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I've never used a mercury vapor bulb and had a question. I plan to have one suspended over a pond enclosure for my turtles. I usually go with the 1 heat bulb and 1 fluorescent UV bulb, but since I do not plan to have a cage around this pond, I don't want to suspend the UVB strip over it. I figure of just using a mercury vapor bulb. Do these need to be replaced as regularly as a regular fluorescent UV bulb? What are the health concerns if one were to break?

>>I've never used a mercury vapor bulb and had a question. I plan to have one suspended over a pond enclosure for my turtles. I usually go with the 1 heat bulb and 1 fluorescent UV bulb, but since I do not plan to have a cage around this pond, I don't want to suspend the UVB strip over it. I figure of just using a mercury vapor bulb. Do these need to be replaced as regularly as a regular fluorescent UV bulb? What are the health concerns if one were to break?

MVB's are supposed to be replaced ever 6 months to a year depending on manufacture.

The mercury is in a sealed tube inside the main bulb, you'd have to break both to present a danger. I had a large Iguana break one about a year ago. Neither the bulb or tube broke, he broke the bulb from the base and the entire bulb fell to the floor. Where it sat for some time before I discovered it.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile
Boa Morph's since 2007

1.0 Snow "Khal"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Khal"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Khal" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic