Habitat - Indoor :: Lighting Question

[Fiehumbuggery]

I've read the lighting section of the site and the sticky, but there are so many different lamp and bulb options that it's simply overwhelming me.

My main question, I suppose, would be are there any UVB and heating bulbs that can be used with a regular lamp fixture? At the moment, I have a lamp which has three bulbs and you can adjust their directions. The bulbs can be up to 60 watts. The ideal option would be to replace one or two of those bulbs so that my turtle's basking needs are fulfilled. Apparently the only bulbs that fulfill UVA, UVB, and heat requirements all in one are expensive and high wattage, so I'll need recommendations for both a UVB and heat I believe.

If bulbs for use with regular fixtures don't exist, can someone recommend a cheap, but good quality lamp (and bulbs for it)?

[SpotsMama]

You can get perfectly suitable clamp light fixtures at stores like Lowes and Home Depot for very little expense that can handle upwards of 100 watts.

What size tank do you have? I ask because the bulbs that can handle UVA, UVB and heat (mercury vapor bulbs or MVBs) are only recommended for tanks that are 50 gallons or larger.

In a two bulb setup, any household incandescent bulb will do for heat - most use 60 or 75 watt bulbs. For the UVB/UVA bulb, a good one is an Exo Terra Repti Glo 26 watt 5.0 compact fluorescent. You can get good prices shopping on-line but watch out for shipping.

[Fiehumbuggery]

It's about a one and a half inch turtle (I'm awful with estimating). At the moment it's a 5 gal tank, long type not cube.

Bare bottom for easier cleaning
Floating basking area
Minimal decorations to maximize swimming area
An arch cave thing if it wants to hide
Submersible heater

5 gal is not big enough, I know, so please no "I can't believe you'd do that to the poor thing!!11!1!1" posts. I'm in the process of looking for a larger aquarium or makeshift home for it, but it should be fine for now with frequent water cleaning and changes. I'll be looking at possible containers next time I'm out and about.

We have no pet store here in my tiny town so I'm having a hard time finding a suitable tank that I can afford. Used tanks I've seen for sale online are all pickup only and way too far to drive. Trying to look into stock tanks and big plastic boxes that could possibly be used.

Anyway, about the lamp, since the turtle's housing situation will change soon, whatever I buy has to be adaptable to the next setup, the bulbs movable to another shorter lamp if needed, etc. Some of the bulbs I see require ceramic fixtures or something like that. Is that special or normal to find in higher wattage lamps? I know next to nothing about lamps...eheh.

As for the fluorescent light you mentioned, most of the ones I've seen are really long, even the ones labeled compact. But I looked into the Repti Glo you mentioned and saw that it's one of the "swirly" bulbs, which should work out nicely. I found Repti Glo 5.0 Compact Tropical Lamp - 26 watt and Repti Glo 5.0 Compact Tropical Lamp - 13 watt. Both are 5.0, as you see, but how much of a difference would wattage make?

[octpusgirl8]

Lighting can be one of the more confusing aspects of turtle care. It seems like you've got a pretty good understanding of it so far. Get the 26 watt 5.0 UVB, the lower wattage doesn't put out enough UVB rays. You won't need a ceramic socket for that or for the incadecent bulb you'll need for heat. They sell special "basking" bulbs, but they're much more expensive than a regular old lightbulb, and don't have any special benefits. If you want to go with a mercury vapor bulb later, when you have a larger tank, you'll need a ceramic socket, but no need to worry about that now.