Ep 59: Vitamins & Chameleons with John Courteney-Smith, MSRB
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. 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.
The links below take you to retailers that carry this book.
This is, of course, the middle book in a multi-part series. There are two other books that present John’s research and direction for Arcadia-Reptile. His first book is The Arcadia Guide to MBD and its Elimination in Captivity which goes over the very important need to understand the UVB/D3/Calcium cycle.
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. Click below for purchase.
John’s next book after the nutrition book we discussed today is The Arcadia Guide to Bio-activity and the Theory of Wild Re-creation. When we review this book we will go into how we as chameleon keepers can enjoy setting up a more naturalistic environment for our chameleons. Your homework is to read ahead and be ready with questions. If you would like to have your question about chameleons and naturalistic environments read on the air then just email me at bill@chameleonbreeder.com with your question and I will present it to John to be answered on air!
Arcadia Reptile has earned their place in the reptile community by producing quality products. Their website arcadia-reptile.com is an excellent resource on reptile lighting.
Thank you John for coming on a sharing with us!
