Coil uvb or cylinder bulb?
- Thread starter lecham
- Start date
seanUTD
New Member
If your choices are a compact reptiglo or a tube, then a tube... I recommend reptisuns compact OR TUBE.... Reptiglo compacts have a bad rep in causing eye problems and reptiglo tubes have a bad rep in having a very short life.... I've had to change my bulbs twice in the last 4 months alone /: The reptisun brand is worth it in my book JMHO
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
Sean,
Before slamming a product, you should check your facts. ReptiGlo Compact Fluorescent bulbs have never been implicated in causing eye problems. In fact, its the Reptisun Compact Fluorescents that have (http://uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm).
Chris
seanUTD
New Member
Chris... Though I do honor your opinion and i do understand what you are saying you must see that most of us that use this site gather information from previous threads and personal experience... I have personally experienced an incident thus far in only 4 months in which using a reptiglo tube was not putting out proper UVB, as a result my juvenile panther completely stopped eating and was beginning to deteriorate... Within hours, and I do mean hours, of replacing the reptiglo with a compact Reptisun 5.0, I saw instant "perking up" and the cham began to veraciously eat everything I placed in front of him and so far he has been eating ever since... Along with that incident, his colors have also shown through almost twice as much since I replaced the UVBs... This is just my personal experience and while I do not have as much education in the area I will indeed show distaste for an item that I myself have had problems with.... The other way in which we gather is through the threads where I myself gather a lot of my information and on this particular topic have found much more distaste for the reptiglo and while it may be misaimed distaste it is these threads that give us new members the info we look for
https://www.chameleonforums.com/repti-glo-5-0-compact-13w-26w-60314/(reptglo eye problems)
https://www.chameleonforums.com/eye-problem-50776/(eye problem)
Im not saying you are wrong, nor am I saying these people are correct.. Im simply defining my reasoning for coming out against the reptiglo brand as I feel if I do make a claim against a product, you are correct, I should justify it
https://www.chameleonforums.com/repti-glo-5-0-compact-13w-26w-60314/(reptglo eye problems)
https://www.chameleonforums.com/eye-problem-50776/(eye problem)
Im not saying you are wrong, nor am I saying these people are correct.. Im simply defining my reasoning for coming out against the reptiglo brand as I feel if I do make a claim against a product, you are correct, I should justify it
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
Sean,
Your post stated that Reptiglo Compact Fluorescent bulbs caused eye problems. The fact of the matter is, that is not true. Just because people are not careful about differentiating between Reptisun and Reptiglo bulbs and because everyone has assumed that all compact fluorescent bulbs are bad does not validate your statement.
Regarding your statement that your Reptiglo linear fluorescent did not give out proper UV levels, what exactly did you use to measure the radiance levels given out by the bulb and what was the output readings for them? If you did not actually take readings, you don't have anything to validate your statements here either. There are many other things that could have caused the observed behavior changes, most of them relating to user error.
If you are going to make accusations about a product which can potentially impact the sales of the product, you need to make very sure you are not spreading false information. Making statements like the two outlined above are libelous if you can't back them up and they do nothing to help keepers get the actual information they need.
Regarding the two thread you quoted as justification, I think you need to go back and read them again. One does not support you statement in the first place and the other is an example of another person regurgitating information about the wrong bulb.
The second thread you linked to (https://www.chameleonforums.com/eye-problem-50776/) is about a chameleon that was sick and appeared to have eye problems. While the keeper was using a Reptiglo CF bulb, the cause of the issue in this case is clearly bad husbandry. The fact of the matter is that the only bulb they were using to raise their panther chameleon was the fluorescent bulb (i.e. no basking bulb). Any time you try to raise a panther chameleon at a constant 70ºF, you are going to end up with a sick animal and when you have a sick chameleon, they often start sleeping and can exhibit eye issues. That does not indicate that the eye issue is because the Reptiglo CF bulb caused them, however.
The first thread you linked to (https://www.chameleonforums.com/repti-glo-5-0-compact-13w-26w-60314/) is just an example of a user regurgitating something they don't know anything about in the first place, an issue that user has been called out on many times.
Chris
seanUTD
New Member
I don't think your understanding my point. My point is not that these posts are accurate my point is that THOSE POSTS are the ones users are going to read. I am not going to argue with you as it would be a futile immature effort on my part. We each have our own methods, one of us has more of an education to back that up and in my field of studying, that overrules so I will leave it at that. Just please in the future, when composing a post, a more helpful approach would trying to display YOUR facts, against mine, not just a brandish call out to make somebody look like a fool. No expertise is shown through that method, just aggression. I stand by my statements and my methods. My chams are in great shape and I will continue to show my thought and my positions as I find them. You are welcome to disagree with me.
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
I guess my point then would be that we should not be continuing to spread information from posts that are not accurate and we should not be continuing to falsely attribute ailments to products or husbandry techniques where no evidence linking the ailment to the product or husbandry technique exists. Continuing to do so only holds keepers back from actually learning from experiences and being able to provide accurate advice in the future.
Chris
seanUTD
New Member
I gave an actual experience. No, I did not measure each bulb to the dot but I will give you my husbandry and I will be happy to hear where the issues lie.
