ALL ABOUT THE DISPAR GROUP
The Banded Uromastyx​
Outline
The Banded Uromastyx, named Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata, is not a common or well know subspecies of the Uromastyx. They are in the family dispar, which includes Mali Uromastyx or the Uromasty dispar maliensis and Uromastyx dispar dispar. This subspecies used to exclusively come in as the original black and white version of the Banded’s.
In recent years, and due to importations from exclusively captive bred European stock, banded Uromastyx begun to come in as yellow and black and orange and black. It has come to the point where most keepers in the US rarely see the black and white versions of these animals anymore, which is a shame due to how many animals were brought in over the years.
​
Coloration & Characteristics
​​
The common coloration for this subspecies has changed throughout the years. Originally, the animals which came in had pure white bands with a black base color.
The babies will have speckling in the shape of bands usually in white or a light tan with dark brown. These baby colorations will show if an animal grows into an even banded pattern or if they will develop a broken banded pattern. There is a correlation between even bands being more likely and statistically seen as males in the species. On the other hand, female banded Uromastyx are observed more often with broken and double Y-shape banding.
These colors will change and develop for all offspring no matter the gender. Whether you have a male or female, they will grow to have a black base color with white bands.
​
Both males and females will slowly develop more black coloration, which starts around their face and cheeks. Usually males will develop this black before a female will, usually it will begin for these males within the first year. As males and females grow up, the black coloration will come in and develop for the entirety of their lives.
I have never seen a point where a Banded Uromastyx kept their coloration due to its constant change. Even my old male is still slowly losing his bands, year after year. My guess is this will progress until he is head to toe black. I am still studying his development and color changes. He is approximately 20-25 years old now, still with visible white bands. He has had very minimal stress in his life; he is rarely moved / transported. The same with my females, after the youngest laid the first clutch of eggs for me, there was a sudden burst of black development that occurred over the following year, and from there it has been a slow and consistent change to becoming fully black and white.
Banded Uromastyx have been known as one of the more difficult species to identify their gender. Males will develop a large hemi-penile bulge, and females will produce a false bulge which can be hard to distinguish.
​
Males and females will develop a cheek shape which will look masculine in an exaggerated spade shape.
​
Males and females will display pronounced femoral pores.
​
Adult females tend to have an unconnected and modeled black and white belly, though they can ‘male mimic’. I am still studying the development of the female's coloration. At this time, it is unknown if females will develop full black bellies or turn completely and solid black.
​
The ideology behind ‘male-mimics’ is the most pronounced in the Banded and Mali species of Uromastyx. The current ideology is; as a female Uromastyx grows older and has consistently laid eggs or been exposed to male testosterone and breeding aggression, the female will develop more masculine characteristics to deter breeding from said male. That is not to say a mere male’s presence is the only way to trigger these beautiful and high contrast masculine characteristics. It is only relayed as a correlation due to early development or rapid development of these ‘male-mimic’ colorations.
​
On average, a good-sized male and female Banded Uromasyx will reach about 10-inches to 12 inches snout to vent. The snout to tail length size can reach a maximum of 20-inches on record, with most on average are around 16-inches long. Female banded Uromastyx tend to stay smaller overall. When comparing female Banded Uromastyx with their male counterparts comparing an animal the same age and length usually shows more delicate features on females. Less pronounced cheeks, less muscle mass, less tubercular scalation around the jowls.
This is one of my female bandeds close to a year after her first clutch of eggs.
​
This is where i noticed the black coloration coming in around her cheek area. This was also right before her shed, and the layer of shed made her look more yellow. Under the shed she had white and black around her face, with the dark brown spots and bands developing.
Behavior
Banded Uromastyx can be feisty. Indoors, and under artificial environments, these animals do develop bonds with their humans and can become friendly.
​
As is true with most species of Uromastyx (due to them having a third eye which triggers a primordial response in all of these animals) sunlight may cause behavior changes. In a docile animal you may see a fear response, or an animal become more defensive.
​
Banded Uromastyx are not aggressive breeder Uromastyx when compared to other species. Let me repeat, comparatively, they are not as aggressive as other species.
​
A couple reminders when attempting to keep a pair together (1 male and 1 female), provide these animals their own space during breeding season.
The following is a rough and simple guide:
​
The males and females will need two separate hides (even if they never use the second one).
​
Create visual barriers in the enclosure.
​
When keeping a pair together, it is good practice to nearly double to surface space available to run around.
​
A single adult animal should have a minimum of 18 square feet to run in.
