Habitat - Indoor :: clamp lamps

[marisa]

That compact flourescent in the pic looks too far away to be of any real benefit to the turtle.

The tube flourescents have more or less proven themselves over time, the compact flourescents are newer and have had their share of problems. The positioning and distance from the turtle are important for any bulb.

[Muirner]

So how far away should the CF 10.0 be away from the basking area ideally? And how would we know if this was causing an issue in time to prevent it?

[mkoby]

That picture is very deceiving. I read that it needs to be approx. 30cm or 12 inches away. Mine is just over that. I think 14 inches from the top of her head. My bulb is only a week old too so it's not considered "burned in".

[marisa]

Yes, that picture is deceiving---the bulb looks farther away than even the 14" you say it is.

I'm still using one Reptisun 10.0 and it's 10" away from the basking area (and it's in an aluminum reflector). I've posted before: for the Reptisun 5.0, I'd have it 6-8 inches away, for the Reptisun 10.0, I'd have it 10-12 inches away.

I'm not entirely convinced that the eye issues in other threads are because of the bulbs unless they're being positioned so that the turtle is staring at them for extended periods of time. Or, unless some other piece of info about how they're being used is missing; sometimes this only becomes apparent through additional posts.

[mkoby]

I have my bulb on all day and so far so good. It will be closer to 10 inches away once I get my new tank.

Maybe the issue is where the light is clamped. Mine is directly over the basking area but a lot of people have the clamp lamps clamped to the side of the tank. I think that would allow for the turt to have more contact directly with his eyes.

[Muirner]

hmmm, i see what your saying there mkoby. I had mine clipped on the side of the tank, about 1.5' from my basking light, and i assume they coulda looked up into it. Not srue though.