Posted by:
j3nnay
at Sat Nov 28 23:41:44 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by j3nnay ]
don't know about the tristis vs ackie, but my two cents on UVB -
I use it at home, use it on baby monitors at my work, everything does better than without it. Like to send new owners home with mercury vapor bulbs - hot, bright, lots of uvb. Have not had a single person call back with an animal issue in the year I've started recommending that (in a large enough cage, though).
Do get a few folks who try without UVB, fail miserably, and end up having to see a vet and swap around lights, change diet, and have a huge, complicated mess that could have been avoided by an appropriate setup to start.
I prefer UVB, but I'm a minority, at least here. In my experience, the average beginner doesn't have the know-how to pull off an appropriate diet and appropriate temperatures to raise a monitor up from a baby without UVB. People who do a great setup with a nice range of temperatures and lots of whole prey items can pull off no UVB.
I've never had something do worse under UVB than it was without it, and most people I send home with mercury vapor bulbs (my personal favorite) come back and exclaim over the difference it makes in their animal(s). With some I know that difference can probably be attributed to an increase in temperature, but in others that were kept at correct temps before, there is still a difference in behavior, including increased appetite, better color, faster growth and a wider range of foraging and basking behaviors.
All that said, I don't think the long fluorescent tubes are much use, especially compared to what I've seen with the mercury vapor bulbs. I've measured PowerSun light bulbs (the zoomed brand of mercury vapor bulbs) and Reptisun bulbs (the fluorescent tubes) with a UVB meter - the powersun put off over 3 times as much UVB at 12", and it took much longer for the UVB to drop to "ineffective" levels compared to the Reptisun. The TRex brand bulb puts off even more UVB, and decays less over time.
So tubes are better than nothing for most animals, but from what I've seen, with monitors the biggest benefit seems to be from mercury vapor bulbs and/or keeping them outdoors.
~jen
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)
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RE: tristis vs ackie - j3nnay, Sat Nov 28 23:41:44 2009