Chameleon Info:
•Your Chameleon – 3 month old Blue Bar Ambilobe panther chameleon
•Handling - never
•Feeding – Herbie gets a mix of 8-10 crickets a day and silks when I have them. He also receives dubia nymohs as the are born. All insects are gutloaded with dry gutload containing Bee pollen, alfalfa (similar to cricket crack, homemade by a member/breeder), vegetables such as butternut squash, kale, collard greens, carrots, potatoes. Supers are bred in rolled oats due to having less Vitamin A than wheat bran, and hydrated with cactus or butternut squash.
•Supplements – RepCal without D3 at every feeding, ReptiVite twice a month dusted over only 8 of the crickets, and Flukers with D3 twice a month (100,000 IU/lb of D3)
•Watering – Misted 4 times a day with warm mist I see him drink every time.
•Fecal Description – fecal is dark brown, solid with no visible signs of undigested material, urates are always white. Never had any dehydration.
•History – Came from a local breeder who does mostly wholesale through pet stores, no exact lineage but the breeder had only two pairings at that time. One was a pure Nosy Be clutch, the other was a pure Ambilobe clutch. Both were given outside sunlight very often.
Cage Info:
•Cage Type – 24”x24”x48” Reptibreeze full mesh
•Lighting – Reptisun compact 5.0 with a deep 10” dome, 60 watt incandescent on an adjustable wide 10” dome to control heat and light in my hot climate
•Temperature – Day (bottom-71, Top- 86, 88 when windows are open)
•Humidity – Humidity levels hover at around 55%-65% and up to 85% mistings. Hygrometer
•Plants – Large pothos, Dracaena, and ficus. All real.
•Placement – Cage is in the living room, when traffic is higher than normal a sheet is placed over the cage to prevent stress
•Location – Dallas, TX
EDIT: When I made the change in lighting that ended his hunger strike I was using an 18" linear reptiglo. I changed nothing about my husbandry except that.
Chameleon Info:
•Your Chameleon – 3 month old Blue Bar Ambilobe panther chameleon
•Handling - never
•Feeding – Herbie gets a mix of 8-10 crickets a day and silks when I have them. He also receives dubia nymohs as the are born. All insects are gutloaded with dry gutload containing Bee pollen, alfalfa (similar to cricket crack, homemade by a member/breeder), vegetables such as butternut squash, kale, collard greens, carrots, potatoes. Supers are bred in rolled oats due to having less Vitamin A than wheat bran, and hydrated with cactus or butternut squash.
•Supplements – RepCal without D3 at every feeding, ReptiVite twice a month dusted over only 8 of the crickets, and Flukers with D3 twice a month (100,000 IU/lb of D3)
•Watering – Misted 4 times a day with warm mist I see him drink every time.
•Fecal Description – fecal is dark brown, solid with no visible signs of undigested material, urates are always white. Never had any dehydration.
•History – Came from a local breeder who does mostly wholesale through pet stores, no exact lineage but the breeder had only two pairings at that time. One was a pure Nosy Be clutch, the other was a pure Ambilobe clutch. Both were given outside sunlight very often.
Cage Info:
•Cage Type – 24”x24”x48” Reptibreeze full mesh
•Lighting – Reptisun compact 5.0 with a deep 10” dome, 60 watt incandescent on an adjustable wide 10” dome to control heat and light in my hot climate
•Temperature – Day (bottom-71, Top- 86, 88 when windows are open)
•Humidity – Humidity levels hover at around 55%-65% and up to 85% mistings. Hygrometer
•Plants – Large pothos, Dracaena, and ficus. All real.
•Placement – Cage is in the living room, when traffic is higher than normal a sheet is placed over the cage to prevent stress
•Location – Dallas, TX
EDIT: When I made the change in lighting that ended his hunger strike I was using an 18" linear reptiglo. I changed nothing about my husbandry except that.
OrangeCrush
New Member
I have many of the stipulations about the compacts as well. These assumption are based about the very firsts ones that had come out. Since there entry date into the market there has been multiple changes made to these bulbs. Neither build these days has any impact on a chamois eyes. People are referring to the old bulbs versus these current ones on the market. When the problem was first addressed it was put in concern and was fixed. Neither company would leave a harmful product on the shelf knowing it causes health problem. But many people will suggest the reptisun bulbs over the reptiglow. They have a rep for out lasting the reptiglow that about it. Either is fine they are still about the same price.
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
A single 18" linear fluorescent will not create enough ambient light to properly light a 48" tall enclosure. The lumen output (the brightness) of a compact fluorescent is much higher than an 18" linear fluorescent. There was likely nothing wrong with your 18" bulb, you simply were not providing enough ambient light for a cage of that size and the result was decreased activity in your chameleon.
When I set up 2'x2'x4' enclosures, I do so with two enclosures next to each other so that I can run a 48" linear UVB fluorescent bulb and a second 48" non-UVB fluorescent bulb across the two cages, in addition to a 60 watt basking bulb on each enclosure. With only half of each 48" fluorescent on either individual cage, that is still a total of 48" of linear fluorescent light, in addition to the 60 watt bulb, providing ambient light. Thats just under 3x the ambient light you had on your enclosure. Your issue had nothing to do with the UVB output of your reptiglo linear fluorescent.
Chris
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
This article should help explain the pros and cons of different types of UVB bulb: http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulWeldon.html A linear fluorescent bulb is typically the easiest bulb to set up correctly for a chameleon to use, but it always depends on your individual application.
Chris
lecham
New Member
cool thanx for ur info and ill make a good decision im sure ..i currently have the repyi glow coil but i am upgrading to the tube thanx
