A Growth Mindset for Reptile Keeping - Podcast

Are UV LED Reptile Bulbs Safe?

Animals at Home

The second half of the discussion revolves around UV LED lighting. John shares what the latest science says about UV-producing LED bulbs, whether or not they are safe to use and potential problems generated through their use.


A Growth Mindset for Reptile Keeping

Animals at Home

John is the author of a series of incredibly popular reptile and amphibian guides including Bio Activity and the Theory of Wild Re-Creation® and his latest, Fire, the Sun & Its Replication in Reptile Keeping.


Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) & UVB in Chameleons

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

He has written The Arcadia Guide to MBD and its Elimination in Captivity. This podcast episode is an introduction to that book. It is an excellent read and I highly recommend adding it to your library. In the US, you may purchase a physical book from Light Your Reptiles or get a kindle edition from Amazon.com. In the UK you can head on over to the Northampton Reptile Centre. For the month of January 2017, both Light Your Reptiles and Northampton Reptile Centre will be having a sale on this title!


Vitamins & Chameleons

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

He is also the author of a set of books which address the many aspects of keeping healthy reptiles in captivity. Last month, in episode 55, we discussed his first book, The Arcadia Guide to MBD and its elimination in captivity.

And if you haven’t heard it, I suggest going back and catching that one! Today we are going to go over his second book, The Arcadia Guide to Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition. It is a huge topic and will not fit in one podcast so we will break it up. This episode we will concentrate on vitamins. Of course, all vitamins and minerals work together and must be in balance so it is impossible to discuss one without the other. There is a great deal of overlap!

The overlap is actually an important point. John talks about the “entourage effect” which says that our bodies require the vitamins and minerals together and in balance to be fully effective.


Minerals & Chameleons

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

John Courteney-Smith, MRSB is the Reptile Products Manager at Arcadia-Reptile. It is his job to push captive husbandry as close to optimal health for our reptiles and amphibians as possible – and make that products that allow this to be carried out. He is also the author of a set of books which address the many aspects of keeping healthy reptiles in captivity. In episode 55, we discussed his first book, The Arcadia Guide to MBD and its elimination in captivity. And if you haven’t heard it, I suggest going back and catching that one! In episode 59 we started on his second book, The Arcadia Guide to Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition. In that episode we concentrated on vitamins. Of course, all vitamins and minerals work together and must be in balance so it is impossible to discuss one without the other. Naturally, our next episode, this one, is about minerals!

I highly recommend picking up the book as it is full of information. With everything we cover in over two hours of discussion in this podcast it is still just an introduction!


Gutloading Chameleon Feeders

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

John Courteney-Smith, MRSB is the Head of Science and Innovation at Arcadia-Reptile. It is his job to push captive husbandry as close to optimal health for our reptiles and amphibians as possible – and make that products that allow this to be carried out. He is also the author of a set of books which address the many aspects of keeping healthy reptiles in captivity. In episode 55, we discussed his first book, The Arcadia Guide to MBD and its elimination in captivity. And if you haven’t heard it, I suggest going back and catching that one! In episode 59 we started on his second book, The Arcadia Guide to Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition. In that episode we concentrated on vitamins. Of course, all vitamins and minerals work together and must be in balance so it is impossible to discuss one without the other. Naturally, our next episode, episode 60, was about minerals! Today we finish up the nutrition discussion with a talk on gutloading feeders.


Bio-Active Environments Part 1

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

But more than just a pretty scene, bio-active environments can be more healthy for your chameleon or other reptiles. Join John Courteney-Smith and I in exploring bio-active environments!


Bio-Active Environments Part 2

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

It is the most true approach to creating a “slice of nature” in our living rooms. But more than just a pretty scene, bio-active environments can be more healthy for your chameleon or other reptiles. Join John Courteney-Smith and I in exploring bio-active environments!


Avoiding MBD through proper Nutrition

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

We are following this in real time and I will give you an update in each of the MBD series episodes. While I am not sure how this will end, Today I bring to you some surprisingly good news. She was climbing the walls of her screen cage. Listeners of this podcast will know that screen crawling is a sign of an inadequate cage and that the chameleon wants to get out. It does not mean it wants to play. It means it doesn’t like where it is. I will say this is the first time I have been ecstatic to hear about a chameleon screen climbing! The fact that Sweet Pea has that kind of ability makes me very happy.


Energy from light and overall-nutrition

Chameleon Breeder Podcast


Lighting and Supplements

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

What ended up happening was more of a conversation about topics that we both are working on. We certainly talked about lighting technology and where it is going, but I felt that I’d like to include you in on some of our conversations about fat soluble vitamins and the consequences of cheap lighting fixtures. So there really isn’t a formal start to this talk! I am going to jump us in right about the point where John and I were talking about the danger of going cheap when setting up the electronics for our caging. He starts taking about what to look for to tell you that your fixture is shortening the life of your bulb and I knew this had to be shared. Once we talk about that I get around to the business at hand and we talk about product lines!


Improving reptile care

Welcome to Animals at Home! My name is Dillon and I am the creator of most of the content found on this site. I have been in the reptile hobby for over a decade. I have been passionate about animals as far back as I can remember. My goal with the content I produce is the following:


How and why we made ProT5

Chameleon Breeder Podcast

If you have already listened to the podcast and are here wondering what the next step is then you have come to the right place! The two themes we will work on are Keeping Plants Alive and Understanding UVB.