ZooMed came out with a new LED UV lamp. It costs about $170, but it makes strong UV and should last a long time. They are using Japanese made precision LEDs that give off light in just the right spectrum for out reptiles to use for D3 production, and there are some other LEDs built in to it for supplemental lighting too. I ordered one, but it arrived broken, so this review is not about that.
I went on Amazon looking for the new ZooMed LED UV bulb and did not find it. Instead I found a few others, and decided to give them a try. They did not look promising, but I thought I'd give them a try. Cost was around $24 and this one uses 5 watts.
At about 15 inches I only got a reading of 0.8 on the meter:
In practice, at about 6 inches from the bulb, through a screen, where the lizard will be basking, I got a reading of 2.5:
To summarize: This bulb makes very little UV and it makes it in a relatively small area directly under the bulb. This bulb is also very dim, so supplemental lighting would have to be used, which works because you would still need a basking bulb for heat in most situations, or LED if you wanted day light with no heat for something like a crested gecko. This bulb could work for small tortoises in a small hatchling set up, but I don't see much use for it other than that for tortoises.
I went on Amazon looking for the new ZooMed LED UV bulb and did not find it. Instead I found a few others, and decided to give them a try. They did not look promising, but I thought I'd give them a try. Cost was around $24 and this one uses 5 watts.
At about 15 inches I only got a reading of 0.8 on the meter:
In practice, at about 6 inches from the bulb, through a screen, where the lizard will be basking, I got a reading of 2.5:
To summarize: This bulb makes very little UV and it makes it in a relatively small area directly under the bulb. This bulb is also very dim, so supplemental lighting would have to be used, which works because you would still need a basking bulb for heat in most situations, or LED if you wanted day light with no heat for something like a crested gecko. This bulb could work for small tortoises in a small hatchling set up, but I don't see much use for it other than that for tortoises.