Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In other words, is one hour of sunlight the same as, or better than, an hour of indoor UVB lighting? If the tort is outside for 6-8 hours, would I still need to provide additional UVB once it's back inside? And is there such a thing as too much UVB?

Thanks once more!
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake (Rex)
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Isaiah and Esther)
2.0 DSH Cats (Amos and Silas)
1.0 English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
2.0 Juvenile Homo Sapiens (Riley and Noah)

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This is a link to the Wild inside web page. They make one of the strongest UVB/A and this page shows some tables comparing their light to other brands' lights and natural sunlight.
Link

This link is from the same page
Link

While the links above give tons of numbers and measurements, this article makes better sense of it.
Link

nm

I don't like using the artificial lighting any more than
I have to in the winter, because I'm still
leary of the neg. effect on the eyes. If your tort gets outside
most of they day, that's plenty of sunshine "tanked up".

I've read that 15 minutes of sunshine is equivalent to
8 hours under a tube UV light (the mercury based ones are
certainly more powerful, but not comparable to sun).
Plus I don't like to waste the mercury light any more than
I need to so it's put away for now. As finicky as the
Active UV lights can be, I'll probably be looking at the
new stuff in the fall.

That's really my concern--not overdoing the mercury bulb, but providing enough heat. Or can I get away with just using an UTH for the inside time (providing 6-8 hrs. outside basking time is available)--does the heat always have to come from above?

Thanks
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake (Rex)
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Isaiah and Esther)
2.0 DSH Cats (Amos and Silas)
1.0 English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
2.0 Juvenile Homo Sapiens (Riley and Noah)

I've got 3 regular bulbs and 1 Mercury light all on seperate
switches that can be turned on/off as desired. If you just
want to give them some additional heat for a few more hours
I'd have a regular bulb (doesn't have to be a silly $10 reptile
bulb, a regular soft white light bulb is fine) as well
as the mercury. I don't use my mercury light at all in
the summer, I read somewhere that they (reptiles) can
store/process what they are getting from the sun for up
to 3 days after exposure, so even if it rained for a day
or two straight, I don't worry about providing the UV.
Remember that the artificial lights provide such a small
amount compared to the sun. And I'm still not confident
that the light isn't harmful to their eyes, I know I
don't like to be around it too much. Ideally I woulnd't
have to use the thing at all, but for some winter months
I just do.

for totoises, I remember Graham in England was talking about
this and it made a lot of sense. Torts often get dirty
underneath their shell (poop and stuff) and having them lay down
on a heat source almost bakes this bacteria into them.
I had never thought about that, but I think that's true, in
nature heat's not coming from below - in order to escape heat
animals dig - how weird and unnatural is it if they dig and
there's even more heat! I know they like basking on rocks
and roads but they've probably not got any poop on them like
ours in a confined space will get into.

I plan on using a mercury bulb in the winter and then probably a regular light and/or a CHE for the summer, since I'll have the tort outside as much as possible. I actually planned to keep the UTH at about 70-75 degrees, just to make sure the cool side didn't drop too low at night. Even though I'm in CA, our night temps in the house can go as low as 65 in the summer, and down to about 58 in the winter.

Anyway, thanks for the help!
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Jeannie

0.0.1 California King Snake (Rex)
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Isaiah and Esther)
2.0 DSH Cats (Amos and Silas)
1.0 English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
2.0 Juvenile Homo Sapiens (Riley and Noah)

np

I have always wondered if it was bad on turtle's eyes. I had thought about using some of the expensive lighting for marine fish but I was afraid of 'blinding' my mud turtles!

In Melissa Kaplan's article (link in an post further up)j
near the middle there's some quotes and discussion on the
safety of the mercury bulbs around humans (eyes), and she
states that no long term study has been done on the effect
of these bulbs on reptile.