For a pair, look for approximately 30 square feet for them to exist together and yet separately.
​
Banded male Uromastyx seem to bond with their females and will let the female run the show. I have seen this with both of my females when they were with my male. My male banded will be the first one out of the hide in the morning and the last one to go to bed.
​
After breeding and laying season, I find it useful to separate the pairs due to the male sleeping outside of their nest boxes or sleeping separately. The female will essentially kick out the male Banded from a hide box. This behavior can cause stress for a laying female and can cause stress to your male. This can lead to loss of appetite for both, loss of body weight for both and egg retention in females.
​
I do not recommend keeping a pair together year-round.
​
Some other species of Uromastyx will bite and damage their breeding partners when kept together, but I do not observe this with the Banded’s. I can usually tell if there had been a successful lock by finding small bites near my females’ neck. It looks like pinched skin, but it never causes scaring and never causes the loss of layers of skin or scales. You will also find scent secretions along the back of the female due to their breeding dance.
​
The Banded Uromastyx breeding behavior will be similar to all of the other Uromastyx. When the male first sees the female, he will bob his head up and down. This is both to measure the distance of the female and show the female he is interested in her. He will usually approach slowly, continuing to box. Young males may run up on a female, and usually in response the female will either run away if she is an older and dominant female. Younger females, passive females and less experienced females will flip over onto their backs.
​
More confident and experienced males will usually be slow moving and wait for a female to be receptive. They are the ones who wait for the female to be interested in them. If a female runs on a more experienced male most of the time he will settle right back into basking like it doesn’t bother him and wait for the female to return to an open spot to start again.
​
When a female is receptive to the male, she will usually perk up, alert, and let the male approach. The male will usually bob all the way over to her, and bob over her shoulders in hesitation to her running away. When the female doesn’t run away, he will scent her back by moving in circles over her. Then the lock occurs.
​
It should be noted numerous studies on U. dispar species being kept along side and together with U. geyri and U. acanthinura have shown no cross breeding occurred over an 8-year period.
​
Cross breeding and co-habitating different species of Uromastyx is never recommended. But luckily for hobbyist’s, the animals also seem to reject this idea also.
Habitat
​
Banded Uromastyx are found in the Western Sahara, Mauritania and SW Algeria.
​
The average low temperatures through these regions are mid 70F and the average high temperatures reach 104F. These areas are very different due to the year-round warmth they experience. The burrows will be intricate and keep them regulated for most of the year. The burrows will be more even in temperature also, staying warmer during the occasional mid 60F day, and staying cool on extremely hot days over 100F.
​
Most of these areas have two seasons, a hot and dry season, and a hot and rainy season. The dry season usually lasts for approximately 8-months. It is a very warm and arid climate, with rocky outposts and clear skies. The rainy season will last for approximately 4-months. Usually this change in the climate will trigger hatchlings in the wild to come out of their nests. The rainy season should not be classified as an extreme rain, but it is a heavy downfall which is usually very short lived with overcast skies.
​
​​
​
​
Brumation
In captivity brumation may occur, but extremely cold temperatures are not normal for the U. dispar species. These animals should never drop below freezing temperatures even for one night during their brumation. An artificial cooling should never be forced.
​
Usually, if your animal wants to brumate, they will choose to slow down in winter themselves, choose colder areas in their enclosure to sleep in and choose to eat less. Brumation in the dispar species has not been linked thus far with longevity.
​
All of this being said, I allow my Banded Uromastyx to brumate. My climate will get too cold for them, and when I see our weather report stating temperatures in the lower 40F, I will wake them up and bring them in for the rest of the season. Our coldest point is usually one month before spring, approximately late February and early March. Then, after the one month inside, they are back to their outdoors enclosure.
This map only includes U.d.flavifasciata
and U.d.maliensis due to their close
and overlapping ranges.
​
Due to the limited wild population studies throughout the center point where Mali, the western Sahara, southern Mauritania and Algeria all meet, it is unknown how the color development, if affected, is classed in this area.
​
It is believed the ranges where banded uromastyx and mali uromastyx meet, you are more likely to find the Yellow Banded Uromastyx and nearly fully black Mali Uromastyx.
​
The areas closer to the Algerian and Moroccan boarder are thought to be where the Algerian Leopards, Orange Bandeds, and white and yellow Bandeds are observed.
Due to large land masses, vast open fields, and natural divides between locals, there is a very large coloration and pattern range available. Small outcrops of colors can and will pop up, patterns and looks which are specific due to isolation of hundreds of thousands of years.
