Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Which bulb would you guys say I should buy: Power Sun Bulb from ZooMed or U.V. Active Heat Flood Bulb from T-Rex? thanks

Don't bother with these pet shop heat lights; they are too expensive and poorly made. Just get a heat bulb (60 watts or more) from some other place, like Lowes or Home Depot. I think Wal-Mart has some too. Also, monitors don't need UV light.

Actually some monitors do need UVB bulbs. I would recommend one for ackies or any other desert species of monitor. Especially when they are babies. If they are feeding mainly on crickets it is very important. Larger water monitors and other large types do not really need a UVB bulb, but it will not hurt to have one. Between the 2 you are asking about, I would recommend the Powersun. We have used both and the Powersun has lasted longer. Personally if you want UV and heat, I think it is best to use to seperate bulbs. The Reptisun 5.0 from Zoo Med is one of the best UV bulbs available and lasts 6-8 months. It is also about half the price of the heat/uv bulbs and only uses 15watts or so. You can put this light on a timer to only come on during the day for about 12 hours. Every one will have different opinions, but in the wild they get UVB rays from the sun, so why wouldn't they need them in captivity?

Tony Alles

www.reptileguru.com

Every one will have different opinions, but in the wild they get UVB rays from the sun, so why wouldn't they need them in captivity? Because uvb from a bulb will never equal that of the sun. They need it in the wild because there is no Reptivite or Rep-Cal with vitamin D3 added to their diet. Further more these expensive bulbs don't produce enough uvb to make any difference what so ever to your animal unless its placed with in reach of the the animal. I've never noticed any significant difference in any monitor raised with or without these bulbs but the decision is yours to make.
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James Grigsby - " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

An independant test in Australia proved it with real UV meters, good expensive ones. The average blacklight makes a world more UVB than any reptile light you can buy period, besides they have to be mounted within 3-6 inches of the animal to get any UVB exposure whatsoever. I raise and breed Beardies, I raise a few monitors and have had more than a few, all but a few have never had UV lighting on them and a few get sunlight as long as its above 40f, every 1-3 days outdoors for a hour or more. My beardies do great with no UV lighting. My female beardie lays 21 eggs every 3-4 weeks on schedule like clockwork. I use Miner-all on the beardies and the ackies insects, I use it on the beardies greens, but I dont use any supplements with any of my Albigs as they eat whole rodents and chickens. In fact I help a good friend who has a website called bayoubeasts.com, his wife and him have many many reptiles from all over the world, none have any UV lighting on them period. They have a range from an 8ft gator to over 75 turtles, several monitors from my old timor "Squirt" to argus, albigs, bosc, niles, etc, they have red tegus, blue, false monitor tegu, black and whites, iguanas from a blue caiman/rock cross to a few greens (a big male also), many many snakes, etc etc etc, venomous etc. The point is none of them use UV lighting period, and the 2 incubators are full there (help we need more and bigger incubators!!!), lol. If you provide what they need in the form of a good diet, as well usable temps, usable substrates, etc etc they have the tools to do what they can do and never need UV lighting at all.
I use and so do they, 45-50 watt GE outdoor flood bulbs and phillips indoor 50 watt floods (little bulb in comparison). I get my bulbs from Walmart or from a mail order place 15 at a time. Weve rescued many animals that were kept under UV lighting that had MBD some very very bad with what looked like permanent damage, in a few weeks to months they are back to normal, without UV lighting, just proper living conditions.

The UVB lighting and Vit D3 supplements work together to produce what natural sunlight would be doing. If they do not need UVB then why do you take them outdoors and put them in the sun. Not everyone can take their reptile out daily. Natural sunlight is the best. Also if they have natural sunlight daily and you give them a VIT D3 supplement they can overdose on it. I have seen tons of Beardeds kept without UVB lighting, but still have had Miner ALL and they always have MBD. Yours don't because you take them in the SUN. We also have an incubator filled with Bearded eggs. We have captive produced water monitors, ackies, argus, niles, veileds, and tons of other lizards and snakes. With anything feeding primarily on insects and LIVING INDOORS you should have UVB lighting and a calcium/D3 supplement. If it goes outdoors daily then you do not have to have these things. Obviously natural sunlight is the best thing, but not everyone can provide this daily. Telling them they do not need it is when they might is what leads to people having sick animals.

Tony Alles
www.reptileguru.com

I have never brought any of my monitors outside and none have ever had any thing other than normal flood lights and they are all just fine. If you want to use UV bulbs great, but they are not needed for proper husbandry.

Steve

UVB lighting is a bandaid, my beardies, my ackie, and a few others never see the sun PERIOD, they get all of their vit d3 from their diet, miner-all and live foods. My Albigs are the only animals that see the outdoors, if you read what I posted you wouldnt have brought that up. You may choose to spend a fortune on UV lighting that does nothing but make the company a profit, but what do you think was done before UV lights were sold? They werent used, its called husbandry problems, correct the husbandry, the animal does great.

