The Great Uromastyx Hatch-A-Thon: Tiny Dinos Have Arrived!
Hold onto your heat lamps, folks - the baby Uromastyx Geyri are here! What started as a quiet Friday morning quickly turned into a full-fledged prehistoric nursery, with tiny, scaly dinosaurs (well our version of dinosaurs – really just a spiny tailed magnificent lizard) making their grand entrance into the world. Dad has always dreamed of competing with Jurassic Park, and we think he intends to do so in our basement!
Friday Frenzy: The First Heads Appear
It all began on February 21st, 2025, when two tiny but mighty hatchlings decided it was time to make their debut. By Saturday, two more adventurous souls had poked their heads out, bringing the grand total to four little explorers on their journey to the outside world. With twelve eggs in total, the anticipation to see them all hatch - was at an all-time high!
The Nursery Saga: Dad vs. The Enclosure
As any good reptile parent would, Dad was prepared - or so he thought. A spacious 40-gallon, front-opening tank was ready and waiting… until sheer panic set in. Seeing how small the first baby’s head peeking out of its shell was, Dad went into full-on emergency mode and downgraded to a cozy 10-gallon nursery. But as soon as he realized a top-opening enclosure, that would be covered with light and heat lamps - was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine (especially for little lizards who might mistake an overhead hand for a predator), he scrapped the plan entirely. Off to PetSmart he went, returning victoriously with a 20-gallon, front-opening terrarium.
After some quick setup wizardry, the nursery had everything these tiny dinos needed: a 75W basking light, a 75W deep heat projector (DHP) on a dimming thermostat for cozy nighttime warmth, and a solid UVB strip to keep them thriving. Unlike the 40-gallon palace, the basking platform is lower to the ground level, and Dad can finally stop having nightmares of the little ones falling several (terrarium) stories to the ground.
The Ultimate Hatchling Doula & The Egg Tickle Trick
Throughout the chaos, Dad had an unsung hero on the other end of the line -ChiefSweetsUniverse, the ultimate reptilian doula, talking him through every step, from incubation to post-hatchling care. Meanwhile, another secret weapon emerged: the legendary egg tickle! A helpful tip learned from the amazing folks at The Tye Dyed Iguana, who also became an invaluable hatching support resource, the family gently tickled each egg to encourage the babies inside to get a move on and hatch. This mimics other hatchlings from the brood crawling about. It worked like a charm - by Monday afternoon, all eight hatchlings from the first container and all but one had officially joined the nursery crew.
The last little one, out of the container of eight, did take its time before it was ready to join the others. This baby turned out to be the runt of the group, a tiny but feisty fighter that the family is keeping a close eye on. We finally added him to the nursery Thursday morning. With eight energetic babies zooming around, basking, and munching on greens, the nursery was alive with prehistoric energy.
Waiting on the Final Four
With one more container holding four what seems to be extra-large eggs, the excitement isn’t over yet! At day 75, the family is watching very closely for any signs of hatching. Could these eggs hold the biggest and boldest babies of the bunch? Only time will tell!
Baby Cam & The Great Poop Powdering Adventure
Thanks to the baby cam, every adorable scurry, sunbath, and nibble is being closely monitored. Speaking of nibbles - these babies have quite an unusual diet. While they munch on mixed greens, their meals come sprinkled with a gourmet blend of powdered Uromastyx poop (yes, you read that right), bee pollen, and calcium supplement.
Why poop, you ask? Well, baby Uromastyx typically consume their parents' poop to establish a healthy gut biome, prepping them for a life of veggie and seed munching goodness. Watching Dad try to powder Uromastyx poop without gagging? Priceless. Thankfully, Uromastyx poop isn’t messy or smelly - one of the many perks of keeping these mostly vegetarian lizards over their insect-eating cousins!
More Tiny Dinos to Come!
The thrill of watching baby Uromastyx hatch and grow is everything reptile lover’s dream of. The nursery is buzzing with activity, and with four more eggs on the horizon, the adventure is far from over. Stay tuned for more updates as we (hopefully) welcome the last four hatchlings to this incredible little dinosaur family!
Until then - keep your basking temps steady and your poop powdering skills strong!
UPDATE - March 6, 2025 - All Babies Have Hatched!
Happy to report baby #12 has hatched out of the last batch of 4. This batch hatched out just over a week later than the first 8. All babies are in the nursery, eating greens, pooping, basking, and running about. Oddly enough the final 4 babies were the chonkers of the bunch! The last one can be seen in the below picture and is the faded color one in the bottom left. In that same picture you will see the runt, out of the first batch of 8. This one came out and was found upside down after hatching, with quite an arch to its back. Over the past few days it seems to have flattened out, it’s running around, eating, and basking. We will keep a close eye on this guy!
Looking to potentially set up a second nursery, in case we feel like we need to separate them early. So far so good, have not seen any signs of bullying, but we don’t have our eyes on them 24x7. Although we do have a baby cam setup – so often enough we are checking in! The babies will be held with us for 3-4 months, at the very least, before we think about parting with them. We want to make sure they are strong and healthy for their next home. We plan on keeping at least one or two of the babies for sure. I have held both Pikachu and Eevee up to the enclosure to show them their babies. They tilt their heads and look in wonderment, I am sure!
