Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First let me say this....

You know I like you and I DO value your opinion and knowledge on a lot of things and this post is in no way trying to start a forum war, but..........

I have been reading the recent thread on UVB and dragons raised without it, etc and I have to post MY opinion (This is MY opinion... not science, studies, etc)

I raise and breed dragons. I have been "into" dragons for going on 5 - 6 years now and started breeding them and selling them locally a little over 2 years ago. This is my first year selling via the net.

I DO think that uvb has it's uses, but ... (Here is where people will "jump the gun" and start calling me names lol)

My babies are provided with calcium with D3 and they do have a uvb bulb for the first few months of their life... I do think it is important to young dragons that are growing as fast as they do at that age, for both strong bone growth and also other things like mental well being and more natural habits, etc.

However..... at 6 months of age when the growth slows down, I then nolonger supply uvb lighting in their cages. All of my dragons 6 months and older are on a schedule for outside sunning 2 - 3 times per week (Weather permitting)

I can and WILL supply pictures of two females that I raised from age 6 weeks to adult that stopped getting uvb at 6 months of age. These dragons are now 2 years old and one is already very well proven with 3 clutches from one breeding that all had 100% hatch and survival rates (Buffy)... you will get to see some of her babies in Orlando in December

I think I have rambled on enough for now, I am getting tired LOL.
I know I will wake up in the morning to a ton of replies and people yelling at me, but I speak from MY experience and practices here..NOT someone elses or something read from a book or web site.

Several people on this forum now have babies of mine and they are more than welcome to post their opions on these babies, their health, size, etc.

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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Cricket FREE babies!

If you can provide that 2-3 times per week outside for sunning, I would probably guess that your dragons are receiving some good uvb and supplementing with uvb tubes inside might not make any difference in how your dragons are, especially if what they are getting now is more than what a tube could provide.

I am curious though...........if someone purchased a baby from you, that say lived somewhere lets say here in NJ where I live, and they get this baby from you at lets say 6 months old in October(lets say a holdback from you), would you suggest to them to use a uvb tube being that they cannot provide any outside sunning because of cold temps? No outside sunning for the next 6-8 months, and the dragon is growing from 6 months to a year old, where a dragon can still grow a heck of a lot in that time period? Now do you think that uvb could be beneficial to them?

I think not everyones situation is the same, but if it can be useful why not promote it?

>>I am curious though...........if someone purchased a baby from you, that say lived somewhere lets say here in NJ where I live, and they get this baby from you at lets say 6 months old in October(lets say a holdback from you), would you suggest to them to use a uvb tube being that they cannot provide any outside sunning because of cold temps?

Yes, I do say that uvb is required for dragons. It is on my site and also in the care sheets that I hand out with each baby.
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Cricket FREE babies!

However..... at 6 months of age when the growth slows down, I then nolonger supply uvb lighting in their cages. All of my dragons 6 months and older are on a schedule for outside sunning 2 - 3 times per week (Weather permitting)

That's the thing...

They're not getting ARTIFICIAL UVB, but they ARE getting UVB. Not everybody's in a position to be able to prodive natural sunlight, and so would need the artificial sources.

Just a few hours under good natural sunlight more than makes up for not having an artificial UVB producing bulb in their enclosures.
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Axe
The Reptile Rooms

you siad
All of my dragons 6 months and older are on a schedule for outside sunning 2 - 3 times per week (Weather permitting.) I can and WILL supply pictures of two females that I raised from age 6 weeks to adult that stopped getting uvb at 6 months of age.

Lisa, last time I checked, the sun produces about 5-6 times the UVB as the best light on the market available...... and over 20 times as much as the regular used 5.0 or 8.0 lights, you still are providing UVB hun and I also agree, that adults once they are not growing do not need the same amount as a growing baby that is developing bones rapidly.
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www.reptilerooms.com

As people have pointed out, your dragons receive plenty of UVB-light from the sun. Dragons that don't get the chance to bask in real sun, should definitly have an artificial UVB-light in my opinion.

To put it another way: I'm soooo tired of people asking if this and that is absolutely necessary... It might very well be that your dragon can survive without UVB, or without calcium or whatever, but will it be a healthy, happy dragon? And why take the risk just to save a couple of bucks? I say give your dragon everything it might need, regardless of it being ABSOLUTELY necessary for your dragon to survive.

The last paragrapth was not in any way directed to you BeginnersBasics, but I guess you understood that and didn't get offended by my post