Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just ordered a Powesun uv mercury vapor bulb which gives both heat and uvb. Do I leave it turned on all the time or just during the day or just so many hours???

just during the day.
You will have to measure how hot it gets at the basking siye and surrounding area to see how far away you need to put it.
As for the duration of time its one..aim for 8 - 10 hours a day when you want it to be autumn/winter in there and 12 - 14 when you want to to be spring/summer. Or leave it on a constant 12 hours.
that won't matter much.

Good choice of purchase,
lots of folk are starting to think these work better than the conventional UVB tube bulbs.

I agree that these mercury vapor bulbs seem like a good choice for combining 2 bulbs into one. I have a naive question though...I know that mercury vapor is very toxic. So I'm guessing that these bulbs contain mercury vapor INSIDE, but do not emit any vapor to the outside. Am I correct? And if they do contain mercury vapor, is there a special way to dispose of them (to avoid breaking them)? Thanks.

They don't emit any mercury vapor, and mine have never leaked, I am sure they are pretty safe or they wouldn't be on the market. I have never broken one though, after 6-8 months they start blinking a lot and the base gets kind of loose and I replace them. If you keep your receipt and the bulb lasts less than a year, Zoomed will replace the bulb for free.
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