compact florescent uvb bulb

[philipsr26]

i cant afford a new uvb light at the moment the one i do have is a coil bulb and i have vitamin c with phosphorus with d3 would the supplement be sufficient for the moment or the bulb be 3 foot away from the tortoise which one or both and would any be sufficient for the time being??

 

[Yvonne G]

Its up to you, however, the compact bulbs are known to have caused eye problems in young tortoises.

 

[philipsr26]

i cant afford a new uvb light at the moment the one i do have is a coil bulb and i have vitamin c with phosphorus with d3 would the supplement be sufficient for the moment or the bulb be 3 foot away from the tortoise which one or both and would any be sufficient for the time being??

Iam aware of the problem to the eye when the light was to close his eye swelled up i read up on it and they say that the range is effective at 20" so i hope that it being to close was the problem so i moved farther away hoping that it will drop it down to safer levels of uvb or am i just wrong about it and the bulb is just a hazard that i should do without. my biggest worry is until i can afford a new one i don't want to deprive him what he needs for proper development iam just at the mercy of every one elses expieriance with this matter

 

[Madkins007]

This is going to go against everything you have ever read, so bear with me.

Toss the UVB coiled bulb, and buy a normal cool white bulb instead (straight would be better, but coiled is OK), or see the last paragraph.

According to W. H. Gehrmann, as written in Dr. Mader's "Reptile Medicine and Surgery" (second edition, page 1082), ALL fluorescent bulbs emit SOME UVB. The wavelength that does the D3 processing is 295 nanometers, so the bulbs that emit the best of that wavelength are the best for us.

It turns out that a plain GE Cool White fluorescent bulb converts about as much D3 as many specialty bulbs do. The only two that did it a LOT better were a blacklight fluorescent bulb (which is still cheaper than most UVBs), and a couple of the very high intensity UVBs.

In fact, they could not find ANY evidence that reptile 'low UVB' bulbs did ANYTHING to convert vitamin D3.

Now- part of the problem with the coil design is that it creates a 'hot spot' of radiation in front of the coil. You can reduce that by backing it off, or you can mount it sideways and make a foil reflector to bounce back the light you loose upwards. The sideways mount does the better job for our needs since the larger the 'pool' of UVB light, at the right intensity, the better.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

About a year ago the UVB bulb over my box turtles died. I couldn't afford another so I gave them a 100 watt incandescent bulb. So now it's a year later and I buy a 100 watt Trex bulb and put it with them. In 24 hours they were out and begging for worms and out walkin around every day. I have always put them outside and other reason why I didn't worry about losing that bulb. But I am telling you within 24 hours those animals were up and active and just a joy to watch. So now I'm just not sure how I feel about UVB or no UVB because I have always been in the no UVB group, but this experience with my box turtles makes me think I need to be in the UVB group...

 

[Madkins007]

I think that UV lighting is useful- both A and B. UVA is known to stimulate natural behavior, while B does the same and helps with D3 production. We need to be careful to not make pedantic, absolute statements, though. A lot of UVB bulbs are not really doing that much for us.

From what I can find, a nearly ideal setup would be to combine a 'daylight' fluorescent and a Sylvania 350 Blacklight fluorescent. The two together should cost less than most UVB bulbs, and do more for both D3 and behaviors than most reptile bulbs.

Combine them with a good IR bulb for heat, and you should be close to simulating sunlight!

 

[webskipper]

According to W. H. Gehrmann, as written in Dr. Mader's "Reptile Medicine and Surgery" (second edition, page 1082), ALL fluorescent bulbs emit SOME UVB. The wavelength that does the D3 processing is 295 nanometers, so the bulbs that emit the best of that wavelength are the best for us.

So when lamps come with a strip light, what Kelvin degree rating/range will emit the 295 nm? 8000K?

 

[Madkins007]

Heck if I know. That is one of the problems with UV bulbs- most do not real tell you much.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...Both compact & coil UVBs have a history of causing eye problems as well as other health problems, like lethargy, going off their food, staying hidden when they usually don't.

www.petmountain.com has the ReptiSun 10 (NOT ReptiGlo 10) long fluorescent UVBs for about $20. That, along with regular household bulbs for heat, are an easy, relatively inexpensive way to go.
Good luck
Patsy

 

[zgoldsmith23]

Its up to you, however, the compact bulbs are known to have caused eye problems in young tortoises.

I've used one of these for my baby Argentine B&W Tegus and is cause him to slowly lose eyesight to the point of constant aggression. They may be cheaper but they're not worth it.

ZG

 

[Madkins007]

The problem with coiled and bent is a mixture of the bulb shape and the reflector used. They focus the stuff to a point shooting out of the end.

If you take off the reflector and point that focus at a wall, and let the light from the SIDES of the bulb hit the animals, there is not much of an issue any more- other than wasting a lot of the light going up and other directions.

But there are definitely better options than these things.

 

[webskipper]

FYI- my girlfriend (friend+girl) was told by her Doctor that it is necessary for us to receive a minimum of 30 minutes of continuous sunlight to process vitamin D and the rest of the bodily functions.

With this said, when your pets can get an hour outside then don't worry too much about the details. Get what you can afford that is best for your Tort and cage size. You can always purchase here and there until you can get what you really need. Layaway?

 

[philipsr26]

i have done away with the bulb and just got the long tube a repti-glo 10.0 thank you all for the input

 

[webskipper]

That coil lamp may still produce enough of the right light to grow your Tort plants. Don't scrap it just yet. Or at least use it in the house till it does burn out. lol.