Any incandescent bulb is fine for heat (for night time, you want dark light, such as the Nocturnal light by Energy Savers Unlimited or a ceramic heating element). The technology (tungsten filament vs. the gases and coatings used in fluorescents) doesn't produce UVB, and only marginal UVA (which is the wavelengths in between UVB and visible light).
"Full spectrum" is a term used rather loosely. It can mean "produces UVB, UVA, visible light and infrared [the wavelengths longer than those in the spectrum we can see {visible light}]) but the reality is that manufacturers of incandescents are calling their bulbs 'full spectrum' to lull people into thinking they are getting UVB (and thus buying their product) when they are not. Incandescents are fine to use alone for herps that don't require UVB (all snakes, nocturnal lizards, diurnal lizards from more northerly climes or temperate climes who do well with minimal UVB obtained from occasional exposure to natural sun when handled outside the enclosure, amphibians), but must be used in conjunction with a UVB-producing fluorescent (not all fluorescents produce UVB or enough of it to do any good) for the remaining diurnal lizards and all chelonians.
What's the difference between a WIDE Spectrum and a FULL Spectrum light?
Ahhhh....welcome to the Madison Avenue and the non-regulated pet product industry where accuracy never gets in the way of making product claims! Because there are no truth-in-advertising regulations covering pet products, manufactures can be as misleading as they like. Like the 'iguana approved' reptile bark and litter products: keep your iguana on them and your iguana will be facing impactions, surgery, even death.
It used to be that 'full spectrum' lighting meant lights which produced both ultraviolet B, ultraviolet A and the full visible spectrum as well infrared heat. Once incandescent manufacturers figured out that people were being told to look for 'full spectrum' lighting, they started to market their wide spectrum (producing some, but not all of the visible wavelengths and no ultraviolet wavelengths) lights with 'full spectrum' in the ads and on packaging. Thus people are buying Chromalux, NeoWhite and Reptile incandescent lights thought, incorrectly, that they are providing UVB, UVA and full visible wavelengths to their reptiles. In fact, incandescents are just producing, if they are putting out bright white light, only the visible spectrum; some which produce colored light, are not necessarily even producing the full visible spectrum, being corrected to increase or reduce certain parts of that spectrum.
Fluorescent light manufacturers weren't slow to get on this bandwagon, either - unfortunately, not all fluorescents produce UVB wavelengths, either...
So, what lights do produce UVB?
Blacklights( BL Blacklights; not blue or black incandescent light bulbs*) DayCycle (TetraTerrafaun) Iguana Light and Reptile Light (Zoomed) Lumichrome 1XX Full Spectrum Flourescent Plus Repti-Glo (Hagen) Reptile Daylight (Fluorescent; by ESU)# Reptile-D Light (National Biological)+ VitaLite (Fluorescent tubes, not compacts; Durotest) # Iguana owners have been reporting onset of MBD within ~6 months of using ESU's UVB tube despite proper diet and vitamin and calcium supplementation, and who had not before exhibited any signs of metabolic bone disease. If you cannot assure that your iguana is getting copious amounts of direct sun during most of the year, you may wish to use another UVB fluorescent, even if you have to mail order it.
* BLB lights have been reported to cause eye diseases and should be avoided.
+ Lights producing more than 5% UVB carry warnings on them relating to damage to human eyes. I've been unable to track down my reference on this (supposedly from OSHA regs, but folks I've talked to at OSHA can't find it) and the more I dig into UV lighting "specs" the more murk I find. According to an "independent" analysis ZooMed had done, the Reptile-D light does not in fact produce 5% UVB, it produces slightly less than the ZooMed 5.0 light (4.84 vs 5.02). What is interesting is ZooMed's fact sheet that states "It is Zoo Med's opinion that UVB bulbs that exceed 5% total energy output should not be sold [to] the general public." (emphasis theirs) So, on the one hand, they "prove" that their light is better than the Reptile-D light because it produces more UVB, but at the same time theirs exceeds (true, by a very slight amount) their own safety recommendations. They also go on to say that, "just as you would not stare at the sun, never stare for any length of time directly within 12" of a UVB bulb."
Observations in studies on vitamin D3 indicate that very high output bulbs may cause metabolic bone disease, the very condition one is trying to avoid through the use of UVB lighting, by causing a sort of overdose of systemic D3. If you are going to use these high output bulbs, have your reptile's blood and eyes checked regularly.
Copyright Melissa Kaplan
| Red Eared Slider Housing | Home | Picture Gallery | Caresheet for water turtles | Red Eared Slider Links | Basic supplies | My Turtles |
© 1998, 1999
Created by Derek Hall
