How old is your sister going to be? Have your parents already decided on a uro or just contemplating one?
Just a little about uros from my experience (which is limited):
They need lots of heat, light and space.
I have a mali uro and he’s in a 4’x2’x2’ custom cage. Im using a 100watt MVB (I use T-Rex UVHeat) for his basking area and two 10% compact UVB lights for lighting. Louie is kept at a range from 85-110 with a basking space of 125. Birdseed without sunflower seeds is a really good substrate to use (from my experience) – I use parakeet food but if you can find 100% millet that’s good too, just no sunflower seeds. My uro loves to dig in it, and its safe if he takes a couple bites out of it too. Base foods for them are Curly Endive, Escrole and Dandelion greens. I try to feed a mixture of at least two of these every feeding. They are very messy eaters and like to drag their food all over the enclosure – I gave up trying to keep it even near the bowl and just clean his cage out once a week. You can add some thawed mixed veggies every once in a while and my uro just LOVES peas (but make sure the greens are the staple and majority of the diet). Some people have had success with using bagged organic baby greens (salad mix) but from reading the ingredients I don’t feel that this is an appropriate diet for my uro. They really aren’t a hands on type of lizard – they need to be kept extremely warm and cool down quickly when taken out of their enclosure. When warm they can be very fast and slip right away from you. Make sure the enclosure is set up and temperatures correct before the uro comes home. You may want to check out deerfernfarms.com for more info.
I don’t think uros are a very good pet for a younger person - cant be handled much and can be difficult with getting set up perfectly/feeding. A lot of vets dont know how to work on them since they are relatively new captives. But thats just me...
Ok I’ll go hush now
