what is the best lighting (heat & uvb) equiptment available?

[johnsy]

im after what i see as upgrading my current lighting setup for my Herman, been doing a bit of a search and it seems technology has moved on over the past couple of years, all over my head of course,

im currently using a 100w reflector spot for basking and a 91cm exo-tera 10% uvb strip ,

what are peoples thoughts ? get with times or don't waist my money

i look forward to some informed responces

[Taszia]

I was told to use these by others but when came on this site was told the Arcadia d3. 160 watt combined bulb and clamp lamp holder is by far the best to use . I am going to try them this week sometime and see . But this seems to be what people on here recommend so must be a good one to use as they know what they are talking about with there many tortoises . HoPe this helps you a little

[Arcadiajohn]

There are many factors governing the proper provision of UV, heat and light to captive reptiles. The two most important things to get your head around is what is the normal wild exposure of an animal and what is the limitation of a lamp.

If you have this info you can then attune your system and the decoration of your enclosure to the needs of the animal.

Without doubt the invention of safe high output T5 lighting is the most important change to captive lighting in the last 10 years!

Have a look here http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/lighting-guide/

This is an industry first, interactive lighting guide. It shows you what lamps you need to re-create wild type exposure in the height of your enclosure.

Then look at the T8 V T5 page for the differences in output.

You can then make an informed choice of inclusion,


If anything isn't clear let me know.

Good luck

John

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by johnsy

im after what i see as upgrading my current lighting setup for my Herman, been doing a bit of a search and it seems technology has moved on over the past couple of years, all over my head of course,

im currently using a 100w reflector spot for basking and a 91cm exo-tera 10% uvb strip ,

what are peoples thoughts ? get with times or don't waist my money

i look forward to some informed responces

The T5 lighting is the latest thing on the go. A lot depends on whether you keep torts indoors all or most of the year or whether they are outside most of summer and hibernate in winter. The 160w D3 bulb will do in many cases and in other cases the T5 or even both would be more suitable, it depends on table size, table or viv, how long they are in there, whether other heating is used, how many electrical sockets you have etc

[johnsy]

this is trev's table


the lighting shroud is 455mm from the table bottom ,the bottom of that spot is 180mm from the top off his shell, i have a dial temp gauge just off center and that sits at 30-32c, he never really seems to lie directly under the spot buy more off center, but is happy to bask for ages pop off for summit to eat then back to bask

he's quite lively and loves to run about our flat when where in likes chasing white trainers and goes nuts for my lasses blue tartan pj's

i just wanna make sure he's happy

[Alan1]

The T5 light is much brighter and better for UVB than the T8. A different controller is required though. it would fit where you have it now though whereas a D3 combined bulb would need to be set up somewhere above the table

[Ozric Jonathan]

One option for Trev would be the arcadia T5 ubv D3+ reptile strip lamp like this:

http://www.surreypetsupplies.co.uk/a...-24w-22in.html

They come in various lengths. The heat would have to be provided separately by a halogen lamp such as a sylvania 100watt suspended in the right place.

Some keepers find the combined heat and uvb lamps are better in their set-up.

Whatever you go for, it is important to set the things up carefully and check your temperatures etc. In my opinion a temperature over 32C should be readily available for Trev but there must always be space to move away from the hot spot.