finding good uvb light in vietnam...

[sallymon_]

hey all. im having an absolute HEADACHE trying to find uvb lights in vietnam and i need help.

im planning on housing an elongated tortoise in the future when we move houses and i get my own room, and till then i want to make sure i have everything covered before bringing my baby home. i used to have a baby sulcata without ANY correct knowledge, and i ended up having to return him to the seller. my love for tortoises only grew since then, and if im getting another one, im not gonna make the same mistake twice.

that being said, im trying to find the T5HO uvb lights yall recommend, but living in vietnam, it's practically impossible. the only thing i managed to find was a website selling the T5HO 10.0 reptisun uvb in Ho Chi Minh City, but i live in Ha Noi and it doesn't seem to ship to here (even though it said it ships nationally, when i went to see the checkout, it doesn't have an option for Ha Noi). i CAN ask my relatives who live there if they can order and send it to me, so that's one of the only options i have now... IF that website is even reputable, here's the link of it: https://www.ohmypet.vn/products/reptisun-10-0-t5-ho-39w-85cm-zm?variant=1122491925

that shop also has a shopee page that's inactive at the moment: https://vn.shp.ee/HTkMWmo

other than that, im pretty much outta luck. i tried my best to find the ProT5 arcadia kits, but zero in the country so far. it seems i can only get it through international shipping websites like amazon (though it doesn't allow me to make an account at the moment for SOME reason...) and fado. the thing is... ordering it that way will take WAY too long, some says it can take months to arrive, not accounting for if the product is damaged in some way. im still planning on buying a solarmeter 6.5 from fado, but im more worried about buying fragile stuff like lights.

the only easy options i can find are T5HO uvb lights on shopee like this: https://vn.shp.ee/mDxAfJV though of course im skeptical of the quality.

i know that artificial uvb isn't a MUST, and that 1 hour of nature sunlight a day per inch of tortoise is enough to prevent MBD, and yes me living in vietnam is a big advantage for this, BUT... i live in the north, not the tropical paradise that is the south. the winters here can get real cold (for our standards), down below 10°C sometimes, so i just wanna make sure my tortoise has a good artificial uvb source at least in the winter when he may not be able go out. so anyone in vietnam, or just anyone who can help me with this, i much appreciate it!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!
You can also search for ExoTerra T5 lamps. This brand is more common and they have recently added T5HO lamps to the line. Lamp tests are not bad.

Another option is to use T8 lamps from ZooMed or Arcadia but to achieve decent UVB output you need a double-lamp fixture.

T5 lamps from chinese brands like ReptiZoo or Giangarden are basically a lottery... Quality is unstable and there are some concerns about UV output safety.

 

[sallymon_]

Hello!
You can also search for ExoTerra T5 lamps. This brand is more common and they have recently added T5HO lamps to the line. Lamp tests are not bad.

Another option is to use T8 lamps from ZooMed or Arcadia but to achieve decent UVB output you need a double-lamp fixture.

T5 lamps from chinese brands like ReptiZoo or Giangarden are basically a lottery... Quality is unstable and there are some concerns about UV output safety.

thanks so much for the reply! i looked around and it seems like exo terra T5 lights aren't an option right now either unfortunately, though with how popular the brand is im assuming it'll probably start appearing sooner or later in the future, since there used to be zero trace of the reptisun lights in the country when i had my sulcata tortoise, but now there is! granted i can only find them in one website that's thousands of kilometers away from me but a win is a win right . anyhow with how things are going i think i have two options, either wait until there're more reputable T5 lights in the country, or try and buy the arcadia lights from aboard when the time comes... im just a little worried about shipping light bulbs overseas, especially with how expensive they are. if you or anyone else has any experience with that i'd love to hear them!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

thanks so much for the reply! i looked around and it seems like exo terra T5 lights aren't an option right now either unfortunately, though with how popular the brand is im assuming it'll probably start appearing sooner or later in the future, since there used to be zero trace of the reptisun lights in the country when i had my sulcata tortoise, but now there is! granted i can only find them in one website that's thousands of kilometers away from me but a win is a win right . anyhow with how things are going i think i have two options, either wait until there're more reputable T5 lights in the country, or try and buy the arcadia lights from aboard when the time comes... im just a little worried about shipping light bulbs overseas, especially with how expensive they are. if you or anyone else has any experience with that i'd love to hear them!

I wonder if you could find help from other reptile keepers in Vietnam, not necessarily tortoise keepers?

 

[sallymon_]

I wonder if you could find help from other reptile keepers in Vietnam, not necessarily tortoise keepers?

oooo good thinking! though most of the keepers here that i've come across still rely heavily on outdated information and supplies, not even including pet stores since we all know how yikes those are worldwide. maybe im not digging deep enough? because i know there are other vietnamese members on the forum. that's something i can look into, so thanks for the idea!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

One thing you can try is to find someone with a Solarmeter 6.5 (or maybe cooperate with a pet store/reptile keepers community and get one). With a proper measurement device there is a chance to correctly set up UVB lights even if you can't get Arcadia or ZooMed T5 lamps.

One other option is to check what's available for aquatics and birds: you can find some Arcadia products there. E.g. Arcadia ArcPod or UV Flood lamps.

I ordered some UVB lamps from abroad (Amazon within EU and from UK). I was very lucky to get everything intact - some lamps were awfully packaged: no marks "Fragile", boxes torn and twisted, not enough protective filler in boxes. When ordering lamps from US - keep in mind that US electronics are sometimes 110V-only (no matter what product description on Amazon says) and can't be used in 220V electric grid.