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Quote (Sue Henson @ May 24 2002,22:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Daniel, he actually had his name legally changed to "Henry Lizard Lover."
I ask about the catfood thing because he's recommended that we can feed insectivores a fish based diet all the time. Also that you don't need to feed them insects at all. Add to that the additives and preservatives that canned catfood has. I wonder if that is healthy for a reptile to ingest, since it isn't really healthy for even humans to. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>
I opened this for discussion not because I trust everything I read on boards, but more as a debatable subject, and to maybe see if anyone has anything legitamately nice about Mr. Lizard Lover.
Hlynn, he told someone that they didn't need to offer any sort of UV, and said if they wanted to give it to them, to "Put the reptile in a glass enclosure and leave them outside". Now, in California, it gets pretty hot in the sun, and glass amplifies heat......You see where I am going with this, right? Much like you aren't supposed to leave live animals or small children in the car in a parking lot (because the intense heat and lack of air can damage them), couldn't this happen with a snake or lizard sitting in a huge patch of direct sunlight, in a glass cage, with no relief from the sun? Also, alot of modern glass has been polarized, protecting what's on the other side from UV radiation. Which is why we can drive through a desert with the windows up, but still feel the heat on our arms, but we never tan by doing this, unless you actually roll your car windows down.
Thank you everyone, for your thoughts.
Sue <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='
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That's right Sue, had the name change in 1985.
It's all to obvious that SCHNEIDER SKINKS thrive on a diet of insects, this is not something I did not know and I usually tell people that Schneider skinks normally live on a diet of insects. The point is that I discovered through practice and long term experience they Scheider skinks can do well on fish based canned cat food as the main part of the diet but also practice alternating to other items to get more variety and balance. This is all about a practical approach and one that avoids the problems and hassle with feeding insects. The fish based canned cat food with other items such as tofu, water soaked whole grain bread, multched vegetable and fruit are simply an alternative that works well for some insect eating lizards, specifically the Schneider skinks.
As far as the UV, I was merely pointing out that the Schneider skinks don't need a lot of UV, just a little bit of sunning works, this I know from long term experience and observation. If I was in fact telling people they don't need to offer any UV, then you would not have seen me talking about putting them outside to bask in the sunshine.
Sue has distorted and intentionally misquoted and misrepresented what I said.
This is what I actually wrote: "I do set them outside to bask in direct sunshine once in a while. I would recommend once or twice a week for an hour, but once a month is probably just fine. Always make sure there is safety shade to not kill them in the heat. I use a glass aquarium that has a big screen top and very short sides of glass, this works perfectly well."
I usually warn people about glass aquariums for sunning but it's not impossible to do it with glass aquariums. The one I was referring to is merely one that has very short sides, only about 5 or 6 inches, with large sreen top. In this case, most of the sunshine shines in throught the screen top and so the glass presents no problem. When it comes to iguanas, I always advise pet owners to use bird or rodent cages for sunning, but when it comes to the Schneider skinks, you can't get by so easily using wire cages. The glass presents no problems when it is used carefully and with common sense. Like I said, it's about getting the sunshine from above through the screen top. My statement also made it clear to be careful and make use of some sort of shade to cut down the heat.
HenryLizardlover.com
