Chameleon Academy Podcast with Bill Strand

This episode is for people who are trying to understand vitamin D3 safe levels. I review the data we have and go over an exercise to translate that into real world supplement powder levels. There will be no quick answers here! Let's push for D3 from UVB, but let's also understand dietary D3 as much as we can.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy an excerpt from the forward of Jan Stipala's Mountain Dragons. Here we get a behind the scenes look at searching for chameleons in Kenya!

We in the chameleon community are working to uncover the needs of chameleons with respect to UVB. We are exploring the minimum levels necessary and the psychological effects of higher levels. Today I talk about the thought process in working out these UVB mysteries.

Dr. Sean McNeeley is on the front lines as a doctor in charge of a medical center dealing with the medical preparations. He is level headed and a voice of reason. We are lucky to be able to claim him as part of the chameleon community. Today we talk about his breeding projects and get a perspective from him as to his day-to-day during this time.

Briana O'Brien of Kammerflage Kreations joins me and we just talk the current events and how it is affecting us. This isn't an interview, just a discussion! We do slip in a very cool news item, but we didn't mean it! Yep, we uncovered that we are on the verge of a new branch supply company, ReptiBranch, run by Briana's husband and previous podcast guest Alec O'Brien. I'll be checking these out!

Bob Cochran joins me for an introduction to the Helmeted Chameleon, Trioceros hoehnelii.

Today we consider how to deal with our time now that many of us are spending this time at home. If we are working from home, how do we stay productive? If we are out of work, what do we do with our time? Luis Wiedemann, a long time reptile keeper, comes on and shares how he has successfully worked fror home for the last ten years.

We are now officially staying home where all non-essential businesses are closed and there are no gatherings of people. The world I used to know is strangely silent as most of life is now behind closed doors. Today I answer a question about how I got involved with chameleons.

We are all spending more time indoors and there is a new perspective on whether we will continue to get feeders shipped. And I discuss the two things to plan for in order to have an enjoyable chameleon baby raising experience.

It wasn't long before the cracks start showing! Yes, the Strand household encountered its first crisis being all home! Once I was able to get over this and I realized that the entire internet mob always sides with my wife, I went on to discuss how we can develop skills in determining when something is wrong with our chameleon.

Well, we survived into day 2! The home office is beautiful with my chameleons around, but, boy , is it a mad house out in the stores! We are going to have to get a grip to make it through this!

The world is going through a tough time so maybe we just need more chameleon touch points during the week! This is just an unofficial, informal, unscripted, and unplanned episode for podcast listeners. Today I touch on chameleonifying your time working from home.

In today’s day and age we are very familiar with community. In fact, there has been no time in history when there has been more community! We are able to tie together chameleon hobbyists, scientists, and veterinarians from around the world and share ideas and enthusiasm. This week I talk with Allen Repashy about the upcoming Herpeton Herpetocultural Conference and how we fit into the larger reptile community.

We set the groundwork for season five and introduce a more interactive podcast where we will work on keeping our plants alive and understanding UVB. John Courteney-Smith, MRSB, from Arcadia Reptile joins me to introduce us to the new ProT5 fixture product line.

2019 has been a year of growth for us in the chameleon community in a number of ways. Today I review what progress we have made in 2019 and lay out what is ahead for us to figure out in 2020!