a thanx to you and just a lil follow up Q :)

Question
QUESTION: once again thank you very much, you have been a fantastic help.. i have now decided on buying a mali uromastyx, but im finding it very hard to find breeders here in england (i wont stop looking tho)the enclosure pic you showed me was really great and not at all what i expected ( i kinda expected alot of plants and.. well.. mess i guess hehe) one thing you said tho was to ensure water in the enclosure.. i have read a few care sheets and guides for the mali, i read that the mali does not care for water in the encloser and gets all the water it needs from veges and very occasional insect and that i should bathe it in warm water in the garden every now and again .. as this is very important to find out is there any way you could help me again.. on a couple of sites it says the water a mali needs is very debatable plz help :)??

ANSWER: Hello Nadine, I am glad I could help and yes supplying water for these animals is a controversial topic. The fact is that yes they do get water from the food they eat however many of the lizards not offered a water dish become dehydrated. Some say there is no need bathe them often and they will be fine. The only problem with supplying a water dish is it will raise the humidity, which can be a medical problem. The humidity needs to be no higher then about 25% and a water dish will increase it. You can offer a very shallow dish of cool water in the corner of the cool side of the tank and it shouldnt raise the humidity to a dangerous point. Keep an eye on your hygrometer (humidity measuring instrument) to be sure it doesn't get too high. You can also use a spray bottle (new NOT used for chemicals) with water and spray down teh vegetables to give a little more water and this will work just the same.

You can add whatever you would like in the enclosure but live plants are not suggested as they create humidity and many of them are toxic. But fake plants look nice and are a great way to make him feel more comfortable and the tank not look so bare.

I am glad you are doing some research yourself but I would love to give you some links to some reliable care sheets as anybody on the internet can write what they "think" a Mali should have. So these are some links I know and trust to give correct information:

http://www.anapsid.org/uromastyx.html
http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Care.htm

Yes you should also bathe him in a tub or sink it also helps them shed sense they live in such a dry environment.

Hope that settles your confusion, Good luck finding a breeder!!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ah yes both of those care sheets ive already read and they were very helpful im glad that you trust both of these sites, which is a relief.. shame you dont have any well trusted breeders of the mali in the uk .. again its turning out to be a very hard search

Answer
Hello, I can look for breeders for you but I am not sure if I will be able to find any. I live in the US so I am not familiar with Breeders out that way. I will be more then happy to search for them though.

I found some sites that have UK reptile Breeders but so far not a lot about the Uromastyx

I know this site has pictures of Uros that I beleive they have but I do not know if they ship or are located near enough for  you. In this case you would have to email them to work it out:

http://www.jurassic-pets.co.uk/h001.htm

And here is their contact page:

http://www.jurassic-pets.co.uk/h005.htm

So I hope that can help out some.
You might also want to check out classifieds online. They are pre-owned pets so you never know what kind of care they had been getting before hand but its worth a shot:
http://www.craigslist.org
http://www.reptileweb.co.uk/

I hope you are able to find them, I will keep looking so if you want you can send me your email mine is reptilianyex@live.com you don't have to but it would be the easiest way for me to get you the links.

Good luck