Lindsey28
Member
What's the difference between the coil and the strip light?
I've heard mixed reviews about the coil, but I just would like to know why?
I've heard mixed reviews about the coil, but I just would like to know why?
UV Lighting
- Thread starter Lindsey28
- Start date
The coil has been known to cause eye damage. It has happened too many times and still happens. It's not worth the risk to your tort.
Lindsey28
Member
But how is it different than the strip? It's the same lighting, just in different formats, right?
It's so much brighter. Think of it as when the sun hits snow and reflects up and can give your skin and eyes a burn. Those compact coil bulbs are essentially doing that to the tortoise causing eye damage. Zoo med swears their coil bulbs are safe. It was the Zilla brand ones that got the bad wrap. Some tortoises are still having problems. It's just better to be safe than sorry.
There is no one who has the incentive to invest tens of thousands of dollars into doing long term studies in a professional lab and discovering the exact mechanism at work, so knows knows for sure. Many theories have been proposed. The best I've heard is little micro cracks in the phosphor coating of the cfl bulbs that allow UVC to escape.
The bottom line is that I've personally seen lots of burned reptile eyes, the reptile vets I work with have seen lots of cases, and we see lots of cases here on the forum too.
We don't see burned eyeballs with the long tube types. Only the cfl types.
