Uromastyx (Saharan Spiny-Tailed Lizard)

These active desert lizards need a large, dry, well-ventilated enclosure: a single adult needs a minimum footprint of about 120 x 60 x 45 cm, with bigger strongly preferred. Use a substrate that allows digging and holds a burrow shape, such as a washed play sand and topsoil mix, and provide a raised basking rock or slab directly under the heat lamp, plus hides at both the hot and cool ends and a burrow. A shallow water source is offered occasionally, but the environment must stay arid. Good airflow prevents the damp that this species cannot tolerate.

A strict herbivore. The staple is a wide variety of leafy greens, flowers and vegetables such as dandelion, collard, mustard and turnip greens, rocket, endive, hibiscus and squash, offered daily. Add a regular portion of dry lentils and other pulses and a seed mix, which uromastyx relish, and dust greens lightly with calcium. Do not feed animal protein or insects to adults, as this causes gout and kidney disease, and avoid excess fruit. They obtain most of their water from food, so hydration comes from fresh greens rather than a bowl.

This is one of the hottest-basking pet reptiles. Provide a basking surface of 49 to 55 C using an overhead halogen flood on a thermostat, with a warm ambient of about 35 to 40 C and a cool end of 27 to 30 C, dropping to roughly 21 to 26 C at night with no night heat lamp. Strong UVB is essential: use a high-output T5 tube (around 12 to 14 percent) to give a basking UVI of about 4.5 to 6.0 (Ferguson Zone 3 to 4) at the lizard's back. Keep humidity very low, under about 35 percent, with excellent ventilation, and run a 12 to 14 hour photoperiod.

Best kept singly unless you have a very large enclosure and experience. Males are territorial and will fight, and mixed groups can bully weaker animals away from the essential basking spot, leading to decline. A single uromastyx is content and easy to monitor. They are generally calm and become tame with gentle, regular handling, often basking readily and recognising their keeper at feeding time.

Provide a deep diggable substrate for burrowing, basking rocks at different heights, hides and a network of tunnels to explore, all of which express natural desert behaviour. Scatter-feed seeds and greens to encourage foraging, offer edible flowers, and give as much floor space as possible for this active grazer to roam and thermoregulate.