Uro behavior

Question
I have 2 Mali Uromastyx. I believe one is a male and one is a female but i a not 100 sure. They are about 9 months old and they live together in a 40 gallon tank. They have seperate caves plenty of food, basically everything they need. So I was suprised when I woke up yesterday and the male was biting the females tail. She would run away and he would like stalk her. I need help. is this normal. should i seperate them. Why is he doing this all of a sudden they were the best of friends before this.

Answer
Hello Robin,

Hm, well, that could be mating behavior though, which is way way too early.  If he is already starting that, I am afraid you are going to have to separate them.  Unless of course, it is 2 males, in which you definitely cannot house them together.  
It sounds more like mating to me.

You don't want to have them breed until they are at least 2 years, just to ensure that the female has adequate fat stores & calcium stores.  At this age, the males do not have good enough muscular control of his retractor muscle & can hurt himself.

This happens quite often, unfortunately.



Tracie