D3

[thetortoiseguy]

Just to let some people know you need to feed your tortoise vitamin D3 to keep him/hers shell and body health you can use cuttle bone and calcium powder

~thanks for taking your time to read this

 

[hunterk997]

Be sure not to use too often though.

 

[wellington]

I have never heard of cuttlebone having d3 and the calcium only has it if it says it does. If you give your tortoise a lot of natural sunshine, you don't need D3

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Oh and too much unnatural D3 is as bad as too little. Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine.

 

[thetortoiseguy]

Yeah I know unfortunately in the uk it winter so he can't go outside

 

[Tom]

Yeah I know unfortunately in the uk it winter so he can't go outside

In that case you need to provide artificial UV sources. Mercury vapor bulbs or long tube type florescent bulbs work the best.

 

[deadheadvet]

Well there is something to be said for ignorance is bliss. Well I'm finding out the hard way when it come to UV and bulbs.
Having tried 3 different bulbs over the last year, I finally broke down and bought a really good UV meter and maybe I shouldn't have, because it was really enlightening ( no pun intended)
None of the MVB bulbs lasted more than 3 months as far as UV goes. They were putting out no UV after 3 months. Heat is fine.
The most consistent bulbs were the T5 ZooMed bulbs. It has been 6 months and still putting out the same amount of UV.
However, you need to set the bulbs at 18" from the substrate to get the maximum amount of UV.

 

[mikeh]

Re: RE: D3

Well there is something to be said for ignorance is bliss. Well I'm finding out the hard way when it come to UV and bulbs.
Having tried 3 different bulbs over the last year, I finally broke down and bought a really good UV meter and maybe I shouldn't have, because it was really enlightening ( no pun intended)
None of the MVB bulbs lasted more than 3 months as far as UV goes. They were putting out no UV after 3 months. Heat is fine.
The most consistent bulbs were the T5 ZooMed bulbs. It has been 6 months and still putting out the same amount of UV.
However, you need to set the bulbs at 18" from the substrate to get the maximum amount of UV.

Thanks for posting. The truth about todays MVBs is coming out. PowerSun I used was producing 20microwats after 4 weeks of daily 12 hour use. That is full shade equivalent. Useless for arid species.

You say 18" distance for maximum output for T5. Is that recommended distance or you get higher readings at 18" as opposed to 15"?

 

[pam]

Good to know thank you deadheadvet

 

[lisa127]

I use the Reptiglo's. Have you ever tested those?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

deadheadvet,

I'd like to know more.

Which brand MVBs did you test?
What meter did you use?
What were the readings?

I am a huge advocate for using good ol' fashioned sunshine and not purchasing UV bulbs. Here in tort weather friendly SoCal it is easy to do.
I'm putting together a presentation on UV and tortoises and would love to use some of your info as an example.
Maybe I'll email you.....

 

[deadheadvet]

I used Zoomed PowerSun 100W Bulbs (4) separate bulbs and all gave off 0nm UV after 3 months.
Then I tried Exoterra Solarglo 125W bulb (1) since no sense making a huge investment in a bunch of new bulbs. It had a reading of 300nm at the bulb and 80-90 at 18"
then 90 days later, 0
The Zoomed T5 flourescent bulbs are still reading 80-100nm at 18" 6 months later.
The meter I am using is the Solarmeter 6.2 which is supposed to be the best meter available.
I am currently using the old MVB bulbs only for heat and the T5 bulbs for UV. Here in North Carolina we only have Sunshine mid May- end of September. Have to maintain with artificial the rest of the time. I am not advocating people go out and buy UV meters. Some of us are more OCD when it come to their collections, and I think the T5 bulbs are the way to go. Not cheap by any means. New fixtures and bulbs. Separate heat required if you go to these bulbs.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Fantastic, I am grateful for your input. With your permission may I include your findings when I share with other tortoise keepers or present info to my club?

Again, thanks for sharing this!

 

[deadheadvet]

You can use any info you like. If you read the package insert, they recommend 24" from substrate and I found the readings to be 0 at that height, so it needs to be closer.

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I use the Reptiglo's. Have you ever tested those?

No, but I would expect the same results since similar technology.
The flourescent T5, T10 bulbs seem to do a better job.

 

[mikeh]

Just to add, reflector in the T5 HO fixture plays a substantial role in bulbs UVB output.
A high quality fixture with 95% reflective specular aluminum reflector will have about 30-50% higher UVB output compared to a fixture without a reflector or a cheap reflector.

 

[hunterk997]

You can use any info you like. If you read the package insert, they recommend 24" from substrate and I found the readings to be 0 at that height, so it needs to be closer.

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I use the Reptiglo's. Have you ever tested those?

No, but I would expect the same results since similar technology.
The flourescent T5, T10 bulbs seem to do a better job.

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Do you think that the Zilla T8 bulbs would give similar results like the other fluorescents? This is awesome information.

 

[deadheadvet]

You can use any info you like. If you read the package insert, they recommend 24" from substrate and I found the readings to be 0 at that height, so it needs to be closer.

---

I use the Reptiglo's. Have you ever tested those?

No, but I would expect the same results since similar technology.
The flourescent T5, T10 bulbs seem to do a better job.

---

Do you think that the Zilla T8 bulbs would give similar results like the other fluorescents? This is awesome information.

---

I had a friend measure the T8 by Zmed and were not as good as the T5, I would think those are still better than MVB but probably not as good but I would wait till they are 6 months old and at that point you will have to decide if you want to replace the fixtures to switch bulbs, the T5 bulbs are completely different.

 

[mikeh]

Don't go with Zilla, I know they are cheap and come with fixture but its not worth the $. I got suckered into buying one while back. After doing some reading its still sitting in its box, unopened. At least step up to Zoomed T8. T5HO is the preferred choice and way to go.

 

[Yvonne G]

Just to let some people know you need to feed your tortoise vitamin D3 to keep him/hers shell and body health you can use cuttle bone and calcium powder

~thanks for taking your time to read this

I wanted to make a bit of a correction to this statement. If you have your tortoise under a good UVB light, you don't need to "feed" him d3. He gets the UVB from the light and it is converted to d3 in the tortoise.

Calcium on its own does not give the tortoise d3, unless you specifically buy the calcium supplement that says it includes d3.

Of course, the natural sunlight is always the best way to get d3 into your tortoise.

 

[Leo1986]

I used Zoomed PowerSun 100W Bulbs (4) separate bulbs and all gave off 0nm UV after 3 months.
Then I tried Exoterra Solarglo 125W bulb (1) since no sense making a huge investment in a bunch of new bulbs. It had a reading of 300nm at the bulb and 80-90 at 18"
then 90 days later, 0
The Zoomed T5 flourescent bulbs are still reading 80-100nm at 18" 6 months later.
The meter I am using is the Solarmeter 6.2 which is supposed to be the best meter available.
I am currently using the old MVB bulbs only for heat and the T5 bulbs for UV. Here in North Carolina we only have Sunshine mid May- end of September. Have to maintain with artificial the rest of the time. I am not advocating people go out and buy UV meters. Some of us are more OCD when it come to their collections, and I think the T5 bulbs are the way to go. Not cheap by any means. New fixtures and bulbs. Separate heat required if you go to these bulbs.

Then do you recommend that if you use mvb to get a new one every three months? Or bite the bullet and go for the T5 stuff. I just set up my chamber with two domes and don't have room for the good unless I totally redo everything. So I'm trying to figure out what's best.