UROMASTYX HUSBANDRY GUIDE

Uromastyx feeding crash course

Uromastyx are herbivores! This means that their diet primarily consists of plants, but it’s important to note that they occasionally eat insects in the wild. Their vegetable needs are simple but specific. Let's get started!

Salad

Feeding your Uromastyx the right kinds of fruits and veggies is essential. Check out the handy reference guide below for an easy understanding of what to include in their salad and how often. There are multiple ways to prepare the salad for your Uromastyx. In general, it’s a good idea to cut the salad into medium-sized (1”x1”) pieces, especially for young reptiles. This will help prevent choking accidents. Offer a mixture of types of greens, along with flowers, fruit, and berries. The sugars in fruit and berries can be fattening; feed these at most, once a week.

In general, I feed my Uromastyx every day and make sure they always have food available. For Uromastyx over a year old, pay attention to their weight, cut back feeding to 3-4 times a week if daily feeding is causing issues. Each Uromastyx is different; some will eat everything you put in front of them, and some will stop eating when they have had enough. You have to pay attention to your animals and understand their individual behavior.

Supplements!

When it comes to supplements for Uromastyx, some folks see them as a necessity and others don’t. We are still learning the needs of reptiles in general, it’s important to keep yourself up to date as information evolves. With that said, it's important to have a good understanding of what supplements are and how they work. Let's break it down:

  • There are 3 primary supplements: calcium without D3, calcium with D3, and a high-quality multi-vitamin

    What is D3? In nature, reptiles absorb UVB from the sun, which is converted into D3. Their bodies then use D3 to process calcium for an array of important bodily functions, including bone health. As keepers, we work to provide our chameleons with UVB through our lighting choices. The reality is, we will never be able to recreate lighting as effectively as the sun. Supplementing D3 helps to correct those shortcomings. You have to be careful with D3. When using the sun to naturally produce D3 reptiles have a shut-off switch to prevent overproduction. This is not possible with artificial D3, you can overdose reptiles.

    • It’s important to note: Since Uromastyx can be fed insects occasionally, they must be dusted with Calcium without D3 every time you give them to your reptile

  • Wondering what "dusting" means? I did the first time I read a reptile care sheet. When it comes to Uromastyx, dusting means sprinkling their salad with powdered supplements. A little goes a long way. When dusting insects, your goal is a cover them in a light coating of the supplements. You are aiming for a slightly dusty appearance as opposed to a powdered donut

Let’s talk about bugs

Uromastyx can be fed insects occasionally. It’s a good way to add enrichment to their diet, but you must be careful. Feeding insects too often could lead to health issues. Let’s define occasionally. I’m going to play it safe and say feeding 1-5 insects over a month is more than enough. Here are a few rules

  • Insects must be alive

  • There are lots of bugs in the world but only some of them are safe to eat.

  • Feeder insects need to be fed organic reptile-appropriate vegetables for at least 8 hours before being fed to your dragons. This is called gut loading.

  • Dusting the feeder insects with the right supplements is critical. Revisit our chat about supplements.

  • It's important to feed size of insects for their age/stage of development.

Appropriate feeder insects

There are a few factors you have to take into account when selecting feeder insects. Let's start with nutritional value. It's important to feed a variety of insects. Options such as dubia roaches, silkworms, red runner roaches, and black soldier fly larvae are great and my favorite picks. Other insects like hornworms, wax worms, and even snails can be fun treats. Below I've provided a quick reference guide for selecting feeders and gut loads that were created for chameleons but apply perfectly for bearded dragons as well. Here is a graphic to guide you in selecting insects and food options to gut load the insects.

Gut loading

Think of your insects as two slices of bread. You can eat that bread; it would quench your hunger, but over time, eating bread alone will take its toll on your health. What if you added lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, smear, roast beef, and alfalfa sprouts? You have just transformed two slices of bread into a well-rounded meal.

This is the thinking behind gut-loading your feeder insects. Feeders with empty stomachs are essentially empty shells, gut loading allows keepers to deliver vital nutrients in a package dragons love. It's important to always be aware of the things you are choosing for your gut load. The goals of gut loading are:

  • Add additional calcium to your feeder insects via their stomachs. I prefer to use commercial gut-loading products to accomplish this goal; my favorite is Repashy Superload. Its first ingredient is calcium, which is key to a great gut load. I also use powdered sage. Sage is a natural herb with huge amounts of calcium.

  • To make sure the insects are delivering other valuable vitamins and minerals. You want to make sure to take advantage of the opportunity to also squeeze in much-needed vitamins when you can.

  • To make the bugs more impactful/nutritious. Without gut-loading, your feeder insects are essentially empty shells.

Only use organic fruits and veggies to avoid pesticides that can harm your feeder insects and your reptiles.