Full Spectrum Lamp Myth Revealed 

In Australia there is a vet who discusses light and birds extensively, especially how florescent lighting is harmful to birds and similar to giving them a seizure. It explains why birds react so poorly to lighting in certain rooms (like the vet). I'm glad yours are LED, obviously you are extremely knowledgable and consumers benefit by watching this video. Sadly, we have to be smart enough to think critically and know to look for it in the first place. We live in a society where we can never trust what we are told and need to do as much research as possible, which is time consuming, but the only option if you're going to take animals from the wild and domesticate them.

Great Video Mark & thanks for your findings. What was the result of your 2 year experiment with the UV LEDs ?

Thanks for the very informative video Mark - I was going to purchase an Arcadia light kit for one of my parrots and stumbled on your video just before I hit the buy button! - I'm so glad I did watch your video from start to finish, as you have proved to me there is no health benefit for my parrot, other than he develops cataracts from sitting under UV- being he already has health problems I will now steer clear of a UV lamp as I don't want to be adding to his ailments. Thanks again, Chris.

I'm looking for an alternative lot source to treat the winter Blues any suggestions would be great thank you so much for this thorough video

Really interesting video but you haven't suggested any alternatives based on your own experiences. My take home from your video is don't purchase bulbs from companies that say they have full spectrum light, because it's false, but then should we be putting our pet birds next to a window throughout the day or is regular (non 'full-spectrum') lighting fine? What lighting set up do you use? Do you use regular bulbs or do you make your own set up like you did with your UVA LED experimental set up? It would be great to finish an informative video (or make notes in the description) with some alternatives that a concerned bird owner could consider.

Very interesting,,tell me about your lights,can you dim them..are u aware how many I can run on the tc420 dimmer..and how long do yours last ,,do they haveuva ,uvb or just full spectrum

Fantastic review,thank you for going through all the effort for others to gain knowledge.

Hi Mark! I thought I'd 'try' to watch your video, even though I happen to love my bird's lamp and feel 100% secure in its use. Then early in, it seemed you were against what I'm using, so I was about to stop the video... then saw a familiar link & followed it, to find YOU are who I buy my lamps from LOL!!! M&M is fantastic. I was afraid you were going to give THEM a bad review; so glad I watched and want to thank you!!!

This is super helpful. Thank u for making and sharing this.

I always wanted to know how long it takes for a bald man to screw in a light bulb.😂 thanks for the video

This is exactly what I was looking for and more! I was searching the internet to figure out the value of UVA/UVB lighting for birds, but could only find personal testimonials. I love how you presented the data, and structured the video. It was very clear and easy to understand. Thanks Mark!

thanks for the research. there is so much confusing "debates" about this topic. I decided on that a 5000K bulb with a 98 CRI was the best for my birds. BUT STILL NOT SURE!! lol.

I have one of these lights and my bird cage has a cover on the back to give my bird shade from the light if that is what it needs. Also, the cover is not directed at the full cage.

amazing video thanks for all the info and research you put into this

Wish I had seen this before purchasing!!!!! I'm sure bird tricks trainers were recently saying the same thi my recently!!

Can you post the link to the proper lights that you get

Thankio so much Mike for all info u posted about lighting , I personally having a prb to choose a right bulb but now i think i just gonna get the $2 from HD

Thank you, sir, for this accurate analysis and also for saving my hard earn money because I was about to buy those stuff.

Very Informative, thanks for posting this. My ringneck dove likes to walk into the sun, sit for hours and STARE directly into the sun. Complete trance state. She is an old indoor bird though, so maybe she needs more sun.

I find you’re teaching video extremely important valuable and intelligent because i like facts and evidence. You are very amazing

Mark, can you clarify if UV light in general is basically useless for birds?

Ive got a uvb light on my macaws even if it dosent produce UV I'm gonna leave it they're for some light anyway, but it's a bulb meant for reptiles with 5 uvb and some people tell me they shouldn't have reptile bulbs, is this true

I got the Arcadia puresun contact kit from my cocktails. Is that safe to use?

Thank you for this very accurate info I was going to buy one Thank you

i have never used any lighting for my green cheek conure and she is 10 years old only been in normal room light shes as healhy as the day i got her and never had any issues so far. i believe most or all of whats best for them is a varied diet. i do have a bearded dragon that everyone knows requires the uva uvb lighting too supposidly since these bulbs dont hardly have any real output i wonder if its doing more harm than good to his eyes as well....

excellent video, this should have way more views and be shared amonst bird owners.

what lights would you suggest inplace ?

