Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using the Zoo Med 100 watt UVB bulbs and on average they have been lasting less than two months. My most recent lasted a whopping two weeks. I checked on beautifuldragons.com and the UVB output of the ESU coil light looks to be pretty good. The manufacturer states a 5000 hour lifetime for the bulb. That means @ 14 hours a day it should last about a year. I'm not sure what the UV output would be by then but if I got 6 good months I would be happy. Are any of you currently using coil lights for your UVB bulbs? How long are they lasting? This trial and error is getting expensive.

Thanks,
Mike

The only ESU's I've seen were only 2.0's in the PetsMart. So, I can't help too much there.
But, have you tried the Zoo-Med Powersuns? They come with a warrantee and will replace them if they burn out. Just make sure to keep all paperwork and send in the warrantee.
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www.classylizard.com

When I built the cages I used plastic fixtures. The powersuns can't be used unless you have a ceramic fixture. (According to the manufacturer) This may not be the actual case. I am afraid they may get too hot. The ESU 20 watt is half the price at $18 per bulb and according to the study on Beautifuldragons.com they produce a much higher UVB than the powersun 100 watt.

Mike

One thing to remember is the age on the bulb, like on veronicaj study the ESU is just out of the box with a 50 uW/cm2 reading at 9 inches, but then most really drop quiet a bit in 24-48 hours.

When we tested the ESU one week later, it was 38 @ 9 inches. So at one week old it was comparable to most of the powersuns we tested that were 6 months old, many of the ReptiSuns at 3-5 months old and the Exo Terra at 6 months old, all at 9 inches.

Also look at the output 3 more inches added, there is where there is a huge difference, the ESU was 13 at 12 inches, a week old. At six months the PowerSuns were mostly in the 30's, the Repti-glo (6 months) was 24 and the T-rex at 6 months was 32/55 (it has two readings, directly under the light and slightly angled at 30 degrees). Flood diminish as you go out to the side of the lamp, t-rex spot increases once they are aged.

T-Rex bulbs or Active UV heat spots are very different from the other types and their floods and I do not think anyone unless they have a meter and are very knowledgable on them, should use one on a bearded dragons, and then only in a large enclosure.

A T-Rex or Active UV heat SPOT light can scare ya reading it out of the box, but it levels and drops into a steady range in 24- 48 hours so should not be set up on an animal until it has ran a few days. At 9 inches out of the box on a 100 watt spot bulb the reading was 403/55, but in a few days they drop to 1/4th that and they should be 18 inches away from the animal anyway, with that you get readings that are 90's - mid 100's.

So look at the age, the only ESU I know that anyone tested that was 6 months, was not tested earlier and had a 1 reading at 12 inches, 3 at 9 inches, so we really can not say if that was a bad bulb, the life was over of it as it had diminished to that or what.
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www.reptilerooms.com

of a Powersun at 12 inches and 1/2 the amount of an 8.0 Repti-glo at 1 week of use age.

We took it off the dragon at that point and have not used it since we changed most over to MV.

It does have a UVB output, and not really bad considering the price, but at this time, no one has any solid studies on how much is enough or what is too much.

My personal opinion is that as long as they have some UBV, a good diet rich in greens/pellets and good supplements with D3 a few times a week, they appear to thrive well and not have MBD problems and I have never seen one that overdosed on UBV or D3 with that routine.

We have checked bearded dragons ranging from a few months old to 6 years old under a variety of condition, with bone densities test and blood test . All that were under some type of UVB, either occassional sunlight, MV, tubes, the best output or the lower quality ones, as long as the diet was well, temps right and they had regular supplements, grew and thrived fairly well.

The only ones that failed to thrive with others their same clutches or parentage background where dragons that missed or lacked one of those needs.

Its not what is the best of one thing, but a combination of UVB, supplements, good diet, heat and light intensity.

The mercury vapors I do think makes them more active and colorful, maybe even better eaters, but we do not see a difference in the over all health of a dragon raised steady on them or the tubes. We have seen a difference in dragons raised only on supplements and not exposed to any UVB, mostly in growth and eating.

2 years ago we had a big problem with the Power Suns burning out, but the company is good at replacing them, we use surge protector or monitor to watch what is happening with that, keep them level and do not touch with your hands where oils can get on them.
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www.reptilerooms.com

I guess I need to read your study a little deeper. I need to master this science of creating 600 gram females.

Mike