daylight compact coil bulb questions???

Hi I've ben looking thure a loght of post here sence deciding to get a cham and have ben verry gratefull to find you guys.. but on that note I must ask that ONLY the EXPERT KEEPERS answer this question I have.. I read in a post here that compact coil bulbs can make a cham go blind or die.. I have a daylight compact coil bulb 64000k and was wondering if this will harm my cham or should I change it out before I get him? thanks for your answers and understanding Y I need the expert keepers to answer this..

you have a coil 6400K? That is a plant grow light correct? What will you be using for uvb source?. The coil 5.0 uvb's are fine. They will not cause blindness. That was long ago and the problem has long been resolved. I know of the 6500K tube lights people use for plant growth but do not know anything of the 6400K coil..

UV Readings off CFL bulbs VS. Ho T5 Bulbs... and other stuff!

rickiemillican said:

Hi I've ben looking thure a loght of post here sence deciding to get a cham and have ben verry gratefull to find you guys.. but on that note I must ask that ONLY the EXPERT KEEPERS answer this question I have.. I read in a post here that compact coil bulbs can make a cham go blind or die.. I have a daylight compact coil bulb 64000k and was wondering if this will harm my cham or should I change it out before I get him? thanks for your answers and understanding Y I need the expert keepers to answer this..

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If you are using a CFL bulb (compact coil) that is a "day-light" bulb ,
(like the fantastic color rendering " Indoor sunshine™" CFLs), they do not emitt UV -
so nope .. no blindness there!

As far as I am aware, ALL the Brands of UV B CfLS that had the issue(s) that resulted in eye issues and sking burns A FEW YEARS BACK... have been fixed!!
CAUTION: There could still be some *old* store stock on the shelves of some Pet Store out there somewhere taht you could still buy and still have issues.

If you stick to Rept Sun 5.0 & their *NEW* 10.0 CFLs, you will be OK as far as any blindness issue is concerned.

Here is another BIG 'BUT"...

BUT CFLS are not the best way -- no matter what kind they are --- to provide UV B to any enclosure with any size to it.
They do not project UVB very well at all and there are much better options!

Here are some pics of testing of CFLS I did a few months back.

As you can see, they are not too powerful Once you get about a foot or farther away.

It is better to use a linear T8 Flo tube with a Repti Sun 5.0 flo. bulb an Arcadia 6% in it.

Full Disclosure:
I sell BOTH ReptiSun and Arcadia - but I like Arcadia Better.
because of MANY reasons.
I refuse to sell Exo Terra / Repti-Glo UV bulbs.
I also refuse to sell any Zilla UV products.

NOW THERE IS SOMETHING EVEN BETTER!:
The New HO t5 bulbs and an HO t5 fixtures.
"HO" Means "High Out-put" and these high tech fixtures have more powerful electronic ballasts and take the skinny special more pwerful Flo. Bulbs.
This is the best solution for larger cages and free range set-ups.
The HO fixtures and High Out-put bulbs have come down in price and actually can cost the same as using an older style t8 reg. fixtures!!!

Thank you!
Todd
[email protected]

Click on below pics to enlarge.
And so you can see the readings of the CFL bulbs and then compare to the HO t5 Readings.
This gives you an idea of just how FAR of a spread there is in what you can buy for UV light.
It is very important that this is understood.
All 5.0's 6.0's 10.0's 12.0's etc etc ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL!
Because you can be using a UV bulb that is NOT STRONG ENOUGH (like a CFL bulb) on a large cage and still end up getting MBD.
Cheers.

ps.
PLEASE Click on below pics to enlarge.

Ya im not a fan of the compacts, but i know people that get along just fine with them. But the reflector is matte aluminum, and they are coiled so most of the light is not directed to the cage, its all reflected light. As others stated the uv problem was just from the first run bulbs over 4 years ago.

Venutus1 said:

As far as I am aware, ALL the Brands of UV B CfLS that had the issue(s) that resulted in eye issues and sking burns A FEW YEARS BACK... have been fixed!!
CAUTION: There could still be some *old* store stock on the shelves of some Pet Store out there somewhere taht you could still buy and still have issues.

Click to expand...

That's wrong. There are still a lot of dangerous bulbs on the European market, and lots of of them are produced in the USA, so the problem should be still the same (maybe somewhat less due to warnings). We got chameleons and other reptiles with ceratoconjunctivitis often over here, mostly caused by too short UVB-waves. Bulbs affected in Germany (I can't speak for other countrys) are ReptiGlo, ReptiSun and other brands. Frances Baines has a great website about the problems and UVB in general (and she says it's even still an issue in the UK). Some vets and keepers measure new bulbs and old ones every year here and the differences even in one single batch are big, reaching from no UVB-output at all to an output you'd need half a meter distance to your animal to avoid burns. There are differences from year to year if there were a change in production, e.g. in material, too. I'm sure there are keepers using insufficient UVB-bulbs, but they propbably won't notice als long as they're supplementing well.

There is no bulb on the market which is 100% safe to use. Honestly, the safest way would be to measure UVB with Solarmeter 6.5 at the moment. It isn't that expensive, easy to use and covers the wavelength of vitamine D3-building in reptiles best up to date.

I have a daylight compact coil bulb 64000k and was wondering if this will harm my cham or should I change it out before I get him?

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This isn't even a uvb producing bulb foiks.

I use daylights (the ones with light output equal to 100 or 150 watt according to the claims on the label) to provide bright light that penetrates to the bottom of my 175 gallon reptariums. Works great.

From my experience, coil uvb bulbs aren't very good at spreading the light through the enclosure. They tend to concentrate the light within one small area, rather than spreading it out. If your using it just to add some extra light for your Cham and the plants your using, CFL bulbs are great since they barely throw any heat. I'm still weary when it come to the coil UVB bulbs, due to the problems they have caused in the past. Just my two cents..

Wow todd thank you for that comment and picture showing the difference in UVB. I will immediately make the switch from reptiglow to arcadia.

carol5208 said:

you have a coil 6400K? That is a plant grow light correct? What will you be using for uvb source?. The coil 5.0 uvb's are fine. They will not cause blindness. That was long ago and the problem has long been resolved. I know of the 6500K tube lights people use for plant growth but do not know anything of the 6400K coil..

Click to expand...

i have a dule t8 24in and will be using 2 reptisun 10.0 uvb lights as my cage is 48in tall.

thank you all fot your input and sorry for not saying that this is just for the PLANTS and i have a dual T8 on the cage for the reptisun 10.0 uvb's...