No on said MBD is related only to dragons. What we did say, albeit in nicer terms at first, that comparing the care of a dragon to the care of a Cham. is asinine.
I know I don't know everything about dragons, but I guarantee, I know more than you about them. So what is your point?
Go preach your "open mindness" somewhere else. All you are doing is disagreeing because you don't believe in the principle of letting things be, you believe you always have to try something new, and that if you don't, you are a closed minded freak.
Being set in your ways in a way that has been proven healthy, is a hell of a lot safer and "less dangerous" than being open minded and wanting to try new things all the time.
So before you say someone else's thought process is dangerous to the health of their dragon, look at what you are preaching first.
the problem here "brandon" is you have zero knowledge base to compare the requirements of a desert chameleon and a desert dragon. i really don't understand
why you, with zero knowledge, are engaged here?
i am not preaching anything beyond "learning" what you can from all experiences.
I don't need to jump off a cliff to know it will hurt me.
I don't need to house a dragon under those conditions to know that it will hurt the dragon.
But that's only because I have common sense, reasoning, and logical abilities. I can understand someone without those three abilities needing to "test" out everything.
Ok, show me one species of Bearded dragon that doesn't need UVB or basking light to survive. I don't understand your logic in comparing chameleons and bearded dragons. How are they even close to being compared? Even if you compare a desert chameleon to a desert dragon, they both still need UVB and basking light.
Your opinion that chameleons and dragons are the same
That although you don't know whether or not this is in fact dangerous, you are going to argue with anyone who says it is
Anyone set in their ways is closed minded
That to please you we must experiment with our dragons
You are better than everyone here because of your open mind.
Any other points that you made that I missed? Or did I pretty much sum them all up?
Now how about my points.
Dragons need heat. They are a cold blooded creature that can not produce their own heat. Basic metabolic function can not occur in the body unless there is warmth. In mammals, that is no problem. In cold blooded creatures, they require an outside source of heat.
If they do not get this, their body basically slows to a crawl. They can't process any of the food and nutrients they are bringing in. If they can, it is in very very minimal amounts.
Uv radiation is a key factor in a dragons third eye in creating circadian rhythms.
In dragons, UVB radiation has a direct correlation to the immune system in the skin and may also stimulate production of beta endorphins.
Uvb also allows skin synthesis of Vitamin D3. A key vitamin prudent to a dragons health. And I'm sure I don't need to explain to you why D3 is important.
Wanna know something else? For D3 synthesis to even occur, there has to be WARMTH! That's right, just supplementing D3 will not be effective, unless their is a warm environment for the dragon.
So, unless you want to post something factual, intelligent, or relating to whether or not the original topic is dangerous or not, don't post your lame argument of open mindedness.
While I'm flattered you care so much about my principles, how about you stop worrying about me and start worrying about the bearded dragons. As that is what we were discussing before you came in here preaching.
I'm not responding any further to your lame attacks. You can either post something that argues your point that raising dragons without heat and uvb is ok, or you can be ignored.
You ever hear the rest of the phrase to "Keep an open mind?" it's "But not so open your brain falls out."
Look, we base our set ups and care practices on our current understanding of these animals wild habitats. Any drastic changing of that model and we risk causing harm to our animals. Even with these setups, there are still things we cannot meet naturally (calcium and vitamins for instance as we have to use supplementation for it). But that is NO excuse for trying something new that has not been tested especially when it comes to your animal companions health. Gut feeling and "open minds" shouldn't apply here. Science, logic, and critical thinking does. This is an animals biology that gets experimented on. Why would you do that to your scaly buddy?
dom1959
If there was a mountain of verified research supporting the removal of UVB in favor of different diets for better beardie health, I'd be willing to bet more people might change their husbandry for their reptiles. The thing is, there isn't. Antecedents are worthless. Even more so when its regarding a completely different species.