theTegu.com - Tegu information, photo gallery, forums, caresheets, diet & nutritional info, taming tips and more for the argentine black and white tegu, argentine red tegu, blue tegu, colombian black tegu and the colombian gold-phased black tegu. Tupinambis merianea, teguixin & rufescens.
Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 1:15 pm Post subject: uvb issue
i know i need heat and uvb to keep my tegu healthy, but i heard that the uvb had to be 10 from the tegu. is this true? im starting out with a plastic tub that is about 4 1/2' long and wanted to be able to place the uvb over the tub and not mounted inside.
To get maximum benefits from the fluorescent UVB bulb, the bulb needs to be between 6 and 8 inches from the back of the tegu while he's basking. You can still mount the uVB bulb on top of the plastic tub, you'll just have to give him something to lay on where he is closer to the bulb. This is called a basking area. Something that he can climb up on to get off the bottom of the tub. _________________ Kris, Herps they're not just a hobby, they're a way of life!
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:22 am Post subject:
I agree with kris on this. You could build a basking spot higher to get the tegus closer to the UV light. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 68 Location: California
Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:57 pm Post subject:
i'm not trying to be rude but i've got proof that uvb will travel down about 16" from the right light source. I use wire mesh cloth with an open space of 1/2" and ZooMed 10.0 and still get a good amout of uvb at 18". also, with the ZooMed flood, they are sending uv down even more. maybe the 6-8" remark is for other brands of bulbs...8-/
What is your proof on this? I have a Solar Meter 6.2 that I test bulbs with and belong to the uvb_meter_owners group on yahoo groups, who have been testing various bulbs for years now and the findings are the same. Fluorescent bulbs provide optiumum UVB coverage at 6-8" They continue to put off UVB past 8" but it starts to discipate and does not give your reptile maximum UVB benefits. UV/Heat bulbs, such as the Mega Ray, Power Sun, and T-Rex UVHeat bulb provide optimum UVB coverage between 12-24" and should not be used closer than 12" With these bulbs, it is important to follow manufacturer's directions for placement of the bulb.
Also, the newer the bulb, the better the readings you are going to get. UVB from bulbs discipates very quickly. Also, about the first 2-3" on either end of the bulb produce little to no UVB.
Compared to the sun, manmade UVB bulbs don't produce near the amount of UVB. This in mind, we need to (IMO) use the best UVB bulb we can find, and use it where it is providing maximum UVB coverage for our reptile since no matter what bulb we use, the reptile is not going to get near the amount of UVB that they would if they were in natural conditions. _________________ Kris, Herps they're not just a hobby, they're a way of life!
Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 68 Location: California
Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:06 pm Post subject:
goodinfo. still, 10.0 uvb flourescent bulbs are good. i didn't say their compacts were, the tube flours are. compacts in general suck for anything other then light. even the 10k which are too blue imo. anyway...
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject:
wumpscut,
In the name of open mindedness, what meter are you using? I have seen test results on the ZooMed 24" tube at 2 to 14 inches and there is such a loss at 14", I can not imagine how it could produce much usable UVB at 18 inches.
You said you have proof, so I am assuming you have a UVB meter of some sort.
I will have my Solar Meter(tm) soon, and I have access to all of these bulbs at the petshop I volunteer at. I will do some basic tests for my own use anyways when the meter arrives, but I would really be interested in what meter you use.
I too am interested in which meter you are using to test bulbs. There are several meters currently on the market. Not all of them test the UVB in the range/spectrum that reptiles require.
I did not mention CFs in my post, but I have also tested these bulbs and have a few friends that have tested them as well. The Zoomed 10.0 Compact Fluorescents have been testing rather well lately. There is another compact fluorescent on the market that did not test well at all. The manufacturer escapes me at the moment.
Also, I'd be interested to know exactly how old the bulbs were when you tested them and got the good readings at 24" I'd also like to know what you consider a "good" reading.
I could argue that UVB does come through house windows. I tested my windows and got a 2 u/CM therefore UVB does penetrate glass. However, a lizard only exposed to those readings would surely suffer a long, painful death from MBD.
The other important thing to mention here is that if you do not own a Solar Meter 6.2 to test your bulbs, you'd best be changing them every 6 months without fail, and use them between 6-8" from the basking spot since you just don't know for sure if you got lucky and got a bulb that is throwing UVB at longer distances, or lasting longer than the typical 6 months. _________________ Kris, Herps they're not just a hobby, they're a way of life!
Joined: Dec 09, 2006 Posts: 66 Location: Cow town, AB
Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:11 pm Post subject:
Hey gunznrosez13,
I am different from every one else...I change my bulbs every 3-4 months. Might not be nessicary but I feel that it works better this way. And my tegus have acess to this while being 6" away from the bulb there is just more UV light that way. Hope it helps and happy herping
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Login
