Brightness and Mold

[Diablo]

I have two issues or questions rather about my enclosure. Recently I have noticed that my little gu Yoshi closes one, if not both, of his eyes in his enclosure a lot. Usually it is the one that is facing the UVB bulb. My question is, is the bulb too bright? My enlcosure is a 4x2x19", I use eco earth as my substrate, the humidity has been about 90% because the eco earth is still drying out, the cool side temps are 79-81 degrees, warm side is 90 degrees with a basking spot of 105-110. The cage itself is a sort of plastic and it is reflective on the inside which I'm thinking why it might be causing it to be bright? I bought it off craiglist and the guy who sold it was really nice and told me he kept turtle and other reptiles in it, even ones that required high humidity, and said they worked great. I have hides in there for yoshi to be in whenever he wants, and he is usually in there after I feed him until the next morning. Do tegus close their eyes often? He closes both while basking usually and sometimes closes his eye that is facing the uvb bulb. I'll include a picture.

Next question. I looked under his hide log that I have stuffed with moss and I saw what looked like the start of mold. I immediately took it out and washed it off and baked it in the oven. However, I'm not sure what caused it. I thought these logs could stay in humid enclosures and not have this happen? The humidity has been very high lately as I am drying out the eco earth I just put in there. Could that be why it started molding? I am going to keep an eye on it and I am checking the entire enclosure over everyday to make sure nothing else starts. Anyways if anyone has any info or experience with these two things please let me know.

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Wow that picture is terrible I'll take another tomorrow and post it.

 

[chitodadon]

If u have a wooden hide u should dry loc it(waterproof) so that it doesn't mold that's y I have everything cement in mine

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[Diablo]

Yeah I'm gonna take it out and add rock hides I think

 

[chitodadon]

Yea I believe in rock hides plus they hold heat and bask on them

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[KritterKeeper]

I thought it wasnt good to side mount UVB lights? I could be wrong but i thought i read it was bad for their eyes for the lights to be on the side instead of overhead...

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Someone else posted about an enclosure that's the same size so I'll c&p some of what I posted over there.

With an enclosure that size height wise only 19" you have to consider all that goes into it. After adding 3-4" of substrate, hides, basking platforms or what ever else the lights would be too close for most manufacturers recommendations as well as the health of the tegu.
Plus a white back ground intensifies the light and makes it even brighter.

You can put the tegu in a temporary enclosure then paint or cover that back wall with something darker to reduce the brightness. But that won't do anything for the distance issue. Right now the lights are probably doing more damage than good.

 

[Diablo]

Someone else posted about an enclosure that's the same size so I'll c&p some of what I posted over there.

With an enclosure that size height wise only 19" you have to consider all that goes into it. After adding 3-4" of substrate, hides, basking platforms or what ever else the lights would be too close for most manufacturers recommendations as well as the health of the tegu.
Plus a white back ground intensifies the light and makes it even brighter.

You can put the tegu in a temporary enclosure then paint or cover that back wall with something darker to reduce the brightness. But that won't do anything for the distance issue. Right now the lights are probably doing more damage than good.

Figured this would probably be the case. I've had him in their for about two weeks now at least I noticed it early. I have a 20 gallon tank. Do you think his eyes are already damaged? He has spent a lot of time under his hide. I don't have the time to build a new cage right now, would painting the whole thing black inside be ok? I'm measuring everything over again to double check the measurements too

 

[Diablo]

If I cut a hole in the top and put a bulb up there do you think it would make a difference? I have a fixture or lamp from the reptile store, and I was gonna cut a whole in the top of the enclosure and put it there.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

There's not much of a way to tell how much if any damage has been done with out an exam (most thorough) and or just testing his sight from different angles, lighting with movement. Since you caught it early it shouldn't be much of an issue if it kept it's eyes closed more often than not.

For the hole, I don't see why not as long as there's a cover on it and the tegu can't reach it.

 

[Diablo]

Re: RE: Brightness and Mold

There's not much of a way to tell how much if any damage has been done with out an exam (most thorough) and or just testing his sight from different angles, lighting with movement. Since you caught it early it shouldn't be much of an issue if it kept it's eyes closed more often than not.

For the hole, I don't see why not as long as there's a cover on it and the tegu can't reach it.

Would it fix the blinding issue since it will be above? Also uvb bulbs should be a minimum of 12" away right?

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[Bubblz Calhoun]

More distance and less reflection should fix the issue. For the distance specs check the box or manufacturers website for their recommendations each company varies a bit.