I’ve completed my Chuckwalla Care Guide, something I have been working on for years. Much like my guides on Xenagama and Uromastyx, I will continue to update this one as my experience progresses. I hope you find it useful!
2024 Season Update, Online Reservations
Howdy people of the internet!
Things are really gaining momentum for this season! A number of species are breeding and laying eggs, a few are starting to hatch.
The hatchling Butterfly Agamas are growing very strong. Some are starting to distinguish themselves as more bold and some as clear males at an early age. I’m excited to learn more about these interesting lizards.
The P. Subviridis are really starting to show their differences from male to female. I believe of my group I have 1.5, which I would prefer more males but that’s still pretty good!
Ornate Reservations:
You can now reserve 2024 Hatchling Ornates in advance on my website. This is something that up to now I’ve handled personally via direct message, and while that’s still an option, I’m happy to have added it to the website to make it automated. Check the page titled “Availability” to do this!
Hatching Leiolepis rubritaeneata!
Butterfly Agamas have been on my mind since I first heard about them around 15 years ago. I very briefly kept guttata around 8 years ago, but due to other focuses I had at the time I sent that project to someone else. I managed to get a pair of the guttata back recently, but that will be a long term goal since they only just arrived.
I had never heard of the species L. rubritaeneata until sometime last year. When I saw them available last year I had to get a few. These are a smaller and extremely beautiful species in the same genus and mostly hail from Laos. I caught mine breeding around the new year, eggs came shortly after that. A day or two ago the babies began emerging from their eggs.
Availability Now on Website
Hello Internet!
Historically I’ve personally handled all my sales via email and direct message, for the first time I am now going to be posting occasional availability here on my website.
I’m really happy to have finally made this possible. In the past Uromastyx have sold so quickly that I’ve never needed a virtual store. And while they are still in extremely high demand, I produced so many in 2023 that I’ve been able to hang on to a lot of them to see how they develop. This will allow me to be much more specific about the animals I’m offering and it’s great to share that this year produced some of the best animals I’ve ever had. For now there are just 3 posted, but there are many more to come.
Thanks y’all!
Uromastyx Care Guide 2.0
Hey there internet!
It’s been a long time coming, but I have made an update to my Uromastyx Care Guide.
This is something I’ve been talking about doing for a while, but I wanted several years to pass between updates to the guide. I first published my care sheet in 2019, so 2023 is enough time elapsed for me to have learned a lot and changed some things.
I hope someone finds some use from this! Download the PDF below or under the section above titled “Care Guides”.
Care Guide for Xenagama taylori!
Howdy people of the internet!
I have finally finished my Care Guide for Xengama taylori! This pdf has been around 2-3 years in the making and I’m quite happy to have it completed for the time being. I update and revise my guides from time to time, but a revision on this one will be at least a few years away. I do have an update to my Uromastyx Care Guide coming soon since I haven’t updated that one in several years. I hope some folks find this Xenagama guide useful!
2023 Update!
I am terrible at updates on this page! But here are some photos of some of the hatching that’s happening here so far this season! As always, email me to inquire about availability! Here: aridsonly@gmail.com
Exciting times here! New projects are being added that may yield some results this year, I’ll do my best to get updates here as often as I can.
If you’d like to support my work and get more care information about the animals I work with, please consider joining my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/aridsonly
First Uromastyx Clutch of 2021! U. aegyptia
A nice early clutch of 20 eggs was laid this week by my U. aegyptia female. She laid about 1 month earlier than last season and 7 eggs more that last season. The eggs are very large and heavy, weighing between 20-23 grams each.
Auction CB 2020 Egyptian Uromastyx!
The auction for one Cb 2020 Egyptian Uromastyx baby is now open until 10am MST sharp.
Attached to this post are the rules (previously posted on my Instagram) and a picture of the exact Uromastyx on auction.
I will comment on this post at 10am MST when the auction is closed and also comment on who the winner. Please keep this civil, haha, and the winner can contact me via Instagram, Facebook, or email (aridsonly@gmail.com) and we can arrange payment and shipping.
Thank you all and good luck!
I left Facebook! Plus what’s hatched so far in 2020!
Around a week ago I decided to leave Facebook for mental health purposes, I’m sorry to those that follow me there to get to find Uromastyx, but it needed to happen. That being said it’s important that I keep this blog updated for those same people.
Here are some pictures of the uros that have hatched so far this year, they are all reserved:
Varied Minor Enrichment for Uromastyx
One thing I like to do for Uromastyx that are settled and comfortable is add and/or change portions of the enclosure. This can be done in many ways. Moving or adding some of the cage furnishings, moving the placement of the basking lights, hiding food for them to find, changing the location of the food bowl, etc.
