Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do monitors need uvb bulbs? I currently and using one for my savanna as well as a florecent for general light and a 100w basking bulb. I read somewhere on these forums that they do not need it and the other day i read in a lizard owning book and the bookstore that "to much" uvb can cause problems with swolen eyes in some monitors. My Savanna has pretty much always had a small problem with her eyes that comes and goes. Sometimes they get red or puffy and she itches them alot. I did take her to the vet when i first noticed the problem and he perscribed eye drops that we use whenever it seems to bother her but it never compleatly went away. Any ideas?

for UVB, some use it and some don't -- age old argument!

As far as the itchy eyes, is it dusty in its cage. I have used different types of substrate in small cages that were dusty. The dust could cause problems with monitors and their eyes.

If the substrate is not dusty, then others will have other ideas.
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Ed

There are chameleons, pythons, and monitors in my jungle room.

The substrate I use is called Naturebark and is made from the bark of fir trees. We switched to this from a very fine sand. When we had the sand her eyes were always REALLY bad and thats why we switched, she does seem to be doing alot better with the bark but perhaps its not the best thing for her. Any suggestions?

I used a UVB and UVA for my savannah. I also used a mercury light for a while. I don't see how the UVB can hurt if it's a gorwing lizard, after all, any thing that helps development is good. I dunno, either or will work

The question is not do they need some UV light, its whether the source of that UV is suitable, common sense really, a clear lense halogen floodlight produces more than enough needed UV, and more than any overpriced, frosted lense reptile light. The real test, look at a real UV bulb, made for sterilizing etc, they are clear lense, and they have a warning, "do not look directly at the light", also there is a bead of mercury or some other metal inside floating, kinda like many $2 blacklights. If you want to spend the money of those bulbs go right ahead, I spend it on bigger/better cages, better food sources, etc.

Switch him/her off the fir bark and onto Cypress Mulch or dirt... I'll almost guarentee the itchy eyes go away... Fir's are related to Pines and evergreens. All of them secrete volatile oils the same as cedar only to a lesser degree... and cedar is toxic to reptiles... If you don't want to use dirt.. use Cypress Mulch.. its pretty much inert.. and I kept my Sav on it for a year before switching to a mix of dirt and cypress mulch...
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

ok I will most likly switch to cyress mulch this weekend. Any ideas where i could get it? As for the UVB, have we basically decided that its a matter of personal preferance? Should I just stick with what I have for now?
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Rydair

1 Savanna Monitor
1 Painted Turtal
1 Red Eared Slider
1 Hampster
2 Parakeets
2 Lepard Geckos
1 African Clawed Frog
12 assorted fish
1 Cat
coming soon: 1 baby sugar glider
all in the bedroom of a 17 year old girl

Cypress Mulch you can usually find in the Home/garden center of Walmart, Kmart.. Home depot.. etc etc...any of those kind of places... as for UV... I wouldn't bother... as a matter of fact I've never bothered with any of my animals...Utterly a waste of money in my mind. No mere bulb can accurately recreate the conditions true sunlight will...but the cheaper bulbs will produce more than enough usable spectrum UV by themselves as SHvar said...
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"