Without any longterm proof of what "works" for lizards in captivity claim that dirt is bad and can cause a million problems which are are husbandry related as secondary infections, low temperatures, dehydration etc. Here was a great post by Frank Retes on reptile husbandry in the monitor forum and how the tools of reptile husbandry have changed and many became crutches or bandaids to cover or hide problems with basic husbandry. It covers things such as vitamin supplements, UV lightbulbs, etc, but as a quote from Robyn at ProExotics when he emailed me during one of those discussions on here to say something like this.
"I read those responses and discussions on the bearded dragon forum by the so called experts and how they claim that their suggestions to use paper for substrate, and many others are in the interest of their animals, yet for someone so worried about doing the right thing for their animals why are they so ignorant and against what their animals need and use. 5 years ago those same arguements were all over the monitor forum and a few other forums, where are they today, probably because those people who were against basic proven lizard husbandry had their own husbandry techniques catch up to them and their animals".
I say for common sense that anyone who argues for using paper or shelf liners etc are interested in their own agendas not the animals best interests. I use dirt with all of my reptiles and they dont get sick, or mouldy and my beardies grow very big very fast and lay eggs, soon to hatch my fiancees beardies eggs. Maybe because I allow them to have an immune system they dont get those problems. Oh and as long as my lizards get along with their their possible or current mates they live together 24/7, but then again if they get along then they can live together if your husbandry allows them to be able to.
Im not going to argue with the "sterile cage-nazis", they can do with their animals as they please, after all its a free country and its their choice.
Heres the post from Frank by the way, read carefully, Im done rambling..
(I love this guys info on animal husbandry)
"First, there are some things that bother me about your question, things I do not understand. Things that I see here often.
You asked about "they" does that mean, those four monitors, or all monitors, or the monitors you have or intend to have? You must consider, "they" all have a different answer.
Then I get the feeling this conversation/question is going the direction of UV bulbs.
Before we get to the "theys" lets nip this in the bulb.
UV Bulbs, calicum, vitamins, anti-biotics(medicine), etc, are tools of husbandry. That is, they are there to be used as needed. They are not necessarily used all the time. In fact, very much the opposite, they should be used when all else fails. With medicine, its easy to understand that, yet some people treat their animals on a regular basis.
With UV bulbs and vitamins and calicum, its a little harder to understand. Yet, overuse of some vitamins has an adverse effect, so does overexposure to UV.
So why are people constantly throwing all of these at their monitors. In my opinion, they are ignorant as to whats really needed. So in their ernest attempt at keeping their monitors healthy, they use these are crutches. They hope these will cover their weaknesses. Yes, some even give anti-biotics on a regular basis, some treat captive hatched monitors for parasites, etc, etc. I imagine, they all think they are doing good.
Because of this need to fix, they only need the slightest provocation. Any conformation that their thoughts are useful and off they go.
Why do I consider that a problem? Its simple, unstead of developing sound husbandry, they go in the direction of "patching holes" You know, the dutch boy with his finger in the damn, soon he will run out of fingers.
In my opinion, it masks weaknesses in your husbandry. You can develop husbandry techniques that do not require the constant use of these things. These things now can go back to the shelf and wait until they are needed.
I had a bit of a head start, I first started breeding lizards in 1961 and snakes in 1964. What I am proud of is, I have bred reptiles every year since. We did not have UV bulbs or vitamins, or calicum. So I used regular lite bulbs, same as now. I had to develop husbandry that did not require these crutches. Not to be all this and that, but our results from regular bulbs and not supplimenting is at the top of the list of accomplishments, not on the bottom or middle. I surely do not believe believe its as good as it gets, its simply as good or better then the rest.
As the years passed, all of a sudden, its popular to keep and breed reptiles, then commerical products pop up, then now, there is a need to use them. But there wasn't a need before they were commerical. You can figure that out.
Back to the begining, THEY, is not a good way to look at captives. I like to look at them as individuals. That one needs this, this one needs that, not "they" need this and that.
If you meant those four in the picture, then the gouldi was started on crickets, the rest may have never had a cricket. I cannot say how long "gouldi" stay on crickets, they do until they don't.
One little story about UV and calicum. Many years back, I had my first experience with Calicum def. I hatched some Whitethroats and was raising them up. Indoors with regular litebulbs. First understand, this species is not my favorite(this is important) Well three developed rubber legs and jaws. Well, I can fix that, I will put them outside where we have the best UV bulb in the nation. It was summer and in summer, we have the highest skin cancer rate in the world(tied with someplace in Queensland Au) So UVA and UVB will be plentyfull. Guess what? it did not fix them.
What did fix them and why? Well to my surprise, what I read about Calicum problems was not very complete. These whitethroats did not suffer from the inability to convert D-1 to D-3, but instead, a simple lack of calicum. They were growing very fast, there use of calicum was greater then their intake of calicum. The problem was, I simply was not feeding them enough for their rate of growth. What I now call, lack of support. U see, because they were not my favorite species, they were last of the olde totum pole to get fed.
So all and all, its about my ignorance, you see, forty years ago, you did not need UV bulbs, forty years ago, you did not need vitamins, forty years ago, you did not need to treat for parasites, forty years ago if I did my work and provided the right conditions, none of that was needed. And forty years ago, mice as a diet worked just fine. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying mice are the best, it simply seems to work just fine. thanks FR"
Frank is a great source on captive husbandry of soo many reptiles.
. It's all just theory right now, and I'm still waiting to see what happens to the uros at pro exotics in the long run, but I think they are bringing some great ideas to the uro forum and I thought maybe you guys would want to know a little about it.
