Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello.

I'm a radiant heat panel user but I'm considering using a high-watt UV/Heat bulb for my tegu. I don't know much anout them other than some people are using T-Rex UV Heat while others like the Mercury Vapor bulbs.

What's your opinion on the best bulb to get?

Thanks!

Bill

I also want a nice, hot basking area of 110 degrees or so. I plan to mount the bulb inside a 72" slanted Neodesha cage. Can I get a hot basking area about 18" wide with any of these flood bulbs?

Bill

lots of people at the BD forum use those bulbs, ask there.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

At our store, we tested the bulbs with a UVB meter to find this exact rating. Unfortunatelly we did tests at 12" which is the standard height but it should still give you a good idea. The minimum benefitial UVB output at 12" should read 10 (20 for a dragon I would say) microwatts per cm squared. The T-rex bulb came out with 130 (WOW!) mCM^2 though dropped slowly down to roughly 80 after about 5 minutes. The Powersun from Zoo Med read 60 but stayed constant the entire 20 or so minutes we ran it. These were the highest output bulbs we have tested including any of the flourescent bulbs. The spot bulb from T rex should do you nicely (try the 160w perhaps).

Interesting tests. Have you noticed benefits from using the UV/Heat bulbs over other types of bulbs?

B.

I just went there and saw some threads about the same thing. Thanks for the tip!

Bill

There is nothing as close to natural sunlight as the UV heat bulbs from T Rex and the Powersun bulbs from Zoo Med from my experience. All the flourescent lights that we tested no matter how good topped out at 22 at roughly 12". The two bulbs mentioned above put out those kind of readings at nearly 3 times the distance. It is also true that these will last almost twice as long as a normal UV light which is usually worthless after 6 months (some even less!). Also, to our surprise, some bulb manufacturers flat out LIED as their bulbs put out NO benefitial UVB whatsoever. I have yet to see a lizard with MBD that has been under one of these bulbs.

Any idea how warm a basking area I'd get at 22" or so? The cage would be in room temperature (70).

B.

I would say roughly 100-110 with a 160w spot bulb. If it is too hot, I would go with the 160 flood. Zoo Med's Powersun bulbs dont come in flood only so if you want it hot get the Trex spot.