Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi all
its been ages since I posted here but I do read every msg and and have been noticing a bit of talk lately about using dry commercial diets. I notice that all of these have D3 added to them. is anyone concerned about them getting an excess of this? mine are outside 8-9 months of the year and under UV Heat bulbs the remainder which is why I specifically avoid giving them a Cal/D3 powder and just use straight Cal. any comments on this? thanks
Ken O

Mine are also out, about 1/2 the year and I do have UV Heat bulbs too. I give mine cal with D3 once a week sprinkled on with a salt shaker. I personally dont think mine are in any danger of too much. The sun intensity is far less where I live and I dont put too much faith in these UV Heat bulbs. The amount of D3 in the diets is pretty small and is there any proof that they actually absorb D3 from their diet?. All that potential D3 combined I still dont think they get the amount wild cyclura get. This is just my very unprofessional opinion

concerning the effectiveness of those reptile bulbs. I think the Dallas Zoo also did a study on them using chuchwallas. I am not sure if the Dallas Zoo research is complete yet. Anyway for what it's worth here it is. Tom

Husbandry
J Herpe Med Surg 13[2]:14-17 Summer'03 Nutrition Notes 10 Refs

* Brian M. Aucone, BS, William H. Gehrmann, PhD, Gary W. Ferguson, PhD, Tai C. Chen, PhD, Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD
* Oklahoma City Zoo, Department of Herpetology 2101 NE 50th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73111, USA
Two studies were conducted to determine the suitability of the Westron Corp. self-ballasted mercury vapor lamps in the captive maintenance of the chuckwalla lizard, Sauromalus obesus. Initially, preference for basking under either a Westron lamp or an incandescent flood lamp was measured in a separate enclosure involving five individuals selected from a group of eight juveniles. Following this, the eight chuckwallas were divided into two groups and maintained for fifteen months in indoor enclosures illuminated with either an incandescent flood lamp and fluorescent Sylvania 350 BL combination or a single Westron self-ballasted mercury vapor lamp. Snout-to-vent length (SVL), body mass, and cloacal body temperatures were measured every two weeks. After nine months, the lizards were radiographed to assess bone density and blood was collected for assay of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. No significant differences in SVL and body mass growth rates, cloacal body temperatures or bone densities were observed between the two groups. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations for lizards exposed to the incandescent lamp/Sylvania 350BL combination were significantly less than those measured in lizards exposed to the Westron lamp and wild-caught lizards. Furthermore, the Westron lamp maintained 25-hydroxyvitamin D at levels comparable to those observed from a wild-caught sample. Observations support a preference for basking under a Westron lamp. These data suggest that the Westron lamp is at least as effective as an incandescent/blacklight combination in maintaining desert dwelling chuckwallas and that either setup may result in adequate vitamin D production sufficient to sustain healthy bone density. [Abstract]

so if I read this right, I like these lights more. i know my last post may have been a bit hypocritical but I figured these lights might help and they really cant hurt so why not, right.
Now, can you find study for me on consumed D3 ?? Thanks Tom.

Hi all, here is another unscientific tidbit. About the Mercury Vapor bulbs aka UVHeat or Powersun. I just got a uv meter and the results have been interesting to say the least. I aimed it at the sun and got a reading of about 70 at 1:30 in the afternoon in CT at 1:30 pm the other day. I am unclear about the units of measure so I just used that as a sort of basis to work from. Thru the window screen the sun measured 40-45.

So, a new Powersun 100 watt measured.12 at 10 inches.
a new Powersun 160 watt measured ....40 at 10 inches.
another Powersun 160 watt(1 mo old)..52 at 8 inches.

A new 36" Reptisun 5.0 measured .....33 at 5 inches
A 1 mo old 24" Reptisun 5.0 measured.36 at 5 inches

"old" 160 watt UVHeat only measured.10 at 6 inches
"old" 160 watt UVHEAT (2 years old)...5 at 12 inches

I took several other readings of older reptisuns and they do break down. That was the real pattern I saw. It was obvious that the older the bulbs the less uv they project

I guess the moral of the story is, I think you can depend on the Reptisun 5.0 tubes and the Powersun 160 watts. Stay away from the 100 watt Powersuns as they just dont cut it, even brand new. Several others mentioned this.

There is a yahoo group set up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/ and there is a database of people's results. It is sort of interesting altho non-scientific.

It is interesting to note that even older tubes still give off "good amounts" of uv when very close to the lizard, like 3 inches away. If you are using them in this manner they should be getting quite a bit of uv. The powersuns are harder as you cant get them that close as they are too hot.

FWIW,
Carole