Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The indoor enclosure I have is a rubbermaid approx. 31" l. x 16" w. x 12" h. I have a regular heat setup, but would also like a UVB/heat setup for days when the tort can't get outside, and for fall/winter. I'm looking for basking temps of about 85 degrees or so, which Big Apple Herp says is what you get using their 100 watt uvheat bulb. Does anyone have experience with either of these wattages and can tell me which would be best to get?

Also, how old/big should a tort be before it can be outside unsupervised (in an enclosed pen, of course)?

Thanks!
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
2.0 DSH Cats
1.0 English Springer Spaniel
2.0 Kids
1.0 Husband

These bulbs are wierd in that they do not 'throw' a great deal of heat. (don't ever touch one) They seem to contain the heat around the bulb. So, with that, I'd suggest nothing less than a 100 watt unless you are dealing with a 10 gal tank.
Ed

I have used all three ( Powersun, UV Heat, and Big Apple's). Currently using Big Apple's. The 160W (at 12-15" away from substrate) heats one end of our indoor Greek (Graeca Terrestris) pen ( 30" x 90" size) to 100 degrees within a 10" radius and it drops from there, but is still at 80 degrees at 24" out. 100W drops off to 85 and 72 respectively.

As for preference the Powersun's I've used burn out too quickly. UV heat's lasts a long time and the Big Apple I just started using so I can't say how long they will last, but their design is such that they should have the longest life. They are also the least expensive.

Good luck

np
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
2.0 DSH Cats
1.0 English Springer Spaniel
2.0 Kids
1.0 Husband

I'd get the 160 watt, that way you could raise it slightly
higher if you wanted lower temps, and then still have a "bigger"
wattage bulb for later (or sooner) when you needed it.
I have a 160 watt flood. Right now in the summer though you
need to be getting him outdoors. Nothing will compare to sunshine.

As far as how big he can be outside, if your enclosure is escapeproof
and predator proof, I'd keep him outside for most of the day.
I'd bring the little guys inside though at night.

I guess I can always order the 160 later...why not, I've already spent bucks and I haven't even gotten the little guy yet! He will be spending most of the time outdoors, at least until the beginning of October, and maybe longer. I figure he will be able to spend at least a portion of each day outside for 7-8 months out of the year, so I won't be using the UVheat constantly.
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
2.0 DSH Cats
1.0 English Springer Spaniel
2.0 Kids
1.0 Husband

We use mercury vapour exclusively with our beardies, and they do get hot.

With an enclosure that size, I'd go with a 100 Watt spot. We've use the original Active UVHeat bulbs, the T-Rex Active UVHeat & the ZooMed powersuns.

We haven't use Big Apple's bulbs, although we know somebody who has and we compared the UV output of both it and a Powersun with a pretty expensive UV meter (the meter cost about 400 bucks at Daytona last year).

Both bulbs we tested were 160 Watt Floods, and both bulbs were brand new (no more than a couple of days old), and they'd both been allowed an hour or so to fully heat up before testing.

Actually at the bulb the Big Apple bulb was putting off twice as much UVB as the powersun, but at 12" away from the bulb, the powersun was putting out twice as much UVB as the Big Apple. At 24" the Powersun was still more output than two 3ft flouresent UVBs (forgot the brand), but the Big Apple bulb was really low on the scale.

If I were you, I'd go with a T-Rex Active UVHeat or ZooMed Powersun 100 Watt spot. We use one of those in a 20g tank with two baby beardies in it. It gets the basking spot nice and warm without cooking the entire tank. The floods will radiate more heat throughout a tank as small as this, and you will probably find it does it with your tub too.

A 100 Watt spot will easily heat up a good 7-8" diameter circle at a distance of about 18" away, which is still throwing off plenty of UVB.

We use 160 Watt floods on the 65g tanks & custom enclosures for our adult beardies, and we also use one (primarily for its UVB output) in combination with a 500 Watt halogen (for the heat) in our outdoor Iguana Enclosures for those slightly cooler days. The outdoor enclosures are BIG (one's 10'x5'x7' and the other's 8'x3'x8') and neither of the iggies are showing any signs of MBD, or other problems. Of course, on the days when it's bright glorious sunshine (as happens quite often down here in FL) they're getting natural UVB from the sun.

One report I saw (url is below) put Texas at noon on an overcast day about halfway between the 100Watt & 160Watt Powersun floods (at a distance of 10" as far as UVB output goes. So while even mercury vapour bulbs don't even come close to natural sunlight, they are the closest out there unless you want to go and spend several hundred bucks on a lighting system.
The Importance of UV Lighting

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Axe
The Reptile Rooms