Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

phil23 · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:54 pm Post subject: uv light requirments

Hi all
I have been taking advantage of the hot sunny weather (and my new terry thatcher mesh cage) to put my young panther cham out in the garden for the afternoons . Question is do i still need to have the uv light on or is that going to be to much .
cheers
Phil

kinyonga · Contributing Member Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 126

As long as a chameleon can move into the shade or out of the range of the UVB light it shouldn't be too much. The body is supposed to control the D3 production. However...if you are also supplementing with a powder containing D3 you should stop it while the chameleon is getting direct sunlight.

phil23 · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply,i will follow your advice.
cheers phil

johne.ev · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject:

If it's outside in the sun, you won't need the uv on as well.

kinyonga · Contributing Member Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 126

A chameleon in the wild is in the sunlight every day...so if we keep them outside for part of each day, they won't need UVB lights on their cage??

Also...
"In one study, panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) fed a diet low in vitamin D3 spent more time basking under ultraviolet light than those on a high D3 diet. In addition, they were more attracted to lamps emitting UVB than to equally bright lamps which emitted UVA. Whether they can actually see the UVB is not known, but they do appear to be able to detect it by some means".
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/vitdpathway.htm

phil23 · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject:

very interesting site even i could understand the vit D pathway (can't beat a good diagram Exclamation

)
What supplementing powder without the D3 would be good , i have been reading up on the miner-all outside formula ,it has no vitamins in it so i guess gut loading the feeder insects be enough, i use gutload pro formula, or would extra vits be needed.