Stage 3 (Dry Season)

[lady_bug87]

I would disagree based on your other responses to this thread. You continue to mention that ignoring 60% Of the year in the weather cycle is wrong and you mention others providing similar situations.

Also I personally haven't seen any evidence of wild sourcing. Or comparison between wild and captive population

If you weren't trying to prove something than why defend yourself in that way?

[formica]

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

I would disagree based on your other responses to this thread. You continue to mention that ignoring 60% Of the year in the weather cycle is wrong and you mention others providing similar situations.

If you weren't trying to prove something than why defend yourself in that way?

I mentioned 1 providing similar situations (although infact i did not detail anything beyond the basic survey responses), as part of a response to a specific question which was only loosely connected to the topic at hand - everyone else jumped on the answer and used it to attack what the thread was actually about, the only reason I responded, was to explain what the survey was about, rather than leaving it with responses which made incorrect assertions about its content and purpose.

The 60% of life cycle figure has nothing to do with the Survey whatsoever.

[mdfmonitor]

In the right wild environment they find their own conditions that suit them, if they fail they die or get eaten!

I've kept savs/b/throat/nile/ackies & argus now & one thing they all have in common is they can grow very quick, even held back a year they can still catch up to what size they would of got by the end of the 1st year.

If heated properly & not over fed they'll will still eat very small insects, even at 4.5 foot they'll take small locust.

So nature has moulded them into animals that can grow very quick & take advantage of seasonal food resources & environments, in captivity we can create these perfect environments all year round.

So as a keeper we need ideally not to over do the growth as in feeding 4 days out the week as they get older/larger & putting them through cooler periods. I recently put Lenny (vph) through a cooling session for 3 weeks till the weather hotted up to early across here in the UK, i was quickly told they don't need cooling. I went on to explain i'd dropped the temps down to 140f surface basking spot & around 73f background temps, his usual temps are 160f surface basking spot & around 76f back ground temps, this shut him down.

Many keepers still keep their animals at the temps i was using to cool Lenny, point been you should have times they are not running at full pelt, but at the same time you need the higher temps to maintain a good fit body condition, you can't achieve that on 120f & 75f background heat.

A good sized run with deep substrate/ or decent large soil boxes will allow your sav to find what it's needs as opposed to what we think it needs, they do need slow periods as in a dry season but the sav will find the right temp underground with the right humidity till the correct environment returns above ground, so a good set-up backed with the right temps it won't bother the sav because that's what they evolved to do.

[murrindindi]

Originally Posted by mdfmonitor

I went on to explain i'd dropped the temps down to 140f surface basking spot & around 73f background temps, his usual temps are 160f surface basking spot & around 76f back ground temps, this shut him down.

Many keepers still keep their animals at the temps i was using to cool Lenny, point been you should have times they are not running at full pelt, but at the same time you need the higher temps to maintain a good fit body condition, you can't achieve that on 120f & 75f background heat.

A good sized run with deep substrate/ or decent large soil boxes will allow your sav to find what it's needs as opposed to what we think it needs, they do need slow periods as in a dry season but the sav will find the right temp underground with the right humidity till the correct environment returns above ground, so a good set-up backed with the right temps it won't bother the sav because that's what they evolved to do.

Hi, Mark, I`d like to ask you what you think happens to the MANY species that are active year round in the wild ("running at full pelt") as you put it, do they burn themselves out and die prematurely?
Have you ever kept species that spend much of their life high in the canopies in the wild, do they experience basking surface temps of 160f on a very regular basis, and if not, do they "shut down" (or die prematurely)?
How do you know Savannah monitors would suffer if the conditions supported activity and all that goes with it throughout the year?
You are giving figures that may be suportive to some species/individuals but not to others, I feel generalising in this way is a mistake.
These are simply questions, NOT criticisms!