Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently use the repi-sun 10.0's. I have been looking at the self ballasted bulbs on reptileuv.com, and was just wondering if anyone have had good luck on using them. If so, you don't have to use calcium with D3 right? Are they worth it? I was reading and figured out that:
USING TUBES and HEAT it costs about:
20.00 every 6 months on tube = 60.00 every 18 months.
6.00 for heat - lasts a couple years.

USING MERCURY VAPOR ON REPTILEUV.COM
39.00 for 18 months.

So after that it looks like it ends up being cheaper. So why is that? Is it because it is not as good or what?
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Darien Drollinger

sales@highendreptiles.com
www.highendreptiles.com

You Cry, I Cry, You Laugh, I Laugh, You Fall Off A Cliff, I Laugh Harder

The cost savings are all marketing. Watts are watts. You can google electric calculator to see what a particular wattage bulb etc. costs you based on electric cost in your area. But any way, In the winter my 4' x 3.5' x 2' tall enclosures use (2) 30W spots for heat and light plus (2) 36" 30watt Zoo Med 10.0's for UVB. So the total usage is 120 watts per cage. Even if I could use one 100 or 160 mega ray or mercury vapor it certainly would not give equal light over the entire enclosure. You'd end up with one bright area and the rest is all shadows. BTW I do own MVB's in 100 and 160 watt, they just failed all my tests for usability.

With all their's and MVB's how can you have light on the cool side of an enclosure without heating it? That's why fluorescents work best in most applications.

Though Mercury vapor bulbs do put out heat and more UVB than florescent tubes, I don't find they are practical for most bearded dragon cages. As was mentioned already, you don't have light spread out over your cage, just concentrated in one area. Also, the mercury vapor bulbs don't put out as much heat as is needed. Since they need to be mounted at least 18" above the basking spot, often that puts them too far away to raise the basking spot high enough for bearded dragons, thus you end up needing addition heat bulbs anyway, and addition lighting to light up the rest of the cage.

MVB also have to be mounted straight up and down, not at an angle. If mounted at an angle, they burn out really fast. Thus, they can't be used to light up a cage at all, unless you have a few of them spread out over the cage (for a 4' long cage, that would be at least two to give enough ambient light for bearded dragons).

These lights are fine in addition to regular florescent tubes running the length of the cage, but shouldn't be used alone. You will find the cage stays too dark and often your dragon won't thrive, thinking its burmation time all the time and that isn't healthy for it.

SO you can replace the UVB 10's with a mercury vapor bulb but use regular florescent tubes in the fixture to keep the ambient light nice and bright. In fact, full spectrum florescent tubes are great, especially those that can be used for plants. Gives a nice natural lighting to your cage and dragon. As these tubes won't produce much heat nor any UVB (or so little its not even worth measuring) these can be used till the bulb burns out..which typically several years, depending on the tube, so you can still save money in the long run.
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PHLdyPayne