Lighting question?

[rrcoolj]

Okay so i am trying to finish my tegus cage by this weekend. My question is does he have to have uvb on the basking spot? I have a flourescent fixture on the cool side with a repti sun 10.0 and I can't get my MVB bulb for the basking spot right now. I wanted to known if he would be okay without a MVB on the basking spot for a week or two?

 

[Toby_H]

short answer is no, you do not need for the heat lamp to be UVB if you are supplying UVB via a fluorescent lamp.

 

[rrcoolj]

Thanks Toby_H for the quick response. It wouldn't be longer than a couple of weeks anyway. And it's not like he won't have any uvb. He just needs to move in fast.

 

[DaveDragon]

It depends how close the florescent bulb is away from the Tegu. After you get more than 12" away there isn't much useful UVB output. Our bulbs are about 8" away and guarded. Standard floodlight halogen bulbs put out some UVB, although I don't know if there's any harmful UVC output, so they can be used for heat and suppliment some UVB.

 

[rrcoolj]

Thanks, I am planning to buy a halogen bulb from the hardware store to aid in keeping the basking spot up. And the bulb will be like 10" from him so i think he will be okay.

 

[Pikey]

as far as i know they can't sell bulbs that put out UVC.

 

[Toby_H]

They make UCV bulbs that are used in water purification/sterilization, but they are placed in fully enclosed fixtures.

I would be shocked and angered if they made any 'standard' bulb that emitted UVC radiation. UVC is some wicked stuff and even small amounts can do tremendous cell damage. I mean, a 9W UVC lamp commonly used in home aquaria can not only destroy bacteria but can kill parasites with less than one second's worth of exposure.

But back on track

I use a 3' fluorescent UVB bulb for my Tegu and standard bulbs for heat. They are overlapped to some degree. Typically my Tegu will lay so his tail and hips are under the fluorescent UVB and his body is under the heat lamps. I've also quite often found him 'basking' only under the fluorescent UVB bulb not under the heat lamps at all.

Dave brought up a very good point about the distance of a fluorescent UVB bulb from the animal. I use the higher Wattage UVB bulbs (high output) an have my fixture mounted 12" above the substrate. The bulb hangs down a couple of inches below the fixture and the Tegu is a couple inches thick giving about 8" gap between the Tegu's skin and the bulb. Keep in mind you do not want any kind of glass or plexiglas between your UVB bulb and your Tegu as anything like this will very very quickly filter out the UVB.

 

[Chuey]

We use a 4 foot flor UVB light and a MVB over the basking spot for our boa master cage and its working well. We arguably have the biggest blue on the forum at 4 feet and a squirt more and 13 pounds. Flo light is about 12" and MVP is about 8" from the top of his back. We also picked up a solartech meter though for $200 it measures UVB so we precisely know how much spectrum he's getting.

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[DaveDragon]

He's a beast!!!

The MVB at 8" is said to be too close. What reading on the meter (6.2?) are you getting?

I bought a SolarTech 6.2 on eBay (new) from an authorized dealer for $160.

 

[Chuey]

Which version do you have, ours I believe is a 6.2 if its not that one its the other one. Output is 92 microwatts of irrad. on the MVB after a 6 months burn in. The flours. across the board no matter how new or old are getting readings of 45 microwatts for a 10.0 (not encouraging)!

 

[DaveDragon]

It must be the 6.2, the 6.5 gives a UVB index.

I'm sure he's getting more than enough UVB. I've measured 300 on a hot sunny summer day, I doubt a Tegu would bask in that all day. Does he have an area he can escape the UVB if he wants? Florescent bulbs never put out a lot of UVB, 45 sounds fine. I'm using Repti-Glo's and they're putting out 35 at 8" plus the 20 the 45W halogen puts out.

 

[Chuey]

Yes, we're actually in the process of selling the 6.2 to get the Solartech that provides a UVB index. but to give you an idea, 350-450 microwatts would be a full noon sun in the Australian desert. Its a little disconcerting to me to have light outputs on "10.0" UVB index bulbs giving off 45 microwatt numbers when 350-350 micrwatts is full sun at noon in Australia.

The only thing that I can postulate is all reptile bulbs are weaker than stated and that NO reptile will sit in a high noon sun for very long before trying to find shade cover.

The folks on the beardeddragon.org forum are trying to figure this out with the bulb manufacturers like Hagen. Also some bulbs like megaray were producing too much UVB output a constant 300 microwatt output which could be harmful to a reptiles eyes.

Our Gu has an 8 foot Boa Master cage similar to the one you built and two hides so he's good to go.

 

[DaveDragon]

You are correct, they don't sit out in the mid day sun, too much UVB.

We probably don't give them the right amount of UVB. We supplement additional UVB by bringing them outside for about an hour a week.

The only possible problem with your setup is he can't get heat without a fairly high amount of UVB.

Don't sell the 6.2! Ideally you need both.

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[ashesc212]

Yeesh, Chuey, thread-hijacking even though Lucky is a stud to look at haha.

We don't have a florescent tube in Lucky's cage, you are confusing it with Kwayze's. We just have the MVB about 8" from the top of his back, about 12" from his spot.

Florescent tubes should be within 6-8 inches of the animal. In regards to the OP's questions, as long as there is a basking spot, and a proper heat gradiant, the UVB is fine being separate from the basking spot (as long as he can get within the proper distance of it). However, it is ideal to have it over the basking spot as well.

 

[DaveDragon]

At least the hijack is lighting related!

I use halogen bulbs for basking because they provide twice the amount of heat per watt as an incandescent. And the provide some UVB, No one seems to know that. The UVB meter proves it, even though it's only about 20 at 8". That's a minimal level as far as reptiles are concerned. I put the florescent tube next to it and extending into the center of the enclosure.

 

[rrcoolj]

Wow popular thread lol. I always thought that having too much uvb all through the cage was a bad thing for the reason that a reptile should be able to get away from the mvb or "the sun". I planned on ordering the megaray because I have seen that it is one of the best uvb bulbs on the market. But I have read that is does stimulate the "sun" at it's strongest(or midday if you will). Just as it's important for a reptile to heat up and cool off I always thought it was important for a reptile to escape or have a place away from the main uvb source.

 

[DaveDragon]

I think it's also important to have a heat source with lower UVB so they can chose between UVB (Vitamin D3) or heat (digestion) if they desire.

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/whatreptilesneed.htm

 

[rrcoolj]

I think it's also important to have a heat source with lower UVB so they can chose between UVB (Vitamin D3) or heat (digestion) if they desire.

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/whatreptilesneed.htm

Yes I have seen this article. I want to know where tegus fall in this. They are tropical/subtropical lizards so i would assume that they don't need as much uvb as something like a beardie or uromastyx that live in a dryer hotter enviornment. And why do varanids supposedly not need uvb? Is it because they are carniverous?

 

[Toby_H]

Just a note on the subject... When my Tegu is outside 24/7 he often basks in early sun but avoids direct sunlight for the vast majority of the day. It is fairly common for him to avoid direct sunlight all day multiple days in a row.

I completely believe/trust that they do require UVB, but I don't think they need very much. I'm not willing to speculate on a numerical value of what that is though.


As for using a fluorescent UVB, the UVB erodes over such a short distance it will be very easy for the animal to be far enough to avoid UVB.