Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this topic originally on the leopard gecko board, but haven't really gotten any responses... I'm one of the few that believe strongly in recreating natural sunlight patterns, visible spectrum and UV, so that might put me out of the "use heat tape" crowd, but is anyone concerned about the bill that just passed effectively banning all incandescent light bulbs in 2012?

Anybody know of any campaigns to make exceptions to the rule for herp keepers? I'd hate to figure out how many bulbs to stock up on for the next 15 years minimum, nor do I want to have to change my setup. I mean, looking at it from the lizard's standpoint, you woke up one day and the sun was all funky because I ran out of bulbs.

I was also thinking of my friend's bearded dragon, he'd have to replace his ONE basking bulb with TWO different sources (probably a CHE and a compact florescent) instead of his one, "inefficient" light source. Inefficient only to our government, we NEED that inefficiency to produce heat... sheesh.)

I know similar laws are in place in Europe, but I don't know all the details. Anybody but me thinking about this and have ideas? Anybody know what stores or zoos are planning?

Thanks in advance, of course.

-----
0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Those new compact flourescent bulbs are known to cause migraines too.Thats just going to be fun for those that are sensitive.Guess they will have to use candles.
Seriously I think that the companies like Zoomed will market a "new" bulb just for reptiles that are actually the "old incandescents" with a different name or something.
-----

Ugh, don't tell me that, I haven't had migraines in years and really don't want them back.

I hope they find away around the law, but it is worded something like everything has to be at least "70% efficient" when incandescent are 2-5% efficient in light production, but the rest goes to that wonderful heat my geckos love so well. I really hope to help make a loop hole. Hopefully there is something getting started... ZooMed has a lot of florescent bulbs, they might not be worried...
-----
0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I read something about this happening in California on a website about making efficient houses, the guy made some really good points against this type of law. He said that when he started using them like 10 years ago his just started burning out today but the replacements are burning out before his remaining bulbs, making them less money efficient than incandescent. He attributed this to the old bulbs being made in the usa and germany while the new ones are from china, which totally defeats the energy independence factor. They also contain mercury, which is illegal to dumb in landfills, how will we throw them away?
There are also mercury vapor bulbs, halogen bulbs, and some others that could be really nice for heat and light, but most have not been used much for herps. I've been thinking about getting a few to try though, you can put out alot of light and heat with a tiny bulb, there are fire hazard problems though. I also heard that some can emit some sort of dangerous gas without ever breaking, if they are tapped or something, and if they do break it might not be good. I know for a fact these will be legal because i just don't see us having flourescent street lights. We have two huge ones at my barn, no way could you light it up with any less than 30 long flourescent tubes, not to mention the one we have outside so we can see in front of our faces out in the county.