"The UVB lighting and Vit D3 supplements work together to produce what natural sunlight would be doing. If they do not need UVB then why do you take them outdoors and put them in the sun."
"Not everyone can take their reptile out daily. Natural sunlight is the best. Also if they have natural sunlight daily and you give them a VIT D3 supplement they can overdose on it."
" I have seen tons of Beardeds kept without UVB lighting, but still have had Miner ALL and they always have MBD. Yours don't because you take them in the SUN."
"We also have an incubator filled with Bearded eggs. We have captive produced water monitors, ackies, argus, niles, veileds, and tons of other lizards and snakes. With anything feeding primarily on insects and LIVING INDOORS you should have UVB lighting and a calcium/D3 supplement. If it goes outdoors daily then you do not have to have these things. Obviously natural sunlight is the best thing, but not everyone can provide this daily. Telling them they do not need it is when they might is what leads to people having sick animals. "

Prove it, your comments alone tell me that you dont have any experience with what you claim to, I dont have sick or dieing animals at all and my beardies lay EVERY 3-4 weeks without any UV lighting or the sun like clockwork, they live in my dark basement under GE outdoor flood bulbs of 45 watts only. As I said, prove what you claim, my albigs go outdoors for exercise when I can get them out there, they get all of their needs met by proper husbandry and a proper diet, not by empty claims of magic lightbulbs, that are proven independantly the world over in testing to do nothing but drain your wallet. If your gonna give advice you better do some research and get some experience as your telling somebody who may have a serious husbandry problem that those "magic lights" are a fix-all. Those bulbs are JUNK, they cannot be compared in any way to the sun or help your animal in some magic way. PROVE me wrong, not someone elses claims, not someone elses article, prove it from your experience. I was told with my first monitor over 12 years ago that it will never grow or live to even 6 months old without a magic UV light, ya know that bosc went from 6 inches to 40 inches in one year, he was 54 inches long at 2.5 years old. The hatchling beardie Ive kept is 3 months old and over 15 inches long, no health problems. My female albig is 6ft 2inches at 2.5 years old and no problems, my old timor is over 6 years old and 30 inches (at my friends I gave him to, with no exposure to sun or magic lights), my ackie is doing great with none, my male albig was a result of bad incubation from Rob Faust he was 2 ft long at 2 years old when I got him, hes now over 4ft and 10.5 lbs at 3.5 years old. There are as I said hundreds of reptiles I help care for at Tonys place (bayoubeasts.com, with not UV magic lights). Hmm, I guess since no one ever told them they need them they dont know any better, lol.

First thing, take it easy. We are supposed to be responding to someones question. You are telling me "prove it" when you have proven nothing. You are just saying the opposite of what I am saying. I own a reptile store and have people bring me in reptiles that have not been kept under UVB lighting with MBD. I see this very often. Proper husbandry is the most important. Without proper care every type of reptile would die. If no UVB light is working for you, congratulations, but it does not mean that they do nothing. They obviously put out UVA and UVB which does help with the production of VIT D3, the metabolizing of calcium, reduces stress, and brings out better color. All of this is proven. If you think they are junk then don't use them, but by telling people they don't need them leads to sick reptiles. Maybe you and your freinds take the best care possible of your reptiles, but some people do not. And please don't try to talk down to me to make yourself feel better. I was trying to answer a question and give an opinion on how "I" feel about the use of these lights. I could care less what you do. The original question was "which light is better?" I gave my reccomendation and you pleasured yourself by talking bad about people. Have a nice day. And to the original post of this thread I am sorry that your question turned into this.

A good friend whom I helped for a few years with an exotic reptile shop (specialty pet store) used UV lighting on many animals, but those lights must be mounted within 3 inches of the animal to get any UV radiation exposure at all, and its nowhere near any levels put out by the sun, nor is it near enough (proven by independant testing of all brands of UV lighting in labs worldwide every year) to help produce vit D3, as 280-305 nanometers is what measurement causes the metabolism of vit D2 into D3. One brand of UV lighting came close to that, a common decorative phosphorus blacklight, you can do the research yourself. The proof is in the pudding, as proper husbandry is what is needed for healthy animals. As you said people bring animals in that have MBD and say they use proper husbandry and supplements, yet vets hear the same thing, you cannot diagnose an animal if the customer tells you what he wants you to hear. Ive seen those proper setups and proper temp gradients, most in that position wnat to hear that there is a magic cure all in a decently priced package, not that they need to completely revise their husbandry and keep the animal correctly thats why most herps die so easily in captivity. My husbandry is adequate, not perfect, not ideal, but its good enough to never need magic bandaids, and it allows for constant egg laying of my beardies, which is a good start and a concrete reference to proper husbandry as well the enormous size and blindingly rapid growth of my animals. I mearely pointed out that I dont take any of my animals except my albigs outdoors or expose any to UV lighting as it does nothing for their proper care. Ive also pointed out that some opinions are that it is needed for reptiles to grow or live healthy at all, but as I said, before UV lights were ever available what was used, nothing the animals did just fine without them in captivity and will always do fine without them. Hey ask someone who worked with reptiles in zoos for many many years what they used, they didnt offer UV lighting but thats where almost all species of CBB monitors originated (especially Aussie species), and every beardie in this country descended from common ancestors in German and American zoos, as well many species of snake and turtle. This debate will go on forever as long as UV lights are a money maker for the pet industry. The money spent on UV lights can provide proper husbandry, proper diets, proper caging and not on overpriced lightbulbs every 6 months. Ive seen way too many animals kept under UV lighting that never grew, didnt live long, never reproduced and had MBD, from lack of proper husbandry (ie proper options to use). You may use it and suggest it but prove it is needed you will never do. The debate goes on...