Mali-Uromastyx

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I currently have two young Mali's. The male is a little older than the female but they're both a year old give or take a few months. My female is seemingly fine, moderately shy but active and still looking good. But since my daytime bulb broke and the pet shop doesn't have one, he recommended a brooding lamp. It's a 250W infrared lamp approximately. 2 feet above my lizards. My male is behaving very strangely. Seemingly (upon review on the internet) open mouth breathing. (open mouth and rapid throat movement) He's also chasing his tail and being more unpredictable than usual. Personally I've never seen my Mali's or any other lizard; for that matter, chase their own tail. At one point he even sat upon a rock and his eyes were twitching and a seemingly red skin was folding up into his eye, almost as if he were a horned desert lizard trying to excrete blood. I'm rather frightened that something may be very wrong, if you could shed some light on this subject and the possibilities for either prognosis or diagnosis. Thank you.

ANSWER: Hello Nolan,

What type of UVB light are you using, specifically, is it a flourescent type of light or a compact or coil light?  
Are the Uros housed together?  
I don't recommend use of Infrared lamps with reptiles for daytime use.  The light is not bright enough & if you are using a UVB light in there, it could be damaging the eyes.  The infrared lights are not bright enough to allow their pupils to constrict under light & if the pupils stay dilated & you have a UVB source in the tank, it is causing damage to the eyes, & can cause neurological problems, too.
I would take the Infrared out immediately & replace it with a halogen light or a higher wattage natural daylight household lightbulb.  You know the household bulbs that have a slight bluish tint to them?  They give off very bright white light as opposed to the normal regular softwhite household lightbulbs.
Make those changes today & let me know if he changes behavior at all, ok?  Thanks.

Tracie

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

QUESTION: I immediatly removed the bulb after reading the reply. So far so good, he's back to normal as far as I've seen. Yes both of them are housed together. They're both young and are in a decent sized terrarium, (HxWxD) 2 1/2' x 4 x 1 1/2'. I'll be moving eventually where I intend on getting a house so that I may dedicate an entire room to them and possibly two other critters. (Black and white Tegu and a snake(not sure what kind yet)). The owner of the pet shop I purchased the animals from suggested using a 250W infrared brooding lamp as a 24 hour lighting source. He may have assumed that it would be the same as the Zoo med 24 hour red bulb, which I had used several times when my day or night bulb broke. So now that I removed that infrared bulb I think they'll be ok. Thank you very much, Nolan

ANSWER: Hello Nolan,
So what type of basking light are you using now?  What type & brand of UVB light are you using right now?  Is it a flourescent type of bulb or a compact or coil?  
Good the enclosure is good sized that way they have more room to move without any dominance issues.  
They do need a bright white basking light, so, let me know which one you decided to go with, & the UVB lighting, as well.  That is very important.  
Are you giving calcium as well?  They should get calcium at least 3 times a week at their ages.  
Let me know how they are doing!  Thanks!

Tracie

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

QUESTION: I'm currently using a 150W zoo med black light bulb for night and a 100W zoo med basking spot light for day. They're both a "compact" light I suppose, neither coil nor tube so I suppose that'd be it. I may need to upgrade to a 150W basking light. No I've not been giving them calcium as I know not the manner of this? Although I have one bag of vita-sand calcium supplement substrate mixed in with the sand. They have an Exo-terra heat rock with a safety shut-off to unsure that they don't burn. A standard rock slightly offset to the lamp. They also have a hiding spot on each side of the tank for warm and cool niches. There's one problem... once again they're eyes are acting up. Except it's both this time, they're not acting overly strange. (they're strange to begin with) They are however doing some odd things with their eyes, it almost seems like they have a secondary eyelid which is coming from the front of their eye to the rear, it's tinted red and looks to have quite a few blood vessels. These "eye lids" as I call them are transparent and are beginning to remind me of a crocodile's secondary eyelid. I'm getting a little scared and not sure why they are doing this even with the infrared lamp gone, although because I was told this could be used as a twenty-four hour light they've deprived of bright light, so I could see how the dramatic/sudden change could effect them in such a manner. Once again any help is appreciated, Thank you. Sincerely, Nolan.

Answer
Hello Nolan,

The basking light is fine, but what are the temps getting up to?  Uros need basking spots of around 120-125 & a good temperature gradient of at least 85-90, with a cooler end around 78-80.  The nighttime temps can go to 75 or so.  
You do need a UVB light though.  Try to get a Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb or if you want to get a Mercury Vapor Bulb if your tank is at least a 40 gallon, then, you could use a Megaray or a T-rex active UV heat.  Or, as you had mentioned, getting a 150watt basking lamp.  
I would not use a blacklight at night, either as that is a spectrum that he can see & it can disturb their sleep cycles.  Use a ceramic heat emitter which emits no light, just heating if you need heating at night.  
Right now, the eyes are most likely irritated from the infrared light & I believe the black light at night is probably not helping.  
Any colored light can & will affect a reptiles' eyes & behavior.  They do not like colored light.  
Are they feeding well yet?  The calcium should be given 3-4 times per week.  Just mix it in with the greens & veggies.  Do they lick the sand mix?  I would not mix anymore of that calcisand in with the sand because that calcisand can cause impactions if they lick too much of it.
Let me know how they are doing.

Tracie