Strophurus and UV question????
- Thread starter oli
- Start date
docwade87
New member
Oli,
I haven't used any UV on my Strophurus, but I don't think it would hurt at all. Being new to the species, I am still figuring them out, but I use them on my ciliatus and I don't think it has made any significant differences. If you supplement your feeders right and dust them with good calcium/vitamin supplements there shouldn't be but so much more difference than having a UV bulb on them. If anything you could run the risk of producing toxic levels of D3 which takes a ton, it all depends on the D3 concentration you are using.
Then again, some species have shown positive benefits from UV light (i.e bearded dragons, dart frogs) and have been proven to absorb and process UV light. I have not seen any definite answers on wether Strophurus or Rhacodactylus do this, there are stipulations, but no solid information.
I haven't used any UV on my Strophurus, but I don't think it would hurt at all. Being new to the species, I am still figuring them out, but I use them on my ciliatus and I don't think it has made any significant differences. If you supplement your feeders right and dust them with good calcium/vitamin supplements there shouldn't be but so much more difference than having a UV bulb on them. If anything you could run the risk of producing toxic levels of D3 which takes a ton, it all depends on the D3 concentration you are using.
Then again, some species have shown positive benefits from UV light (i.e bearded dragons, dart frogs) and have been proven to absorb and process UV light. I have not seen any definite answers on wether Strophurus or Rhacodactylus do this, there are stipulations, but no solid information.
Ozymandias
New member
oli what bulbs do you use? 2.0 5.0?
Geck82
New member
Mine are 18x18x24
Pitbullgeckos
New member
Back in the good old days, when I bred chameleons for a living, I made quite an effort to understand this. UV and D3 metabolism is not an easy task,,,,,,,,,,
Why use UVB? This is the first question you have to ask yourself. UVB is used becorse study after study have shown that diffrent calcium related condisions occour if humans, reptiles, corals etc are not exposed to UVB. When exposed we and many other living things produce vitamine D3, this vitamin is then used in the body so we can absorbe calcium in the metabolism to build scletton, eggs, whatever.
The problem with this is that it´s just an absumtion, we do not understand how this works. Why do some spices get MBD and some not?
The key is D3. If you can provide enough D3 by feeding or some other way the problem seam to disapear even without UVB.
But D3 is a tricky little ****er,,,,,,,it gets old, it´s non sticky, etc.
SO.....if you are not shure about if you are giving your animals enough D3, do not walk on the wild side, provide UVB. If you got a potent D3 sourse skip the UVB.
Forget about comercial reptilevitamines as a D3 sourse, you´ll need something moore potent, look at the birdindusty products etc.
I rasied hundreds of chameleons each year for many years without a single UVB-ray but with lot´s of D3. They same goes for any reptile but some need moore. Strops, F.pardalis etc probably need a lot.
Sorry about my bad english,,,,,you boys should try Swedish;-)
Why use UVB? This is the first question you have to ask yourself. UVB is used becorse study after study have shown that diffrent calcium related condisions occour if humans, reptiles, corals etc are not exposed to UVB. When exposed we and many other living things produce vitamine D3, this vitamin is then used in the body so we can absorbe calcium in the metabolism to build scletton, eggs, whatever.
The problem with this is that it´s just an absumtion, we do not understand how this works. Why do some spices get MBD and some not?
The key is D3. If you can provide enough D3 by feeding or some other way the problem seam to disapear even without UVB.
But D3 is a tricky little ****er,,,,,,,it gets old, it´s non sticky, etc.
SO.....if you are not shure about if you are giving your animals enough D3, do not walk on the wild side, provide UVB. If you got a potent D3 sourse skip the UVB.
Forget about comercial reptilevitamines as a D3 sourse, you´ll need something moore potent, look at the birdindusty products etc.
I rasied hundreds of chameleons each year for many years without a single UVB-ray but with lot´s of D3. They same goes for any reptile but some need moore. Strops, F.pardalis etc probably need a lot.
Sorry about my bad english,,,,,you boys should try Swedish;-)
earendel83
New member
Totally ok with Bjorn... the only reason to give UVB to an strophrurus is D3.
I use 5.0 with all my strophrurus... and i give my animals Ca+D3, i prefer to have all as better as i can... i´m happy with "my shoulders protected", jejeje...
I only keep one animal without UVB (although i give him D3), a S. taenicauda baby, and it was the smallest one by far... a very clear data... but only with one animal, not a relevant data...
Best regards! José R.
oli
New member
I just wrote a sizable response just for this forum to mess up (again) and erase/delete my message. So here it is real quick: this is very interesting: UV Lighting for Reptiles: How much UVB do reptiles need? I use 10.0 bulbs for everything considering that the tubes/bulbs UV light diminishes exponentially the further one gets from the bulb. I also supplement with D3 and try to gauge this by an animals natural basking situations in the wild. I have no exact science going on here and have never had an issue. I have heard of O.D.ing animals on Vit. D though.
docwade87
New member
Great website Oli!! I wrote everything below before I had read through the website but I will leave it anyways.
I will add to all of this great information that has been discussed, if you supplement too much D3 (even in humans) toxicity can be deadly and can happen very quickly. I use a Calcium/vitamin D3 plus other vitamins supplement made by Allen Repashy (Repashy Calcium Plus) that has a concentration of D3 that equals 20,000IU/kg which is perfect for any reptile that doesn't require the high amounts of D3 unlike Chameleons and a few other reptile species that do require a UVB and ample amounts of D3 vitamins. If you supplement species that don't require much D3 with amounts that you are used to supplementing Chameleons with I would venture to say that you could produce toxic levels very fast. This can also happen with humans who get plenty of sunlight and also take a D3 supplement, eventually the D3 will back up in their system and cause toxic levels. Again all of this normally takes a lot to produce toxic levels, but we have had a good discussion on Repashy forums and on Pangea forums about this also and I have not seen toxic levels of D3 resulting in a reptile death since I can remember. However, it is a possibility. Here is a link to the repashy forum thread on UVB and Vitamin D3 if anyone is interested.
UVB lights... - Gecko Resource Forums
I hope this makes some since and I wasn't just rambling on lol.....give me some feedback
I will add to all of this great information that has been discussed, if you supplement too much D3 (even in humans) toxicity can be deadly and can happen very quickly. I use a Calcium/vitamin D3 plus other vitamins supplement made by Allen Repashy (Repashy Calcium Plus) that has a concentration of D3 that equals 20,000IU/kg which is perfect for any reptile that doesn't require the high amounts of D3 unlike Chameleons and a few other reptile species that do require a UVB and ample amounts of D3 vitamins. If you supplement species that don't require much D3 with amounts that you are used to supplementing Chameleons with I would venture to say that you could produce toxic levels very fast. This can also happen with humans who get plenty of sunlight and also take a D3 supplement, eventually the D3 will back up in their system and cause toxic levels. Again all of this normally takes a lot to produce toxic levels, but we have had a good discussion on Repashy forums and on Pangea forums about this also and I have not seen toxic levels of D3 resulting in a reptile death since I can remember. However, it is a possibility. Here is a link to the repashy forum thread on UVB and Vitamin D3 if anyone is interested.
UVB lights... - Gecko Resource Forums
I hope this makes some since and I wasn't just rambling on lol.....give me some feedback
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