Babysitting two Mali's....questions...pics....

[marisa]

Hello. A friend of my roomates is in the process of moving and since we are the only reptile people he knows, he asked if we would watch his 2 Mali's for him. I know NOTHING about these animals and I told him this but he doesn't know anyone else, so here they are.

First, they have proper lights from what I have been reading....and temps...

They are housed on play sand. They have the same diet as my roomates iguana (eating stuff like collards, dandelion, squashes, beans, etc) and they have supplements. No water in the tank and low humidity. The orange one is INTENSE orange and just beautiful. Both are "friendly" but the yellow one is REALLY shy, and runs when someone comes in the room and hides.

Questions

1. With the pics can you tell what species these are?

2. He told me both were males, do males not fight? Niether is agreesive towards the other.

3. The yellow one is having a problem. He noticed it getting fatter about two weeks ago. He said he thinks its constipated. I asked if it might be a gravid female but he said the person who sold them was sure both were males. When he took both out I personally immediatly thought gravid but since I know nothing about Mali's I figured it is constipation. It also moves its belly around almost like belly dancing sometimes...any ideas?

Pics:

Flash pics

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali.jpg">

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali2.jpg">

No flash
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali5.jpg">

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali6.jpg">

Here you can see the yellow one....I couldn't get better pics because it's so shy.
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali7.jpg">

You can clearly see how "fat" it is compared to the other one.
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mali/mali8.jpg">

Thanks for any advice/help

Marisa

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Can't help you there, but nice mali's :)

[king nick]

thoses are clearly nigerian uros. to me just by colouration they both look to be males ,males are usually brighter coloured altho sometimes you can find the odd brightly coloured female.

they are both amazing looking animals

Nick

[Rhonda]

They're deffinately both nigerian uromastyx and both males! It also sounds like the yellow one is a bit stressed by its male cage mate. That "belly dancing" gesture you're describing is usually a sign of aggression. That may also explain why he seems fat because they like to make themselves appear larger when they're feeling threatened so they inflate their bodies with air. mature males really shouldn't be housed together. It's probably a good idea to separate them. Even if they aren't actually fighting each other.

[marisa]

Hi....thanks for your replies.

The owner is really open to suggestion and I told him he should probably get two enclosures. One for each. He said he is looking into 55 gallon tanks right now for when he gets settled and moves. So at least they will be seperate soon.

But for now they have to remain together as I myself have nothing over a 10 gallon here.

Last night I gave them a bit hotter basking spot....as well as a bit cooler one....one is now 120 in the middle, while the other seems to sit around 105-108. They seem to use both. The cool end of the cage is never used by them except at night.

Both are eating but I believe the yellow one *is* a bit constipated. I am going to give it a few soaks and some exercise to see if that helps.

Thanks for your advice,

Marisa

[tHeGiNo]

Hey Marisa, in addition to soaking, I have found pear to be great in relieving constipation. Definitely Nigerians and definitely both males as previously suggested. Very gorgeous at that!