People think they need UV bulbs and a completely vegetarian diet because they don't understand their animals.

Has anyone keeping an iguana ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why they aren't able to use d3 given to them in their food is because they are in otherwise very poor condition? With the temperatures they are commonly kept at, I'm suprised they can even digest vegetation. They are also almost always dehydrated to the point of having severe kidney disease.

The point is, if you keep an iguana in a dry, poorly heated enclosure, and feed them a diet that is usually severly lacking (especially of variety and protein), you're going to run into major problems. It's not the lighting.

Here's my main problem with the fancy UV bulbs on the market. I don't care if someone's going to use them, but here's something I see all of the time. People get so sucked into the lighting craze and every other stupid craze that comes out, that they let the basics go right down the crapper. The basics meaning CHOICES. Reptiles need choices of temperatures (and that doesn't mean a narrow choice of warm to slightly warmer....this means room temperature to very hot). People seem to take it as a sign of a healthy reptile if they are out basking all day, but that's not true. A healthy reptile will hide most of the day (except for certain species).

[ Show Entire Thread ]