Keeping and Breeding of Red-Banded Spiny-Tailed Lizard (Uromastyx dispar Heyden, 1827) at BION Terrarium Center
BION Terrarium Center has many years of experience keeping Red-Banded spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx dispar Heyden, 1827).
Red-Banded spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx dispar Heyden, 1827) and all its four subspecies, namely Uromastyx dispar dispar Heyden, 1827, Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata Mertens, 1962, Uromastyx dispar maliensis Joger & Lambert 1996 and Uromastyx dispar hodhensis Trape, Trape & Chirio 2012) inhabits the southern and western part of Sahara.
U. d. flavifasciata lives in the Western Sahara south of the 28th north latitude, in Mauritania and in southwest Algeria. Animals in the populations from Mauritanian part are characterized by more often occurred red coloration of cross bands as opposed to the typical yellow/white (Wilms, 2005; Harris et al., 2007; Tamar et al., 2018). Here they inhabit boulder debris slopes and rock formations as well as sand dunes and desert steppes with fine sand substrate.
We keep adult U. d. flavifasciata in horizontal terrariums that should be long enough to provide a temperature gradient. We provide terrariums 180*65*60 cm (80*25*23 in) for 1 animal, pair (1.1) or trio (1.2).
We use a layer of coarse sand and loam as a substrate. Decoration includes dry bamboo steams, stones and artificial shelters (a ceramic plate on stones/2 bamboo trunks) along the terrarium’s perimeter and especially in the so-called “cooler corner”. We keep them separately or in pairs since animals of the same sex demonstrate aggression towards each other.
