First of all I don’t think you have any major problems with your new enclosure.

Some uros just take longer to get used to a new environment than others, but if you hadn’t seen him outside his hide at all in three days it would be time to start thinking about what to check and change. In your case though you said he has came out once or twice. That sounds to me like he is just being very cautious in his new environment.

As for not eating he could still be too nervous about the new environment to eat. You can always try the trick of covering all the glass up with paper and treat him like you were acclimating him all over again. You could also try putting some of his favorite food very near the hide he is in so he feels safer coming out to have a bite to eat.

They are very territorial little creatures and it may take a week or two before he considers the new cage his territory. For all he knows there is a uro eating monster hiding just around the corner .

From previous threads of yours I think you are up to date on ambient and basking temperatures but it never hurts to check them one more time. Also if the hide he is sleeping in doesn’t warm up in the morning he may not feel like going out until his body temp rises some more. I had that problem with some hides I built out of grout covered foam, it was like a little Styrofoam cooler and it never warmed up in there. I made some changes to let some more warm air flow into them and it seemed to do the trick.

I don’t think you have too many hides, although I would classify some of them as shady spots not hides. In my personal opinion if your uro can’t touch his back on the top of the hide it is not a hide it is just a shady spot to lay in.

I would save moving him back to the smaller cage as a last resort. If it is a stress/territory thing there is no guarantee that he will do any better back in the old cage. If you do take him out for a soak you could try putting him in the warmed up smaller cage with some food to see if he eats.

I agree with the two posts above. I would also like to reemphasize Mike’s comments about double (or even triple) checking the ambient and basking temperatures.

In my opinion, the hysterical digging and running around is a good sign. A healthy animal will have instincts to hide and/or escape- he is doing both. An animal that lays around lethargic or doesn’t retreat to a hide at night or when alarmed is one that I would be concerned about. It sounds as if your uro is doing what a captured uromastyx should do- using it’s enclosure and hide for protection and trying to escape. The running and digging should start to subside after the animal is more familiar with its enclosure and feels less threatened. You can help this by continuing with your hands off approach and letting him adjust to his new space. Once he has time to discover that there is no uro eating monster (great visual Mike) around the corner and doesn’t fear being snatched from the human monster from above, then he will spend more time out of the hide and should start to slow down with his frantic escape attempts.

In my opinion, enclosure size, temps, and eliminating stress are the three most important factors when trying to acclimate animals. There is no magical time frame here and I have three groups of wc uromastyx (8 animals) still going through acclimation protocol almost four months after arrival. I really wanted to brumate these two species but did not want to rush things just for the sake of breeding. Some just take more time than others and patience is the key to successful acclimation and good health.

Well, I was a bit over the top with "uro eating monster" just my weird sense of humor. But as uro_fan said being cautious and scared can actually be a good thing as in this case it means your uro is behaving how a uro should behave in that situation.

Don’t be afraid to post your concerns as that is how you will learn what is "normal" behavior and what should be a sign that something might be wrong. You were right to be concerned about both behaviors (the hiding and not eating, and the hyperactivity) in other circumstances or for extended periods of time they might be signs of problems. Luckily in this case they are OK behaviors for the situation.

If you think a warm soak might help your uro go to the bathroom it probably won’t hurt too much at this point. I know you are balancing the stress/acclimation issues along with feeding at the same time.

You could try and minimize stress by soaking him in the enclosure using a clear plastic container, just get the water ready then scoop him up and put him in the container inside the enclosure. That way he gets his soak and still stays in the environment.

Another thing to think about is if he is still eating he may still be going to the bathroom and you haven’t noticed it. There was a time when I was worried that my uro had not passed anything in about a week. I took him out for a soak (which by the way doesn’t induce my uro to eliminate) I pulled everything out for a cleaning and found a whole pile (about 4 or 5) of fecal pellets in an almost inaccessible corner under a pile of seed. I still have no idea how he managed to deposit them there. I figured once I moved him to the new cage which has a tile floor and no loose substrate I wouldn’t have that problem again. Well a couple of months later I stopped seeing any new fecal pellets and went through the cage and found them all under a small piece of cork bark in the corner. I guess he just wanted a little privacy.

Thanks for the detailed deion. Sounds like other than not going to the bathroom yet, things are getting back to normal. Looks like I misread your previous post about not sleeping in a hide at least twice. First I missed the comment then I misread it to be he was sleeping totally in the open (that’s what I get for reading and posting right after a mind numbing staff meeting ). Anyway now I see that he was sleeping in a semi open area, I don’t think that is all that bad. The behavior to watch out for is sleeping the whole night totally in the open. Being a blob for a good part of the day is not very unusual for these guys either.

There are treatments a vet could give to stimulate your little uros bowels, one being a mineral oil enema. I am not sure you are at that point yet. Uros are hind gut fermenters which means after they digest the easily available nutrients the fibrous materials are held on to for a while and bacteria work on breaking them down into water and nutrients. This is why it is normally good for a uro to have full gut so they can go on producing water. It is also why dehydration can be a big problem for specimens who are not eating at all. My uro will on occasion not eat too much and not go to the bathroom for up to 3-4 days then all of a sudden he will go and then eat a big meal. Almost like he was waiting to let the previous meals fully digest then get rid of them and start over again.