Posted by:
ChrisJ
at Sun Aug 19 22:45:16 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ChrisJ ]
Cycling temperature to mimic seasons to induce breeding behavior is very, very different from a chameleon "needing" a temperature drop at night. Species that experience significant seasonal variation in temperature (or rainfall, as is more often a cue near the equator) may indeed need some replication of these seasonal differences to get them physically prepared to breed, but that has nothing to do with whether or not the temperature drops at night during the warmer months of the year.
"Cold-blooded animals last longer if you put them in the refrigerator when you're not using them."
No, ectotherms live longest and do best metabolically at the temperatures they have evolved to live in. The temperatures that are metabolically optimal can vary depending on what is going on metabolically with the animal though. For example, gravid reptiles often maintain higher body temperatures, especially in the area of the reproductive tract, as compared to non-gravid females. Those that are digesting food often maintain higher temps as well. Many hot-weather adapted reptiles (e.g., Uromastyx spp.) maintain higher operating temperatues than either mammals or birds. Some arctic fish, used to a constant temp. of -1.8 C will die of heat stress if you warm them up to ~40 F.
Besides this, reptiles are very good at behavioral thermoregulation. A Bradypodion sp. (I forget which) was documented to select asphalt and rocks on which to sleep and in so doing maintained body temps ~3.5 C higher than ambient at night. I still see no reason to think that a temperature drop at night of "at least 10 F" as is recommended is in any way necessary or beneficial to a chameleon.
Chris
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RE: Maintenance dogma - ChrisJ, Sun Aug 19 22:45:16 2007