Note from Mariah: The following is a sponsored post promoting Arids Only’s new dietary supplement for reptiles: Uro Grit. Phil is a progressive mind who isn’t afraid to ask questions and help us grow as a community. His experience with arid species, particularly Uromastyx, has done much to advance modern herpetoculture. I am proud to help spread the news about this product as part of ReptiFiles’ mission to raise the standard of modern reptile care.
For more information about caring for Uromastyx, see ReptiFiles’ Uromastyx Care Sheet.
In the wild, desert reptiles live at the mercy of seasonal rhythms. Food availability shifts month to month, and with it, so does diet composition. One of the most overlooked aspects of this seasonal ecology is the role of seeds and seed pods. Herbivorous and omnivorous desert reptiles such as Uromastyx, chuckwallas, gidgee skinks, tortoises, and Xenagama, all consume a surprising variety of seeds as they forage.
These seeds serve two important functions. First, when cracked open by powerful jaws, they provide dense nutrition: fats, minerals, and essential micronutrients. Second, and equally important, seeds act as functional roughage when swallowed whole. This roughage supports gut motility, improves digestive flow, and, while not a medical treatment, can physically help reduce parasite load by sweeping the gastrointestinal tract. In short, seeds are both food and infrastructural material for healthy digestion.
Among commonly kept reptile pets, Uromastyx are particularly known for benefitting from seeds as part of a naturalistic feeding strategy. Decades of field observations and the experiences of keepers and breeders have reaffirmed this. Yet this truth has not fully permeated mainstream herpetoculture, where greens and pellets dominate the conversation while seeds remain at the periphery.
Early on in my Uromastyx work, I realized just how incomplete the standard feeding paradigm really was. That realization was the beginning of what eventually became Uro Grit.
When I first learned that seeds form a significant part of the natural Uromastyx diet, my response was immediate: If this is biologically relevant, I need to reproduce it accurately in captivity. That principle, letting natural history and ecology dictate husbandry choices, has shaped every stage of my work.
I began experimenting. I visited international supermarkets across Denver, scanning shelves for millets, legumes, pulses, and dry seeds that reflected both the macronutrient profile and the physical texture of what Uromastyx might crack open in the wild. I combed through wild bird stores, agricultural suppliers, and specialty markets looking for anything that resembled the seasonal seed compositions documented in field literature.
These food items, I thought, should be actively enriching as well as nutritious. Seeds should invite chewing, cracking, and exploratory feeding, not passive consumption.
Through trial, error, and plenty of observation, I assembled a mixture that consistently elevated the health and behavior of my animals. They foraged more enthusiastically, their stool formation improved, and their overall body condition stabilized in the way you expect from an animal receiving ecological fidelity in its diet.
Somewhere along the way, I stumbled into a solution to a completely different issue: supplementation compliance.
Many keepers struggle to dust greens with calcium or multivitamin powders because their lizards reject those greens once coated. It’s analogous to offering a child broccoli covered in chalk dust: the intent is good, but the sensory experience is poor.
By incorporating supplements directly into the seed mixture, I ensured that my animals received the micronutrients they needed without rejecting their food. The seeds (already very enticing) became a functional delivery system. This small adjustment closed a very practical gap: improved consistency in supplementation while reducing waste and pickiness.
Another challenge emerged when feeding juvenile Uromastyx and other small desert reptiles: whole seeds can be too large for the youngsters. Even if nutritionally appropriate, a split pea or an unground lentil is simply too big for a hatchling Uromastyx to safely crack and swallow.
So I began grinding the mixture in a food processor. This preserved the integrity of the nutrients and fiber while scaling the particle size down to something a three-week-old Uromastyx could handle without issue. This one shift opened the door to safely feeding the same mix to:
- hatchling Uromastyx
- baby Xenagama
- juvenile gidgee skinks
- small tortoises
- young chuckwallas
And what surprised me most was how universally the mix was accepted across species in a variety of context.
Today, every species I keep interacts with this mix to some degree. Spiny-tailed iguanas, gidgee skinks, tortoises, chuckwallas, and Xenagama all actively forage on Uro Grit when offered. The behavior is unmistakably natural: head down, tongue flicking, picking through the mix with deliberate, methodical movements and scratching with their front claws.
This cross-species appeal has reinforced a belief I’ve held for years: A nutrient-rich seed and roughage component is missing from the vast majority of captive diets for desert herbivores and omnivores.
In captivity, we often rely heavily on leafy greens, arugula, collards, mustard greens, etc., which are highly perishable and available year-round. But in the ecosystems many of these reptiles evolved in, lush greens are seasonal luxuries, not dependable staples. Seeds, dry plant matter, and high-fiber roughage represent a far more stable, predictable resource, especially during the driest periods.
By adding seeds back into the captive diet, we create a feeding system that better mirrors ecological reality rather than convenience-driven tradition.
Everything I build, from care systems to diet formulations, is rooted in a simple concept: Look at what works in nature, understand why it works, and bring that logic into captive environments in a scalable, reliable way. Even if not in the same form.
Uro Grit emerged from that mindset. It’s not a pellet, not a placebo, and not a complete feed. Instead, it’s a functional roughage, a biologically meaningful supplement that:
- supports digestive health
- encourages natural foraging behavior
- improves supplementation consistency
- offers nutrient-dense seasonal inputs
- provides ecological enrichment through texture and variety
Most importantly: it fills a gap, a structural absence, in how we feed desert reptiles today.
If we want healthier Uromastyx, better-conditioned tortoises, more behaviorally-fulfilled chuckwallas, and a long-term shift toward naturalistic reptile husbandry, then we need to widen the feeding toolkit. Seeds are a reintroduction of something these animals have always had.
Uro Grit is my attempt to bring that reality back into herpetoculture, one pinch at a time.
About the Author:
Phillip Lietz has always felt an affinity for animals that live in deserts and dry climates, and has spent many hours in the American Southwest studying and observing its herpetofauna. It is Phil’s belief that choosing ideal animals for herpetoculture involves considering how their biology makes them more or less suited for a life indoors with people. His current projects (via Arids Only) are primarily Uromastyx and Xenagama, with secondary projects involving chuckwallas, butterfly agamas, San Esteban Island iguanas, and a few tortoise species.
Uro Grit can be purchased here.
Website: AridsOnly.com Instagram: @aridsonly
Podcast: Project Herpetoculture on the Animals at Home Network