How much uvb is too much

Rottncorpse · Member Joined: Jan 03, 2005 Posts: 55 Location: TN

Finally decided on a cattle troft 8x3 made out of galvanized steel with a pegboard top. I have will be using a uvb merc vapor spot for basking. I thought about adding a uvb florescent to light up the rest of the enclosure. Can you over do it ?

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848

No, you cant; just make sure there is deep enough mulch and/or hides so that they can get out of the light if they want to.

Rick · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 10:45 am Post subject:

I have not heard of anyone causing any harm to a reptile from too much UVB exposure. There have been no studies as to how much UVB is required for a Tegu, but most people just use a uvb bulb at or near the basking spot and it seems to work fine. I don't think the extra UVB bulb would hurt at all, but I am not sure if it's really needed. I'd probably just go with a fluorescent bulb that was designed to make colors more vivid for reptiles, fish or flowers.

Either way should be fine, but thats just my opinion based on my experience with my tegus and exposure to other peoples setups.

Rick
theTegu.com

charlene · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 12:19 pm Post subject:

I have never heard of UVA/UVB light causing problems unless it was left of 24/7. Just remember for your tegu to get the full benefit from the light he should be able to bask within 10 inches of that. Beyond that much of the rays are lost

Charlene

James_James · Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:37 pm Post subject: overdose UVB

I never heard of an over dose.

John · Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:49 pm Post subject:

charlene what problems have come from leaving it on 24/7...just curious?
_________________
John

charlene · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:00 am Post subject:

Its more of an annoyance to them. Not real "problem" it can just mess up there feeding, reproduction, ect. I only know of one instance where a somewhat careless owner had a beardie and just left the light on all day. The beardie was lethargic, stopped eating for the two weeks and within days of the problem being reconciled (proper day/night hours) the beardie was back to normal. The change in activity was never officially linked to the lighting but it is kinda fishy how it corresponded with the change in photoperiods.

Charlene

charlene · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:03 am Post subject:

By the way i'm not saying the lizard overdosed on UV just that having it on all the time could mess them up a little

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848

I can definitely see how stress would affect an animal kept in a constantly well lit tank; if you consider the experiements that were done on humans that were kept in bright rooms all the time, think of the effect on a wee beardie* (*insert herp name here) :'(

I have never heard of an overdose on UV, and I dont believe its possible; its not like a supplement, its used by the herp as it needs it. As a matter of fact, you can reduce likelihood of VitD3 overdosing by supplementing with calcium and providing UVB at a sufficient strength.

James_James · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject: uv

YES YES!