I’ve been holding him several times a week for a couple minutes to try to ensure that he will not mind being picked up when he’s an adult. But then he just kinda settled down on me for the first time! (and I’m loving it, so cute)

And you do not see this ritual as being stressful for your uromastyx?

Do you do this because you like entertainment or because you think the uromastyx enjoys this sort of stressful game of expending energy?

Have you read some of the past posts on this forum? If so, did you notice the one asking for help where the mali found its way into a hole under the sink and was lost somewhere in the wall?

The temperature drop that takes place when occasionally taking your uromastyx out of its enclosure is probably not injurious to your uro. However, the stress involved in doing so every day or constant repeated drops in temperature has to be considered. It is my opinion that the stress that results from the movement and temperature variance is probably more harmful than the actual physical drop and then rise in temp but this is just my opinion. Stress plays such an important part of proper health with these animals and many just do not take this factor into consideration.

The post that I made on body temp that Frocto is referring to is to let people know that they should not assume that a uro is tame or ‘likes’ to be held just because it becomes lethargic or falls asleep outside of its enclosure. This is a common misconception that often leads to too much handling and a compromised immune system resulting from stress and/or constant fluctuations resulting in continually low body temperature.

I noticed a death announcement on KS recently of a mali. I could not help but notice that the last two photos showed the animal on a leash with two children. One has to question how often the uro was handled and whether this additional stress (they are not domesticated cats or dogs) played a role in the animals demise.

While I am speaking about this uro I might as well speak my mind about the entire situation. This person purchased a uromastyx and approx one month after obtaining it noticed some disturbing health issues such as loss of equilibrium and loss of control with some motor skills. This person received multiple recommendations to see a vet and yet the next post we see discussing health is thirteen days after the original symptoms appeared saying the animal died. Coincidentally, the animal died on the morning it was going to the vet which was ten days AFTER the alarming health symptoms first appeared. The most two recently posted photos show the uromastyx on a leash which tells me that this animal was being handled and stressed #1 when it was ill or #2 during the very important initial acclimation time right after the uromastyx was purchased. Either is unacceptable as stress should be eliminated (not created) during acclimation and for all animals presenting signs of illness. The other thing that strikes me as odd is that three days before the animal died this person posts requesting information on how to heat the enclosure and basking spot and how to ‘check’ the temperature?? Her post also admits that she does not think she has it hot enough for him.
Although I find the sequence of events disturbing, I do not find it uncommon.

I highly recommend that everyone do the research and have the enclosure setup stable and ready to go BEFORE purchasing the animal. If for some reason you do purchase a reptile before doing the research or getting the enclosure to optimal condition, focus on these basic husbandry issues FIRST not on how cute the uromastyx looks on a leash. (Asking about temperatures almost two months into owning a uromastyx can lead to some serious adverse health issues.) And last but not least, if the animal is showing some alarming health signs get it to a vet ASAP not ten days down the road when it is on deaths door.

Sorry for the lengthy walkthrough on this specific situation but hopefully sharing thoughts on specific cases like this could lead to someone thinking next time and the prevention of a similar repeat situation.

You ask: "can I take him out or will it be to stressful for him."

This is hard to answer.
Yes, you can take him out and yes, it will most likely be stressful for him.

Maybe a happy medium by handling him occasionally rather than frequently? This will certainly lead to less stress.

I find it less traumatic for the uro (my opinion not my uromastyx opinion) if I interact with it in the enclosure rather than taking it out of its comfort zone. Some of my uromastyx stress more than others so I try not to force too much contact with those specific animals.

I would recommend that you start with hand feeding and let ‘him’ progress to approaching your hand and climbing on it rather than you grasping him. I would wait until he has settled in and is eating well before starting with any of this. If you see that the animal is stressed from your presence, back off and try again (slowly) at a later date.

What are the dimensions of your enclosure, your basking spot temp, and your gradient temperatures? How are you measuring these temps and what are you feeding other than peas?

Was this response meant for me?

If so, my sweatshirt temperature is reading 82F right now which is cooler than quite a few uromastyx owner’s ‘cool’ zones. Also keep in mind that that the outside temperature of our skin is cooler than our internal temperature. Even if you were to hold the uromastyx directly to your skin, you could not achieve anything close to a uromastyx potz. The fact that three fourths of the uros body is also exposed to the ambient room temperature (which is even lower than the surface temperature of our skin) also works against achieving a temperature that comes close to our internal body temperature which incidentally, is below every potz that I have seen listed for uromastyx..

My confusion came about because your reply was to ’my’ post not to Vamppire’s original post. When making a post I would suggest using the reply key in the post you are commenting on not in someone else’s post. This is where the confusion came about. Your reply tagged my name at the top showing that you were responding to me.

As you are not familiar with uromastyx, I can see how you were confused on the handling issue. Uromastyx have temperature requirements 20 degrees higher than the two animals you referenced and tend to stress easier than both.

I do not believe that Vamppire attempted to make you sound like an idiot. She just simply pointed out that you took the posts out of context. The discussion was regarding stress and avoiding health issues not whether a drop in temperature would kill a uromastyx.