Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay... so my uromastyx's cage is going to have an 18" florescent fixture in it. Is there any difference between Exoterra's Repti-glo and Zoomed's Repti-sun (is one better?) Should I use a 5.0 or an 8.0?

And, how often do I supplement with vitamin D3 (and how much of it) with either bulb? Do people generally change the dose dependent on how much uvb is coming from the bulbs, or just stick to a "light dusting every X# of days" just to sort of cover all bases?

I'm fairly new to the world of diurnal reptiles, so any advice is appreciated.

Dawn

(oh, one more random q'tion.... when you buy washed playsand, do you generally trust that it's actually washed, or do you wash it again yourself?)

you are going to get a few different answers here. I personally use the 8.0 bulb becuase it is specifically for desert animals. I supplement every 3-4 days and always have dry food out with calcium on it, so when he eats that he gets his calcium. I bought my washed playsand from home depot and i didn't wash it again.
Good luck!
Lauren

-----
Lauren
Rico-Saharan Uromastyx
New Jersey

well i use the repti sun 5.0, from all the articles i read, the repti-sun 5.0 is believe to produce the greatest amount of uvb, but you can get away with using the 8.0 exterra, or maybe a esu desert 7% uvb, as long as they are getting uvb is fine, and also is you feeding your uro vitiamin supplement that is more than enough to make them healthy, i feed my uro 3 to 4 times a week with miner-al supplement, i also have repti-cal, so its your choice good luck