Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I'm new here on this forum, as I just recently got a young female CG. As can be expected, I have lots of questions - for example, about how to get my girl to eat, etc - but I have already read a number of previous posts and will put the info to good use.

I don't have any normal photos of her, yet, but I do have a couple of test shots that I hope you all find interesting.

Here is what I tested...

I was told that CG's can't see red light, as nocturnal reptiles are commonly believed to be blind to such long wavelengths. So, it was advised that I use a red light for night viewing, as it would allow me to see her, without disturbing/distracting her from her activities. To be sure, I tested this theory with a simple two-shot setup.

First, I want to make it very clear that although the images below look bright - they were taken in complete, or near complete darkness! Allow me to explain...

To get these shots I setup my camera on a tripod and shut off all the lights. Then I turned on an infrared LED lamp to 'light up' the scene. *The infrared (IR) lamp is entirely invisible to us, and also to the CG's - BUT - the camera I used to take the photos is specially modified to shoot IR images (so it can see this 'light' as if it were bright daylight!).

The first shot I took was in complete darkness, and as I suspected her pupils were fully dilated, indicating that her perception was of complete darkness:

Now for the "test". I turned on a small fluorescent lamp fitted with a deep red filter. To my eyes the room was still quite dark, with a dim red cast, barely enough light to even read by. My assumption was that if she can't see red light her pupils would remain fully dilated, but if she can see it her pupils would constrict:

And voila! Her pupils did constrict, and a fair amount too. I guess this means she can see red light, and the 'night viewing under red light' is something of a myth.

Okay, that was probably overly verbose for such a simple test. I'm a geek - I know

Thanks for reading,
- Mark

Interesting experiment.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

coolealization neat LIZARD keep the pics coming Nocturnal Lizards are so COOL Thanks Chris "Old Guy Who Keeps Diernal Snakes..........C rsvp...........

I'm not sure that's what that proves since you only changed the intensity of the darkness.They still may not see the red light. Two of my cresties I still hand feed now and again cause they seem to prefer a cricket only diet(I bought both of them at the same place so they were probably only fed this diet).

That's a peculiar way of looking at this - that is, to change the intensity of 'darkness' (as opposed to changing the luminous intensity and/or wave number of the light affecting the darkness).

In further support of my original supposition I've found that not only her pupils respond under the dark 'red' light, as she often has looked right at me, where ever I am in the room, at my slightest movement. And this is under such dim illumination that even a person has a hard time seeing at all. She's got great eyes I tell ya.

And she's been eating great, and I give her a few crickets about once a month. She is very discrete about dinner, usually sitting down to eat when I'm not around.

Thanks for writing!,
- Mark

>>I'm not sure that's what that proves since you only changed the intensity of the darkness.They still may not see the red light. Two of my cresties I still hand feed now and again cause they seem to prefer a cricket only diet(I bought both of them at the same place so they were probably only fed this diet).

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