You are never going to get UVB readings on a single lamp that will match the unobstructed summer sun ( in most latitudes ), unless the meter or it's use is faulty. The page I posted on UVB outputs above will show that. Any lamp that could...I wouldn't use in my house. It is also common knowledge that fluorescent tubes are inferior, and junk in my opinion for most uses.

7.0, 10.0, 10%, etc....these numbers mean absolutely nothing as to the quality or strength of the UVB output, unless you know it's complete output power across the spectrum. It could be a 50% UVB bulb, meaning it radiates 50% of it's energy output in the UVB range...but if it's total radiated output is only 1 nanowatt, for example, then it wouldn't matter if it were a 100% UVB bulb! It would still be useless.

That's why mercury vapors are much better, but still not as good as natural unfiltered sunlight. An outdoor habitat is great, just so long as the caging material is not solid and does not attenuate, or block the UV.

Outdoorsman, have you checked UVB readings inside the cage?


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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246

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