most of their water from the vegetables themselves. Any leafy green is good except for the cabbage family.

6. Be careful about over watering your uromastyx lizard, as they are desert animals. As bad as you may feel for not watering them, consider that they have no idea what to do with the amount of water that other animals are used to and that it will damage them.

[BobbiK]

on 1/11/2009 Yes, when we were told that our Uromastyx Egyptius should NOT have water, I thought the pet store was mistaken. When we got home, I offered water several times, to no avail. I knew for a fact that Henry hadn't consumed any water and was SHOCKED after three days when he urinated copius amounts of water! We've had him since '02 and he seems to get enough liquid through his diet and still refuses water.