Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[crocdoc]

Chad, the point I was making was that you said you had proof of monitor longevity under 24/7 lighting, so I asked what the proof was. Thus far all you've told us about was a 1.5 year old albig kept under 24/7 lighting, a friend's 8 year old savannah monitor that has just been turned over to 24/7 lights and 'wasn't dead yet' and your personal belief that it doesn't affect their lifespan. That's hardly proof of anything.


I am not saying 24/7 lights is bad, or 24/7 lights is good. What I am saying is that you can't claim longevity under those conditions until it's been tested, whereas I can say that I know of a large number of cases of extremely long lived monitors (and other reptiles) kept under cycled conditions.

Do I keep my lace monitors 24/7? No, they get cycles, both day/night and summer/winter. This hasn't stopped them from growing as quickly as I need them to grow (there isn't a race, you know), breeding every year and multi-clutching.

[Fixx]

My two penneth worth: 24/7 light is not natural, all our lizards/snakes/mammals get no light at night, not even a red night light. I can''t see 24/7 light doing any favours to the circadian rhythms of the animals in question. Alo increased growth rates do not indicate increased or better health for an animals. all I can see it doing it stressing certain parts of it's metabolism.

[Scott W]

Just curious......Forget the 24hr lighting....what about 24hr heating? ie. keeping the viv the same temp day and night?

Anyone still use ceramics to heat at night? (surely that provides an unnatural nighttime basking area?)

I know part of this thread was about the basking site being available 24hr not just the lighting.


Other than the 3 cages with the powersuns on, the rest of my monitor collection has NO heat or light each night and the temp drops down to ambient, this can go as low as 15c.
_________________

Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Sean]

Well I haven't used ceramics for years. When my lights/heat source go out then there is a drop to room temp at night which because my house is quite warm it really never goes below 20c. It did no harm when I used ceramics but I don't really see the point because most houses at night should be warmth enough in my opinion not to use them. Depending on what species your keeping and if your keeping indoors they should be ok without ceramic heaters. I use mecury vapour bulbs or powersuns now and these seem to generate enough heat during the day to sustain some of the heat at night when my bulbs are turned off. I think this way to it is more natural for a drop in temps at night.

[crocdoc]

Hmm.. I'd have to disagree to a certain point, Sean. Your house may be warm enough at night but you shouldn't assume that everyone's is.

Although I let my enclosure temperatures drop to ambient, there is one notable exception:

My home is neither heated nor air conditioned. In winter, the temperature of the room in which I keep my monitors can drop significantly. This doesn't bother adult, or even juvenile, lace monitors, but I wouldn't dream of letting neonates experience those temperatures straight after coming out of the incubator. Consequently, my 'raise up' enclosures have ambient (as opposed to basking spot) night heat in the form of thermostatically controlled ceramic heaters and hot rock.

Part of the reason is that, unlike the wild ones, artificially incubated eggs hatch mid-winter, at the coldest time of the year. My incubator is more stable than a termite mound when it comes to keeping the eggs warm.

[Sean]

Ok crocdoc you might see that as a bit of a sweeping statement but I was just basing it on the stats of the average room temp to be around 70f or so they say.

[Fixx]

All bar a couple of mats under some some stuff, all our heating and lighting gets turned off in the viv room at night. Apart from in the winter when we may leave a small oil-filled radiator in there on thermostat just in case. I suppose living in a house with 2ft thick walls has some advantages beyond not being able to hear the wierdo neighbours next door arguing

[johne.ev]

HI.

Personally i use a day night cycle, 12 on 12 off. to say something is more natural when talking about captive bred reptiles (as opposed to WC) is slightly missing the point. as captive bred reptiles don't really know anything about natural conditions, other than what we provide them with. although 24hr light does seem very hard to accept.
UV. personally YES. diurnal reptiles that bask (i believe) don't only do it to warm up. they must get some benefit from UV.
CERAMICS. personally YES. i keep my reptiles in the garage, although insulated it is still very cold in the winter months. (use with dimming stats, they last longer.) a very interesting (although controversial) subject. great to hear everyone's opinions, even though we might not all agree.

regards.

[Derby]

I'm no expert, but 24/7 lighting just seems wrong. Very unnatural.
That's just my opinion.

[varanus]