Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i work at a pet store and we just got in these drops wich supposidly give animals uvb vitamin d well i was wondering if anyone has heard of these they are made by trex all advice on this product is appreciated because it seems to good to be tru

for some reason, i doubt it.

im not a scientist, so i guess it could be possible, but even if it is real... why use it? it seems sorta lazy, and i doubt the lizzards would prefer to take a couple drops instead of basking in the sunshine.

i just looked it up, are you talking about 'solar drops'? i've seen it before, and i never bought into it. even if it does deliver some uvb, it's just not natural, and i feel animals deserve a good life that simulates nature as best as possible. the first line on the package states that it eliminates those costly uvb lights. the next item in the pet trade: "legless dragons, eliminates the need for those costly cages"

since i work at a pet store they have started useing this product on the reptiles and we get some animals in that are in bad shape and honstly i have seen some improvement it might be just a coinsodence (howver you spell it) but i am goin to keep my eye on the ones we use them onand the ones we dont i dont think it would only cost 10 bucks because a uvb bulb runs around 30 so why would this be so cheap if its just as good

Hey guys,
The drops arent supplying UVB (that is impossible, since that is a wavelength of light, not a substance). What they are supplying is the vitamins that UVB allows dragons to synthesize, namely vitamin D. This vitamin better allows them to process calcium. It is the same as giving them a D supplement, which would eliminate the need for a UVB light if the supplement provided enough D. However, the light is necessary for them to acheive full color, so it would be a kind of trade off.

i've seen plenty of reptiles supplemented with D3 regularly, and the owners had assumed it didn't need UVB, and in a couple years the animal is suffering from terrible MBD
nothing replaces nature, ever. even with the lights i still make sure all of my animals get outside to bask in real sunlight whenever the whether permits.

Hi there,
Just wanted to clarify my post (they never come across as clearly as you would hope). I wasn't advocating the replacement of UVB lights with these drops. I was simply explaining what they do, in relation to what a UVB light does. I dont think that a liquid supplement could ever properly supply vitamin D to a lizard, and i certainly dont think UVB lights should be replaced. I have however heard of people that claim their dragons do fine without UVB and with proper supplementation. I cant say it is true, and I would never advocate that practice. No where in my post did I say that the drops were a definite replacement for UVB lighting.

I have been meeting to post what I know about UV lights on this forum. I rarely see the entire picture being broadcasted, but plenty of misinformation.

In support of another poster, this particular product does not in any way provide ultraviolet light. I would assume that it only supplies vitamin D. It is certainly essential, but not the best way to provide vitamin D. The problem with artificially supplementing captive diets with vitamin D, is that it is very easy to overdose on vitamin D. When you factor in most people's tendency to think that if a little bit is good, then more is better, you can understand why artificial vitamin D is not something to play around with.

First of all, I have to say that anyone who complains about the cost of ultraviolet lighting doesn't have any business keeping a live animal. People complain about a $30 light fixture when a single visit to a veterinarian will easily run more than $100. Let's not forget that ALL animals WILL get sick, most problems with captive amphibians and reptiles are directly the result of improper husbandry, and most of these problems can only be corrected by a veterinarian. No amount of pleading on these forums for home remedies will negate the need to lay down some bills at a veterinarian. Period.

With that out of the way, I am going to get right to the point. Mercury vapor bulbs are the only way to fly nowadays. If the sun puts out about 300 µW of UVB at noon, and these fluorescent light bulbs are at best putting out 15 or 20 µW, I can't think of any good reasons to recommend a fluorescent UV bulb. Zoo med claims in all of its ads that it can support its claims with a study done on their bulbs. I requested this supporting information and to be honest with you, it was a joke by scientific standards.

Mercury vapor bulbs are the best, why? Because they can put out the 300 µW of UVB that the sun puts out. Or is only one problem, almost all of the Mercury vapor bulbs on the market today are also worthless, why? Because they are self ballasted. In short, the ballast of the Mercury vapor bulb is essential to providing the proper voltage to the bulb. If this ballast is contained within the bulb itself, the heat produced by the bulb ultimately cooks the ballast. This problem is compounded with some of the 250 W Mercury vapor bulbs, 500° at the core of the bulb fries the ballast that much quicker! This is why you hear so many bad things about the self ballasted Mercury vapor bulbs only lasting a few months.

What is the solution? ReptileUV.com and their extern only ballasted Mercury vapor bulbs. I have absolutely no affiliation with this company, I only believe strongly in their products and appreciate their customer service. I am formerly a curator of amphibians and reptiles with a collection of 200 plus and had to equip exhibits in a new $23 million building. The externally ballasted bulbs were essential to making these exhibits work, and I would not have been able to provide all of the turtles in these exhibits with the proper UVB without them. The advantage to this system is that the ballast will essentially last for a much longer time and when the bulb burns out, you do not have to replace the ballast. In the long run it will be much cheaper to use this system. Almost all of the systems I installed over a year ago are still running. I recently checked the output of the bulbs with a UVB meter, and they are still putting out at least as much as the natural sun!

You are going to look at about $75 for a ballast and bulb. This still cost less than a trip to the veterinarian.

The Mega-Ray products on this web site are the ONLY UV bulbs I recommend and should be the only ones recommended on these forums, anything else and you are just wasting your money and not providing your pets with the best possible care. I honestly can't believe why this product isn't brought up more often especially on this forum.

Here is a direct link to the products I speak of...
http://www.reptileuv.com/megarayflood.htm

And an in-depth article that should be referenced anytime someone has a question about UVB...
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/guidetolighting.htm

-----
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

i never heard of this company, but i'll look into it soon.

no matter what, i always recommend to ANYONE that on any warm day, their animals are taken outside. even if only for 20 minutes, they'll get more uvb than 12 hours under a light (altho i wouldn't take their light away either). especially true for turtles, bring out a plastic tank with some water in it for a half hour, keep an eye on them and let them just bask in NATURE. nothing man made can compare to what nature makes

>>i never heard of this company, but i'll look into it soon.
>>
>>no matter what, i always recommend to ANYONE that on any warm day, their animals are taken outside. even if only for 20 minutes, they'll get more uvb than 12 hours under a light (altho i wouldn't take their light away either). especially true for turtles, bring out a plastic tank with some water in it for a half hour, keep an eye on them and let them just bask in NATURE. nothing man made can compare to what nature makes
-----
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)