Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are coiled bulbs not good for fillies?
I'm running a 5.0 UVB 26W coil bulb.. is this a problem??

Now this is just my opinion. I dont like them, and usually dont use them with any of my reptiles. They concentrate too much uv into one area, so most of the time, the reptile is either getting too much and its causing damage to the skin, or its getting too little and not digesting the calcium and vitamin D3 properly. If you have a small cage and a small reptile, like one of those exoterra 18x18x18 its alright.

"My enclosure is quite large, 48H x 30W (its a corner unit).
I'm running a 100W black light heat bulb 24 hours. Is this a problem for him at night? It doesn't give off much light. Also I'm running a 5.0 UVB for 10-12 hours a day."

Yours is on the larger size, so I would definitly recommend against the coiled bulb.

Also Ive heard many negative things firsthand from other reptile owners. Many people have told me that these bulbs cause their reptiles to go blind and severely damage the skin.

This website tell you all about uv lights.

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/compactlamps.htm

If you scroll to the bottom of the page about those coiled lights where it says "Using the compact lamp in the vivarium" it repeats what I said and gives a warning in red about the intensity of these bulbs.

yeah I've noticed the bulb is extremely bright and even damages my eyes. I think I'm going to switch to a tube light asap. Although it might be hard to do with him in the tank and all jittery.

I'll tell you what works for my frillies:

In each 38W x 18D X 48H cage, I have 3x Exoterra 26W 10.0 CF in an Exoterra CF hood and a 100W Megaray SB MV. I've measured the light with a Solartech UVB meter and it's in the range of 30-40uW/cm2 in the areas where they bask. I think the UVB levels are a little low if anything.

I did have the problem with the Zoomed 10.0 bulbs: 2 frillies got painful swollen eyelids. These were the dangerously high (500-800uW/cm2 UVB at 12" bulbs that everyone was warning about.

I can tell you that the Exoterra bulbs are safe (they put out 20-50uW/cm2 at 12" and don't have the UVC that was causing the problem with the Zoomed bulbs.

I used to use tubes, but I prefer the CF's as I can get a brighter more natural light and my frillies seem to be getting enough UVB (growing well, no shaking, kinked tails, or other signs of MBD). They are also more active and appear happier then when I used tubes.

This is just my opinion ... you'll have to make up your own mind.

i recommend 2 different lights that my frilly enjoys.

1)T-Rex 160Watt powersun uvb/heat bulb
2)reptisun 10.0 florescent style.

because my frillys light went out with the powersun one and i switched to a coil bulb and he didnt like that at all. plus i was told u should have ur frilly at least 6" from the bulb from it to be getting any uvb. now i switched to a flourescent style 24" to be exact. and hes loving it. i am using a exoterra 18x24x18 with a ceramic heat bulb.