My Red Saharan Uromastyx Lizard will not grow anymore.

Question

Well, here's the story. My Uromastyx seems like it is a little small compared to the many other uromastyx I've seen in pet stores. I had here since she was a baby, and I had her for about 1 1/2 years already. She seems fine, but I think she's a bit small for a Uromastyx. I measured here recently and she's only 7 1/2 inches in length. I was kind of expecting her to reach here minimum of 9- 12 inches. I know reptiles grow their whole lives, but her proggress in growth hasn't been very noticable at all. Only during the first year she was growing, now it seems she is hardly growing at all. I feed her Romain lettuce and some other certain kinds of green veggies with that reptile calcium powder ever since I first bought her. I won't return her, no matter how big she is, because she's a very calm and recognizes me (unlike my basilisk which is always hyper and will attack anyone that tries to hold her except me). But, still I'm a bit concerned how the result will turn out in a couple of years fro now. I'm pretty sure these guys live for like 20 years though. But, I'm not an expert on them. So anyway, please could someone tell me why she isn't fully grown yet? Is it that it takes a coupel of years for them to reach their fulll length or is this some kind of growth defficiency I have to worry about?

Answer 1

uromastyx grow very slow. I wouldn't worry so much as of yet. I would probably not feed it romain lettuce as there are very little nutrients in romain lettuce. Stick w/ dark leafy greens, especially bok choy, dandelions etc. Also provide vegetables and beans like lentils. In my experience, Saharans have never been the healthiest uro's. Each reptile can be different so there size may be determined by genetics environment, etc. but you may want to keep a growth chart to map out it's progress.