coil-shaped CFL revisited

[BrianWI]

I understand what your saying. Thank You. So if I was looking to have as much uvb in tank as possible. I'd need to go t5 though correct ? Because of the distance they cover length wise.

Well, or another technology. And it depends on what you hope to accomplish.

With all the technology we use for reptiles, you just have to plan out what you want to do. The whole "danger" thing is way out of proportion. What people need to do is just do things right. Thats what it boils down to. Everything can be "dangerous". Put a huge heat mat w/o any precautions on the bottom of the tank, your tort can burrow and get burned. Put the CHE too low, you can burn your torts shell. Put the heat lamp too low, you can start a fire. Put it where it can get wet, the glass may break. Put ANY uvb source too close and you can deliver too much to an animal. It all can be dangerous. We are trying to put the sun in a box!

The coil uvb one is actually one I would worry least about. The rumor started with chameleons I believe. But, those are animals that climb to the light and could be within a piece of screening away from the bulb. Think about it. The old bulbs, per lumen, put off a ton more heat. So when people switched to cfl, the lights were cooler and could be much closer. Could just the lumen increase in visible light cause an eye issue? If so, it isn't a fault of the bulb, it is the fault of the user for not planning correctly.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I've seen many, many baby tortoises with a condition similar to snow blindness and the CFL was determined to be the culprit. I saw it first hand on my sister's three sulcata hatchlings. My sister didn't know it was the light causing the problem, so by the time she figured it out and removed the light, the little tortoises were in very bad shape. This was wa-a-ay back when the bulbs first came out. Yes, they have been fixed since then, but the problem is, none of the old bulbs were pulled from the shelves. So you don't know if the bulb you buy now is a bad one or a new, fixed one.

Everyone should read Brian's words and my words and make their own decision as to whether they want to use them or not.