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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.