Beardie or Uromastyx?

[Evenstar]

So I would like to add another reptile to our family. I would like to set up a nice desert vivarium that would be visually pleasing. I am interested in a bearded dragon or an uromastyx. I like how the uro is more or less vegetarian, but I like how personable the beardies are. Even though I'd like a "display" animal, I do want to be able to handle and interact with our pet.

I have read up on the care sheets for both these species and have done extensive research so I am confident I can properly set up and meet either's needs, but I'm having trouble deciding which will make the better pet. Any thoughts from some experienced keepers here???

A couple thoughts to consider:
- Uros - no insects which is definite plus, require higher temps and so maybe can't spend as much time outside cage (???), friendly but maybe not quite as friendly as beardies, maybe not so forgiving of husbandry errors.
- Beardies - puppylike personalities, can tolerate more temp fluxuations, does eat crickets, hornworms, etc which I'd rather not but it's still really not a problem, requires occasional soaking/bathing.

A couple questions:
- Do either of these species tend to "mess up" their homes? Do they dig profusely or scrabble a lot and tend to tip rocks or dig up cacti? I would make sure anything in their habitat is secure, but it is good to know this sort of thing.
- Are Uros really that temperature sensitive? Could I have one out on my shoulder around the house for a little while without having to worry about his body temp falling too much?
- How do you keep your crickets???

Thanks in advance for any advice you all can give!! Much appreciated!

[MitsuMike]

Idk about urns but as for beardies they may dig a bit in sand but i don't see them digging up plants or rocks......BUT as a baby they try to eat EVERYTHING. My bearded licked and bit at the water bowl, wood log and rock cave. So idk if a cactus is a wise move (maybe one without spikes).
As for crickets they can be keep in any, may need to drill a few holes but that's it. Just need water and calcium powder. It's pretty easy.

[Evenstar]

Thank you! I plan on getting a juvenile or sub-adult and not really a baby. But I had heard that beardies like to "taste" everything, lol. For that reason too I was thinking about fake cacti. They make some really nice fake stuff now that looks pretty darn real. Anything else anyone can think of is most appreciated!

[MitsuMike]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the different uro breeds/colors have different personalities, where as no matter what morph/color of breaded pretty much will have the same sweet personality.
As well as bearded require UVB bulbs and should be within 7 inches away from the basking spot. I was told by david over at Carolina classic dragons that over head bulbs don't do a thing for the bearded needs of UVB.
As for the crickets it's a money saver to set up a tub and buy the 1000 count box. Or raise up a roach colony. I personality do crickets with a special gut load and they last about a month at 16 bucks for the box.

[BoaFreak]

Before I got into Boa's and Balls, I had 4 bearded dragons. They are really amazing reptiles. My male would tend to digg a bit in the sand but mostly they liked to purch up on a branch in the UVB "which they MUST have". I don't know anything about Uro's but I know that Beardies make amazing pets. I kept my crickets in one of those insect keepers that they sell at petstores. I didn't use them as much as I did mealworms. I would feed mostly mealworks and the occasional hopper mouse and all mine were in top shape. I would handel mine daily and never had a problem. On Sunday's my male "Lynyrd Skynyrd" and I would sit on the couch and watch the Saints lol. He would eventually fall asleep on my lap . I miss them sometimes lol. But anyway goodluck with your decision and keep use posted

[Evenstar]

Roaches - no way!! LoL, I'll stick to the crickets... What do you mean about the UVB bulbs not working if they're overhead? I hadn't heard that yet. How else would you provide this? Or do you mean that the bulb just needs to be within 7" of the basking spot? I could do that....

Jon, did you feed live or f/t hoppers?

Still thinking... I tried to handle the adult captive bred Uro at our local petshop today. He was, of course, super skittish so no luck with that one. On the other hand, the itty bitty baby bearded hopped right into my hand with a look like "who the heck are you???" He was cute. I think I'm leaning that way.....

Thanks again guys!!!

[BoaFreak]

Roaches - no way!! LoL, I'll stick to the crickets... What do you mean about the UVB bulbs not working if they're overhead? I hadn't heard that yet. How else would you provide this? Or do you mean that the bulb just needs to be within 7" of the basking spot? I could do that....

Jon, did you feed live or f/t hoppers?

Still thinking... I tried to handle the adult captive bred Uro at our local petshop today. He was, of course, super skittish so no luck with that one. On the other hand, the itty bitty baby bearded hopped right into my hand with a look like "who the heck are you???" He was cute. I think I'm leaning that way.....

Thanks again guys!!!

I would feed them live. I would do hoppers only to my adults and I would feed pinkies to my sub-adults and mealworms/crickets to the babies. I never tried frozen being that they have an insane feeding response. . I think what Evenstar was meaning was the UVB light needs to be farily close to the basking area. They spend alot of time in their basking spot so you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone by putting the lights farily close. I hade all my beardies in 422d Boaphiles and i put the UVB in myself right in the middle of the tank and It worked out fine. I would also change the UVB bulb every 6 months being that they are not very expencive and they do put off less UVL as time goes by.

[Evenstar]

Thank you! That would be doable...... I like insane feeding responses, lol. Ella, my bp, is crazy for her rats!

[BoaFreak]

HAHA yea it was aways crazy to watch them

[BPelizabeth]

I have both and I can say that though I love all my animals....my beardie is my favorite. Much more interactive than the uro. I think the uro when warm is go go go....and when it gets out of that temp range it just sleeps. Uro's are also NOT at all bright. So...I have more fun with the beardie much bigger personality. Now when the beardie gets to be an adult it should eat 20% crickets and 80% greens. That is if they were consistently fed this while young and got use to eating it. I keep my crickets in a 10 gallon aq. with some egg carton and just throw wet greens in every 3 days. The thing w crickets is you want to make sure you totally clean the cage every week so that it doesn't smell. Also dead crickets release some type of toxin that kills other crickets???? I WILL NOT TOUCH crickets as the totally ick me out so I just use little tubes to catch the crickets ....that way no touchy touchy...lol Also I do not use sand....we use laminate tile in our beardies cage and she poo's in the same spot each day. She HATES if it is left there so we clean up as soon as we catch it. Beardies are very clean....well at least mine is.