Pleas I do understand what you are saying, but do not waste your time.
I flat don’t believe in the virtues of UV’s, not because I am stubborn or ignorant but because I have kept and bred many species without UV’s for decades.

You can only imagine all the controversy I got from a plethora of keepers, in fact seems like every time I started working with a new specie (uromastyx) the uromastyx breeders would say, well they need UV’s or they will fail. Or when I tried a new turtle, the turtle guys would say they need UV’s or they will fail. I herd this for all these species dracaena gyanensis, amevia amevia, stare torts, spyder torts, sulcatas, pardalis, spotted turtles, bug turtles, wood turtles, baja blue rock lizards, rhino iguanas, all monitors, all agamas, all tree dragons, sailfines dragons, crocodiliens and many I am forgetting, yet all did excellent and produced strong fertile eggs.

Last year I was banned (kicked out) a turtle club, because I disagreed with the big chief, this guy has been breeding these turtles (photo) for many years, yet his turtles nested once a year sometimes every tow years. I simply said that my females of the same specie nested 3 to 5 times each in a year time. Of course this was utter nonsense to him, but when I said that I used no UV’s whatsoever and kept them inside year round, he and fellow friends showed me the door.

The funny part was all the sick turtles in bins on the floor with all kinds of medications (tetra-cycling) but no heat possibilities.
I am sorry but my herp career is jam packed with such stories, what can I say, should I stop doing what works for me just to fit the mould?
No way, I work with animals not with keepers, if they want to turn in circles and fail over and over, to bad. I do not have this problem, I don’t care for what literature or miss Kaplan says about anything if it doesn’t concern me in anyway, and believe me it doesn’t.
rgds

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