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Archives of The Cold Blooded NewsThe Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological SocietyVolume 31, Number 3; March, 2004 |
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Poison Frogs Upgrade Toxins Peringuey's Desert Adder Desert Spiny Lizard UVB Lighting A Baby Dragon, or a Bad Joke Escaped HK Croc Returns To Media Spotlight Again Chytrid Appeal Give 'em some Gator-aid Venom common, predates snake evolution PREVIOUS ISSUES February 2004 January 2004 2003 Index 2002 Index Earlier Issues About the Cold Blooded News CHS Home Page |
UVB LightingReprinted from Ark'Type, the newsletter of the Westcoast Society for the Protection and Conservation of Reptiles, Winter 2003/2004.Studies by Gary Fergusson and associates at the Texas Christian University show that panther chameleons adjust their basking time according to how much vitamin D3 is in their diets. The more vitamin D3 the less time they seek UVB light. Vitamin D receptors have been isolated in the brains of anoles (Anat Embyol 193: 145-160; 1996) and it is hypothesized that these receptors signal to reptiles when they need to bask or not. The same researchers found that nocturnal and crepuscular (animals which are active at dawn and dusk) lizards have skin that is ultra sensitive to UVB, efficiently processing the weak light they are exposed to into vitamin D3. This suggests that even nocturnal lizards may benefit from UVB lighting. From all this we can postulate that some lizards, if provided with vitamin D3 in the diet will not require as long or as strong an exposure to UVB as those which are not. Remember though that these studies were performed upon specific lizards and what may be true for chameleons may not be true for iguanas. Copyright © 1998 - 2006, Colorado Herpetological Society. All rights reserved. | ||
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