14-03-2008, 07:05 PM | #1 |
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12% UVB
Hi all,
When I first bought a tube for my tort table I bought a 12% UVB, but before I picked my tort up i read somewhere on xxxxxxxxxxxx that anything above 8% can damage the torts eyes so I went out and bought a 5% Just wondering what percentage UVB tubes people are using?
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Adam 0.0.2 T.h.b |
14-03-2008, 07:12 PM | #2 |
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Hi
What tort have you got? I personally think 5% is too low even for tropical species, I use 8% for my redfoot and I think most on here use 10% for med species etc |
14-03-2008, 08:01 PM | #3 |
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Can you tell us what brand the 12% UV bulb was? Was it a tube or a combined light? I use the 10% UVB tube, and I've never heard of a higher percentage in the fluorescent tubes.
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14-03-2008, 08:42 PM | #4 |
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I have a T.hermanni.boettgeri that is 8 months old.
They don't have a picture but this is the one I originally bought: http://www.petzoo.co.uk/product_info...roducts_id=163 So its an Arcadia 12% UVB 30% UVA tube - says for desert reptile species, which I'm guessing greece and bulgaria etc are not This is the one am using now but after reading the description I realise its wrong http://www.petzoo.co.uk/product_info...roducts_id=183 So do I have to go and buy an 8%? (i.e. 12 too strong and 5 too weak?) Cheers
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Adam 0.0.2 T.h.b |
14-03-2008, 09:16 PM | #5 | |
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I found the article:
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/lighting.html Quote:
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14-03-2008, 09:39 PM | #6 |
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Lighting is a huge subject - the lamp you brought was for dessert species, and without looking in depth at the lamp should have a different Lux/colour temperature - to the requirements for your temperate tortoise spieces, ideal tube for your tortoise will be something along the lines of a repti sun 10.0..
Loads of research has gone into reptile lighting over recent years and most of the big brand lights are perfectly safe, providing you use the correct lamp for the corrrect animal your suppiler should know whats what Dazza |
14-03-2008, 09:43 PM | #7 | |
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Cheers dazza, looks like i'll be buying a 10.0 soon. Third time lucky eh
Just found the original I bought (any feed back on this one would be good: http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.p...n=en&sub=&id=4 Quote:
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14-03-2008, 11:55 PM | #8 |
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The 12% tube is relatively new (I hadn't known about it before), but the UVB Meter Owners forum have been getting some good test results from it:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/U...s/message/5712 I've just posted a question on that forum asking about the merits of the 12% tube vs the 10% tubes (ReptiSun and Reptiglo), and will let you know what they say. |
15-03-2008, 08:56 AM | #9 | |
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Quote:
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15-03-2008, 10:09 PM | #10 |
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I've had an answer to my questions to the UVB Meter Owners forum. Basically I asked about the quality of the new Arcadia 12% tube and if it would be beneficial to get it, and I also asked if the ReptiGlo 10.0 was any better or worse than the ReptiSun 10.0. Here is the link to the answer on the forum:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/U...s/message/5837 But here is a cut and paste of the main part of the answer for those who aren't members of the forum (my question was answered by Frances Baines who is one of the people that run the UV Guide UK, which is an excellent website: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ : Yes, extra UVB would be beneficial for your Horsfields tortoise - in fact as soon as the weather is suitable, (depending on where you live) a secure outdoor enclosure with areas of full, unfiltered natural sunlight where he can bask would be SO much better than anything indoors! Horsfields are not a tropical species and will benefit from an outdoor life in most temperate climates through the warmer seasons... Having said that, if your indoor enclosure is such that you can't use a high-UVB mercury vapour lamp to give a "patch of artificial sunlight", then the new Arcadia D3+ tube has a good spectrum in the UVB range (approximating sunlight) and so does the ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 tube. Both also have a good UVB output for fluorescent tubes. From a practical point of view I don't think there is a huge difference between them, they both seem good, well-made lamps and although the Arcadia D3+ is new, the original Arcadia D3 lamp has proved a reliable product, just as both the ZooMed 5.0 and 10.0 tubes have done. At reasonable basking distances (minimum distance I'd personally suggest would be 6 inches above the tortoise's back and absolute maximum distance of 12 inches) both the Arcadia D3+ and Reptisun 10.0 tubes provide the UVB equivalent of daylight in the shade on a sunny day in the UK. As with ALL fluorescent tubes, they should also be hung above the tortoise, not sideways to him - but this isn't because the UVB is necessarily dangerous, it is because the glare of the light shining straight in his eyes is stressful (like driving a car into the sunset) and over time, bright light shining in the eyes, especially in the visible blue wavelengths, can be harmful to the retina (in humans at least). They should also be placed right over the warm basking spot since the synthesis of vitamin D3 takes place in warm skin of the tortoise's exposed legs, neck and head when he's basking... the UVB doesn't go through his shell! The ExoTerra ReptiGlo 10.0 has a rather different spectrum from these two. It produces an apparently similar total UVB but a higher UV Index - but the higher UV Index is because the spectrum is not so similar to sunlight. The UVB includes some very-low-wavelength, more biologically-active UVB, below that normally found in natural sunlight. There have been occasional reports of eye problems with this tube when the reptile has been able to get close to the tube - this low wavelength light is more hazardous to living cells than the higher wavelengths found in sunlight. So if you choose to use these tubes, be particularly aware of this and be especially careful to keep the tube at least six inches above, maybe 8 - 10 inches.... I don't use these tubes myself because the long-term effects of small amounts of very low wavelength light are not known. However, it has to be said that many people have used these tubes with no apparent ill effects. Here are some figures for newly-burned-in tubes (105hrs burn). Arcadia D3+ 12% Reptile 15watt 18-inch T8 tube : 8ins: total UVB 62µW/cm² UVI 1.9 12ins: total UVB 35µW/cm² UVI 1.0 ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 20watt 24-inch T12 tube: 8ins: total UVB 47µW/cm² UVI 1.5 12ins: total UVB 28µW/cm² UVI 0.8 ExoTerra ReptiGlo 10.0 20watt 24-inch T8 tube: 8ins: total UVB 42µW/cm² UVI 2.6 12ins: total UVB 25µW/cm² UVI 1.6 I'm sorry that I haven't updated the UV Guide website. It's on my list of things to do, of course... but people keep sending me more and more new lamps to test!... and there just aren't enough hours in a day... Frances |
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