Both vitamins and minerals are critical components to our chameleon's health. This is the second part of our nutrition series where we focus on minerals. This episode is based on John's book The Arcadia Guide to Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition.

John Courteney-Smith 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!

One of the most beautiful chameleon books available is Mountain Dragons by Jan Stipala. It is a photo journey across the wilds of Kenya and it has a rich variety of pictures of both chameleons and their habitats. I am very pleased to be able to introduce you to the author and photographer of this book!

Join me as I talk with Mark Scherz and we learn about how chameleon species are determined and how they get their names! Mark studies the herpetofauna in Madagascar and gives us a fascinating insight into the life and work of a scientist studying chameleons!