Ty said they give themselves a fever when sick not that they get a fever. What he was getting at is that when some(not sure if all) lizards get sick such as a respitory infection or the such they actually bask at much higher temps to raise their body temp to help fight off the infection. I believe this was first discovered back in the 80's in a study at the University of Mich. Some desert iguanas were injected with some sort of virus or maybe even a bacterial infection(can't remember as it has been some time). There were several study groups. The optimum prefered temp for a desert iguana is like 104F. That was what the uninjected(is that a word LOL) iguanas liked to maintain there body temp at. The injected iguanas maintained their body temp like 10 degrees higher or something like that until they were able to fight off the infection then dropped back down to their o.p.t.. It was a pretty cool study. I got to see the set-up and they had these big sandbox types enclosures setup with different study groups. Anyway I hope this sheds a little light on what Ty and Joel were trying to say. They did not call you out on the temps you called them out and they are only arguing their point.

I keep chuckwallas, alot of them, and I maintain my basking spots at about 135f. I have been out to the desert many times and I know their basking temps get way higher. I only use the lower temps because my cages are not big enough so they can get to a cool enough spot if I used a 160 F spot. I have had some get infections(bacterial abcess type infections) in the past and let me tell you they lay under that spot ALMOST non-stop. It gets to the point sometimes where I move them because I (the human expert LOL)thinks it is too hot and they they will die. It usually ends up that I give antibiotics to cure the infection. Would they be able to fight it off if they had a higher basking temp? I don't know.

Anyway just some info to think about. I have no doubt these guys are wired to know when they have a problem and adjust their movements or routines as to give themselves a better chance at survival so if you give them a range from 80 to 150 they are able to do just that. So yes you may be able to maintain perfectly healthy iguanas at your temps(if the spot is so they can get to o.p.t. but if something were to go wrong they might not be able to fight it off. You are able to maintain a more secure environment indoors and keep them from any viral or bacterial infection where they might need the higher temps. In the wild or in outdoor enclosures they may not be able to keep such a secure environment. In a more detailed explanation and I am not saying these temps are correct(I really do not know)it is just an example. Let's say a rhino's opt is 102 and your spot is 110 and he gets in there and heats up to 104 so he moves to his cooler area, cools off then moves back under the light and so on. Then one day he gets a bug and he says wow I need to up my temp to fight off this bug and let's say that temp is 116 and he is never able to get there you then may get a sick lizard.

Anyway I hope this helps shed a little more light on the subject. Yes there is more than one way to get similar results. These guys are just saying what research shows. I know that Joel and Ty both do their homework and are only trying to convey what the research shows. They are not just pulling these numbers off the top of their heads. I believe Joel made a reference that stated when they went to the higher basking temps breeding success went up. So it sort of makes sense the higher temps may be beneficial. I am just going by what I am getting from this thread. I do not keep cyclura nore do I have the book refered to in this thread.

Ok more than just info on the fever thing. Sorry guys I got sort of long winded but one thought leads to another and you know. LOL.

Tom Greb

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]