Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I met a person this weekend that told me the UVB lights are unnecessary, that all they use is full spectrum "grow" lights from Menards, like you use for plants. He says his animals have always been large, heathy and energetic. Is this guy just been lucky so far, is he handing me a line of bull, or is this possible?

grow lights are not sufficient for your reptiles. spend the extra bucks and get some good UVB lighting such as MVB bulbs and use a good calcium with D3 supplement
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reiko
photos

He's Half right and the other half could be bull as reiko put it. You do not NEED uvb lighting to raise and maintain healthy dragons. Myself and othe much larger breeders use plain flourescent lighting instead of expensive uvb bulbs. What is important is that you have alot of light and you regularly use a calcium supplement that contains vitamin d3. As far as the bulbs just being regular "grow" lights, I don't know anything about that.
good luck
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Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
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I myself use the UVB floresent lights on my set-ups This guy was telling me that I was spending "undue money" on lighting that was not needed.
"Grow" lights are special full spectrum lights that are used by greenhouses as artificial sunlight, that make plants grow as if it was summer instead of fall or winter.

I don't beleive these grow lights put out anywhere near the same amount of UVB as repti-glo 5.0's must less mercury vapour bulbs...However I have no evidence to indicate just how much if any UVB grow lights put out. Maybe veronica, who I think is the one poster here who is conducting research on UVB outage of various bulbs using a UVB meter. Maybe get ahold of her and mail a grow bulb to her for her to test.

That's the part I was agreeing with, that UVB bulbs are not needed. As long as you supplement regularly with calcium that contains vit. D3. your dragon will be fine. If you raise a dragon indoors with UVB lighting (any bulb on the market) and a cliun supp. without d3, your chances are very high that your dragon will show symptoms of MBD eventually. If you raise a dragon under regular flourescent bulbs and a regular incendescent bulb hot spot but use a calcium supp. WITH d3, your chnaces are very high that it will never show signs of MBD. So, IMO all the advice about UVB lighting should take a back seat to recommending a good calcium supp. with d3 and it's proper usage.

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Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

I have the UVb lights and the calcium I use is T-rex it has vitamins A, D3, and C. I dust the little ones crix every day and the adults twice a week. What do you recomend with and without UVB lighting?

I would stick with that schedule you are using with or without the bulb. I have never used the t-rex calcium though, so the vit. a could be of concern depending on how many I.U.'s it contains. As long as it's 30,000 I.U./kilo or less you are fine for daily usage.
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Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

label reads per 100g

calcium 38.5% max
calcium 34.5% min

vitamin A 36,000IU
vitamin D3 33,600IU
vitamin C 235mg

Our vet thought it was fine. Is there a concern about vitamin A?

Just so you know, UVB actually kills plants in high levels, so plant grow lights will not contain UVB at any detectable level. It can be difficult to get the proper level of D3 in your dragon without UVB lighting, which can lead to MBD in dragons. It is better to use UVB lights and supplements, the UVB can't hurt and can only help.
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i e-mailed verilux once about their growth bulbs.. they contian 1% uvb...thats it... they are great to use as extra fluorescents...i use them in my wd cages along with uvb tubes.. i wouldn't recommend using them alone with beardies ... but with tropical lizards or things with less uvb requirements growth bulbs along with proper d3 supplimentation would be sufficent...i just don't trust myself to always remember to suppliment and use uvb tubes as a security blanket.