General Care Discussion :: UV Bulb Question

[Cidghoul]

Is the ESU 20w Super UV Coil Lamp enough Uv for two 3inch RES?
(alt+p)

[pumpkinsherbet]

i just bought that. it makes for a very poor heat source, but for uvb it seems to be doing okay.

[marisa]

Any conventional UVB light will not give off enough heat by itself. A second light/a heat source is also needed to warm the basking area temp to 88-90F (it can be a regular lightbulb).

[SpotsMama]

That ESU bulb which advertises that it provides "optimal" levels of UV actually only provides 3% UVB. The minimum normally recommended for a RES is 5%. 3% is really low. Maybe it's enough for a lizard.

Here a link on the %:

http://www3.shopping.com/xPC-Esu-Reptil ... google.com

And yeah, you'll need an additional bulb for heat.

[Cidghoul]

Can anyone recomend a screw in UVA & UVB bulb that has the proper amount of both?

[Rickiew04]

Reptisun compact flourescent 5.0 or 10.0 are very good bulbs. There are also Reptiglo compact flourescent 5.0 or 10.0. These bulbs still are not a good source of heat.

[N4784N R4613]

Can anyone recomend a screw in UVA & UVB bulb that has the proper amount of both?

If your tank is 55 gallons or over you can get a MVB that dose everything in one bulb, UVA, UVB, and heat. Here is the one I use...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 006+113030

[marisa]

The ESU coil light for desert reptiles, I think provides 7% UVB as opposed to the one above.

Reptisuns, especially the tubes, are considered to be more reputable, and if you have a choice, it would be better to get one of them. UVB lights also give off UVA rays.

[pumpkinsherbet]

$44 wow, that's really not all that bad.

i checked the package for my bulb. it just says optimal uva/uvb output for basking reptiles. it doesn't say how much. i'll assume it's the 3%. i do have a couple of questions:

they get about 3 hrs of the uvb/day. occasionally i close the store and am unable to switch the bulbs, so about 3 out of 7 days they don't get it. it'll be like that for a couple weeks. is that okay?
there's about 7" of the tank that gets direct sunlight for about 2 hours a day, will that help? i do monitor temps and it doesn't overheat.

[Starchick]

You can get the reptisun 5.0 on reptiledirect.com for 19.99, and the last time I was at petsmart they had something called Reptiglo 5.0 which was a regular screw-in coil lamp for thirteen dollars. I can't say anything about whether that one's any good but for thirteen bucks it's worth investigating.