Heat is mandatory, these lizards use it when they need it, hear a typical example of what I am trying to show. When I read your post last knight, I went in my reptile room to get a photo that shows how some will get close to the heat source, so they get heat first thing in the morning, however this is what I saw, a capra clinging to the light fixture, this is why I only use 25w bulbs (no possible burn injury) however this socket gets to 135-150f, much more then we expect these lizards to use. In the next photo you can see and better understand why this lizard needed the extra heat, he swallowed a tree frog half as big as him. The need for heat is directly related to digestion, more food more heat and vice versa. Now imagine if this lizard didn’t have access to heat, he ether would have passed on this large meal? Or he would be regurgitating it for not being able to digest it properly.
Did I mention they love tree frogs? Enough for me to start a breeding colony.

Needles to say when lizards are allowed to optimally metabolise this way, they must be sustained with good foods in quantities, no question about starving them, not even for a day. At this moment I am fine tuning the diet, this is why my temps are at a stand still, I can’t make anymore progress till I know witch foods are digested faster and provides the needed nutrients. An example of this, set two groups exactly the same way, feed one crickets exclusively and the other meal worms exclusively, you will soon realise that the cricket group feeds much more then the mealworms group, crickets are digested faster.
Being longer to digest mealworms aren’t a good food for fast metabolising lizards, in this case the lizard will seek lower temps otherwise regurgitation will happen. A lower metabolism leads to less food intake witch leads to slow growth, this is not so bad for growing babies, however it’s terrible for minerals intake and cycling females, more faster digestible foods provide the needed minerals to a female, stuffing her with foods that will slow her metabolism and take forever to digest will disrupt her follicular development, she may still produce eggs, but not as often and these eggs may not be strong, leading to hatch failure or weak babies.

I haven’t try the hookworm and hornworms yet, they surely seem to fit the dragons menu.
But for this coming year I will focus on crickets, my goal is to get my temps to NTL 75f and a DTL about 90-92f with basking possibilities, at the moment I can not do this because I don’t have the right support. I need to keep a DTL 75f for the slower metabolizing lizards, you may ask what difference those it makes? Well in one case you raise babies to reproductive adults in one year time, in the next it take longer.

My friend Ingo thinks I should not post my ideas on this forum, he fears that keepers will try my way and kill there lizards in the process, I don’t disagree with him.
You should be careful with your captives and make changes only if you understand the implications.

I think the more we know the better, the little bits I am sharing now can lead to big improvements later.


Rgds

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