Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've just read that as long as you dust the chameleon's crickets with 20,000 IU/kg of Vitamin D3 everyday...that they should not require artificial or real sunlight...

IS THIS TRUE???
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

everything i have read sugests the opposite. im sure the vitamens help for the mean while but in the long run it would benefitt him. he would probablylive a much longer life. uv and uva help them absorb those vitamens

also forgot that they see in those spectrums of light and it stresses them to not be able to see thing properly. they may not reconize things without the special lights

Well, I don't go by amounts at all--things really don't work that way in nature, it's all about the proper baLANCE, AND IS TOO COMPLICATED TO DETERMINE FOR A UNIVERSAL CONSTANT.

stupid capslock...

YEs, you can NOT use any uvb and have a healthy chameleon. It was th3 only way for me to keep them in NJ, before advances were made with reptile lighting.

It is much eaiser to keep them with MV bulbs than to try to balance out artificially, ythe levels of vitaminsand minerals in their bodies. The less amount of work we h ave to do, the better, and by using MV bulbs or sunlight, you're going to rely LESS on guesswork, and more on the chameleons metabolic system.
I've been doing this for 10 years, and trust me--it's EAISER to use UVB light.

Like they said, it's gotta be easier to use the UV lights. Besides the obvious benefits of the UV, they help with the lighting of the cage, and add a real "full spectrum" of colors, which also helps the chameleon. Other bulbs don't do this. For the price of them, it's well worth it to just go buy them and not worry about so much if you need them or not to have a healthy chameleon. I would rather eliminate the guesswork involved in giving the right supplements and let them do what's natural. Noone's had a problem with using the bulbs and without the lights several people have had MBD, slow growth, depression, and bad eggs/bad recovery for gravid females. It's worth it to just use them and quit thinking about it so much.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

The truth is, that the use of UVA/UVB is still very much debated, and far from being an exact science. Many people have had success with both using, and not using UVA/UVB bulbs.

However, with the limited amount of knowledge we have TODAY, it's probably safer to go with the bulbs than without. It does definitely have many pros for psychological and physical health for the chameleons. The only con to the bulbs is the $ and bi-yearly replacement, which should not be a concern if one keeps chameleons to begin with.