I like doing this because it provides changes for the animals, giving them new stuff to explore, new problems to solve in finding hidden foods, etc. Another reason is because sometimes you learn something about the animal from making a change. You can start to see that most animals like hides of this shape or that shape, things they don't like about what you've done, and it helps you be creative and learn about new ways you can setup environments for them in the future.
Here I've added a bunch of timothy hay into my uro pens. The animals eat the hay (a lot of it actually, it surprises me how much of they consume) and also it provides some temporary visual barriers and microclimates. I like to cover some hide entrances, stuff some hay into other hide areas, and things like this. I say only for settled uromastyx because with new additions or skittish animals it can be stressful to change stuff up on them. Those animals require consistency and habit until they are really settled in and have strong habits.
Xenagama taylori additions!
I recently bought a group of 2.3 Xenagama taylori to add to my projects. I used to keep this species a long time ago when I was in college but sold them. I always regretted that move but I’m really pleased to have this shot at breeding them again. My results this time will definitely be different!
Female Xenagama taylori
U. ornata hatching! The first clutch of the 2019 season!
The first Ornate Uromastyx of this season began hatching this week. This was a clutch of 15, 3 of which were damaged during nesting, so 12 remained and all hatched! 2019 marks my 4th season hatching this species and also the 4th season from the pair that produced these babies.
An Early Start to the 2019 Season.
I’m stoked for the upcoming 2019 breeding season! I have a large number of animals that I hope will breed again this year as well as several new pairs and new species that could join the party. So far one of my Uromastyx ornata pairs has mated and I expect several of the others to follow suit around mid February. This Ornate pair has mated this same week for the last 2 years, so this is an encouraging sign.
My Uromastyx princeps pairs surprised me by mating in November of 2018 and the female laying a clutch (mostly duds) at the beginning of January 2019. Out of a clutch of 6, only one egg appeared to be fertile. I’m not unhappy because even 1 good egg is a victory. If it hatches it will be the first CB U. princeps in the USA.
The 2018 Breeding Season!
This year is off to a strong start. So far I have eggs incubating from Uromastyx ornata, ocellata, geyri, thomasi, and yemenensis. I also have eggs from Sauromalus ater, Crotaphytus vestigium, Nephrurus amyae, and eggs and hatchlings from Eublepharis fuscus. With any luck I'll see a number of babies hatching in the coming months!
The 2017 Breeding Season has begun!
Another big gap between this post and my last! It's been a busy year already here, with lots of breeding activity, mating and some egg laying! The species that have mated so far are, U. ornata, U. thomasi, C. vestigium, C. bicinctores, N. wheeleri, N. amyae, E. angramainyu, and T. chalizae. The species that have laid so far are, U. thomasi, C. vestigium, C. bicinctores, N. wheeleri, N. amaye and T. chalizae.
Hoping to see mating from several other pairs of Uromastyx as well! Exciting!
A small photoset: Nephrurus, Uromastyx, Sauromalus, Eublepharis.
It's been a bit too long since my last update so I decided to upload a small photoset of some of my collection. Enjoy!
A few photo updates of various lizards:
This post is nothing special, just a smattering of photos to serve as an update. The first few pictures are photos I took of wild snakes and lizards here in Colorado and the second set contains animals in my collection. I've got some Baja Collared Lizards due to hatch in a couple short weeks, geckos hatching almost daily, and some great stuff in store for later in the year! Enjoy! Thanks for looking!
Uromastyx ornata hatched!
Last week the clutch of 10 uromastyx ornata eggs hatched! Here are some pictures of them getting some sunlight today. Hatchling ornates are so beautiful with such bright colors and arabesque patterns.
Hatching Uromastyx Thomasi and Baja Collared Lizard Eggs!
A nice surprise this weekend, my clutch of U. thomasi hatched! This is the third year in a row hatching this wonderful species. The female laid 10 eggs this time, and 9 of them hatched. This is the same ratio as last season. It will be nice to watch these guys grow and speed up over the coming weeks!
Also, a new species for me this season has laid eggs; Crotaphytus vestigium aka Baja Collared Lizard. One of two females I have laid 4 good eggs yesterday. I'm very excited because I really love this species. They are really magnificently patterned, especially the males. The second female is gravid as well and should be laying sometime in the next 1-2 weeks. Pictured below is the father, the second gravid female, the eggs just uncovered and the eggs in an incubation tray.
This season is really going great so far, and I couldn't be happier about it! I'm waiting on some U. ornata eggs to hatch any day now, most of my geckos are laying or hatching daily, and I also have the chance for 2 more species of crotaphytus to lay! Woo hoo!