Posted by:
jobi
at Fri Aug 18 15:33:58 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jobi ]
For sure a 25w bulb will do no harm, unless it’s under a screen top, then it’s almost useless. I like the way Marcia use heat pads on the wall, of course this is impossible for me with the number of cages, I really need to keep a low budget, this is why I make $10 cages and use dollar store bulbs hahaha.
I studied color enhancement with other reptiles many years ago, and it’s pretty simple to understand. Let me start with heat; heat affects color much like the brightness button on your TV, it can make your lizard darker or paler but it doesn’t change the colors, often a lizard that fed a large meal will be lighter or darker because it’s internal temps are high (digestion produces heat)
Next you have light, UVA UVB infrareds or any kind of mix in the spectrum will not affect your lizards natural colors, your lizards look different under different lights simply because scales reflects different light in different ways, hold your lizard outside and you will see it’s colors change as the light spectrum changes, by the way the late afternoon light shows the best colors, and this anywhere around the world. Now you know why they make millions with UV bulbs.
Now the real deal, beta carotene and other components fund in green plants are responsible for coloration, an example zoo flamingos are just white birds when not provided with beta carotene. Sins I am a fan of saving my money, I feed my feeders carrots and dandelions, this provides all the thiamine and beta carotene my lizards need to have nice colors.
Hope this was helpful.
[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]
|