Reptile & Amphibian Forums

UVB is NOT necessary for calcium absorbtion. it CAN be done artificially with D3 supplements.

Artificial D3 may take care of that problem, but the absorbtion of CA is ONLY one aspect of UVB. MBD is the #1 prob. for many people, but it is not the ONLY reason to use YVB, in fact, I consider it useless in that regard(I'm talking about low-output, 5% or less UVB bulbs, Not MV).

I have used Reptisuns on my adult and juvinile animals for a while. I know of many instances when MBD resulted when reptisuns were used--they do not work well enough to allow the animal to absorb enough Ca. HOWEVEr, when I use even the weak UVB bulbs, I notice my chameleons behavior and color improve, as well as the appitite. When I switched my veild to a MV bulb, he showed a remarkable color improvment, and increased activity--he REALLY hated me. When my females developed MBD, I replaced their reptisun with HIS MVB, it's been a few months, and although the bulb I replaced his MV with had higher wattage, and was significantly brighter, he has turned to his brown, ugly as heck color, and his appitite has decreased. Also, my male deremensis(who died in May) was raised without UVB until he was an adult. I noticed he had developed that "basilisk blue" color, the one CB B.plumifrons develop when raised indoors, instead of the natural green. After a few months under 2 48" reptisuns, he was green, as green as my current W.C. male.

It's often hard to get an entire point across on the internet, otherwise I would have brought this up earlier...

Mercury vapor bulbs WORK as a sun substitute, providing (in many cases I have witnesses firsthand) enough UVB to see proper Calcium absorbtion for growth, function and reproduction, as well as behavior and color.

Reptisun 5.0's DO NOT provide enough UVB to sustain proper Calcium metabolism, and bone growth. Theyt DO make a significant difference in the look, behavior, and coloration o fthe animal. They are notgood enough by themselves( but ANY natural UVB/D3 systhesis IS VERY GOOD) in the calcium dept., but make up for it in other areas.

So, Invest in MVbulbs, but if you can't, get Reptisuns but still use D3. BUT, do not count on the reptisun to substitute for the UV of the sun in Calcium absorbtion.

"Why not just go ahead and use ONLY artificial supplements? Why, it worked for YOU, why shouldn't I?"

Why, you ask? Because I did't have too much of a choice back then.
Besides, I am willing to bet that animals raised on SOLELY artificial D3 for their ENTIRE lives have some side-effects. I have not done any necroscopies recently, but I would not be surprised if there is heavy calcification of the intestinal wall. Most D3 supplements are overdoses, as the animals tend to be ill-constructed to absorb d3 through digestion, so much is wasted. Have to look into this, anyone know of studies about this??

People take all these vitamin supplements, even though most of it is just peed away, unnecessary. You should ALWAYS try to limit the stuff the chameleons have to "urate" away. IT's a waste of money, and we just don't know ENOUGH about them to know if it's harmful.

I used to not trust artificial lighting, instead relingion my self, and vitimans. Now, the lighting is better, and I trust MV over vitamins anyday, and zoomed has a product(reptisuns) that is at least good for something, and not totally useless for D3.
Vitalites were just lights...

Interesting stuff Eric. Because of their natural habitat I wonder if deremensis is a good study animal for the effects of UVB. They are such shade lurkers they probably don't get much exposure in the wild. I know mine hardly ever went high enough in their cage to get within range of the bulb. They are so extremely sensitive to light that their skin is constantly reacting to it more so than any other species I've seen. Still, I used the Reptisuns as they did seem to increase their activity over a cage that did not have much light generally. I had a lot of plants to support in there and the lights helped them too.

Actually, I thought the same thing. I remember a study done with a UV meter, and they measured the uvb from the sun present in various situations. It was highest, of course, in midday sun, lowest in the shade. HOWEVER, in the shade, under the canopy, where there was very little light, there was still significant UVB radiation. More so than a reptisun puts out at 12". And about as muchas a MV bulb at 2-3 feet.

It seems that the UVB is reflected off of the foliage better than visible light, and dispite the lack of visible light, there was plenty of UVB.

I have a feeling that they can see better with UV light. I think it not only improves their coloration, but they stand out more to each other as well.

Some colors tend to reflect UV light better, and I think(Repeat THINK) that it aides in their identification of one another. Why?
Cause although they have good eyesight, I cannot believe their eyesight is as good as it appars to be WITHOUT them having a greater visible range than us.

I have seen chameleons reacting-VERY strongly and obviously-to another chameleon that is seemingly out of view. This even happened several times through translucent plastic, where I could NOT even see the outline of the chameleon from the plants. If they are able to see certain parts of the spectrum we can't , that could explain some of this.

It's like in insects, they can discriminate between certain flowers, flowers that appear--to us--identical. They do this by seeing UV light that we can not.

I think that possibility, coupled with the fact that lizards have that pineal eye sensative to UV, makes me wonder if there's something going on we are unaware of...