So if we have these lights in our houses are they harmful to us as well? I had an avian bulb that broke recently and it was blinding

Found that very interesting Mark, i watched the whole thing, i will not get my birds a bulb :)

So I saw this a few weeks ago and decided to find out more. This is what I was told by an Avian Veterinarian with 25+ years of experience. First they said that often people who are against the UVA lights are typically not Avian Veterinarians and don't understand the feedback loop it triggers within the bird to have just a small little bit of UV light compared to none at all. I directly mentioned you using a meter to determine the light emitted. This was what i was told. There is gland just above the base of the birds tail that secrets oil that contains vitamin D pre-cursors. When the bird grooms it will spread that oil around on them and then ingest that oil. They said the amount of UV light needed to trigger the synthesis is very tiny. In fact a bird only needs to be in the real sun 3 hours an entire week to trigger enough synthesis to give them enough vitamin D. 60 hours a week under a UVA bulb may still not be as good as the sun but the veterinarians were very clear that in their practice and research it makes a big difference for birds. Particularly African Greys with suspected calcium deficiencies. They did say it was very bird breed specific and some birds (like Greys) will benefit greatly whereas others may not. They said it has to do with their natural habitat. In addition, the birds are also reacting to that tiny bit of light by spreading oil around more, and engaging behavior that keeps the synthesis going. The vet I spoke longest commented that the bulbs are so effective that sometimes birds will become hormonal and see a big change in behavior if they are new to the UV light. That is supported by many people on forums that say their birds become hormonal under the lights. I was also told that the birds pick up the UV in their eyes and that triggers behaviors critical to the synthesis. They said even at 5 feet away a bird will get a very tiny but noticeable benefit if they are in those lights all through the day every day. Turn them on when the sun goes up and then when the sun goes down. I would advise everyone to talk to a certified Avian Veterinarian who has experience in these areas. I'm sure some would directly contradict what mine said because even scientists disagree on so many things. One thing is for sure, they don't make money selling supplies or products of any kind so they have no ulterior motives to suggest to you where you should be spending your money. They also deal with hundreds of birds each year in a clinical setting where they run tests and lab work and have real data to support their conclusions. I don't want to sound harsh but my veterinarian literally scoffed at using a UV meter to reach a conclusion on the efficiency of the bulbs. They said it would be like using a floor scale to weigh your bird to see if it is under weight. It's just not calibrated to a degree where you can make a determination of effectiveness. The meter is not a bird and part of what these bulbs are doing is tricking the birds physiology into thinking the sun is there. I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm just saying I trust my veterinarians as they are some of the most knowledgeable in the country. I appreciate your efforts in trying to get to the truth.

Ok, so I'm either misunderstanding when you're saying that it is impossible to produce UV light through electricity, or you contradicted yourself at 5:59, when you say you made a strip with UV lights. So I'm not convinced at this point.

you tested few of the bulbs but my question is...is there any bulb that really does have UVA and UVB?

What was the brand and model of the home depot light?

Great video, thank you. Maybe I missed something, but what about the lights you sell, don't they hurt the bird eye, kept that clos in the cage. I have also understood, that birds see the pulses of the led lights unless the frequency is high enough. Is that nonsence, too? My third question is, do birds suffer in an enclousure that has a multilayer thermo glass roof (insulation) during the winter times, do you know? These are questions I have been looking answers for a year without finding any😅. Thanks! Oh, and do you ship up to Finland?

Thank you for showing us good sir!

Birds need natural sun light and darkness to sleep.

“If it keeps your bird healthy then it’s worth it” exactly what I was thinking whilst looking at sun lamp reviews, glad I saw this, just saved me nearly £100. Thank you 🙏

thank you Mark. Awesome work , keep it up

Thank you for making this video because we were always weary about this light stuff in cages. We were going to get a light for our Conure Parrot's cage because everyone said it's the right thing to do. After seeing this video, now we are wondering if it's a good thing to have in the cage with our bearded dragon. What's your though on that? What would you do if you had a bearded dragon? Thank you again for filling people like me in on this light business.

Thank you, I found your video to be very helpful

Oh my God, I didn't know all this about UV lamps, Thank u soso much, May God always bless U & your birds

You are good at research work

Great video what lights would you all say is good for birds

Thanks for a great video. I did watch the whole video.

Great video, thank you ...

Thank you for your invention!

Thank you Mark!

I was wondering why none of the reputable bird channels were talking about UV Full Spectrum lighting. But some of the lame ones were going “You HAVE to get UV full spectrum lighting!” So now I’m thinking it’s kind of another scam, kind of like pellets. Now bird owners are doing all of this stuff, repeating the same nonsense, and actually harming their birds. It’s sad we can’t really trust vets either. But I worked at a (regular/human) hospital in health care for almost a decade, so I’m fully aware that you can’t trust the medical profession, they’re all getting their info from the same publications funded by the companies selling these products

Ok but what if your meter is broken?

Great video and the fact that the marketing companies saying that uvb is harmfull thats irritating since the uvb is responsible for vitamin d production in our bodies. That being said We need Light bulbs with full spectrum and with uv as well since that Will help with s.a.d disorder as well. But do you know where could We find such bulbs? Thanks

Thank you🙏🏼⭐️

Science🏆 I will make sure to get my bird outside more🙏🏼😊 Thank you for taking the time to educate us 💎🧐🎓

The birds themselves go directly as close as possible to these lamps and literally "sun bath" under it...

What do you recommend to use? Is being next to a window part of the day ok?

Brilliant video. I've been looking to get a 'health lamp' for my parrot. Having seen your video, I don't think I'm going to bother. You've saved me £100 :)

Bald guy screwing bulbs in = ASMR You're doing fine man ;)

Thank you for caring, educating in a world with too much fraud ignorant followers

I was wondering what kind of soft food you feed? Or food in general?

LEP are spot on in spectrum.

Wait, now I'm catching on - I missed it at first, the guy is selling bulbs and fixtures. Why would anyone subject a bird to UVB rays for the length of a day? Birds are subject to the full sun for up to 16 hours in some regions. One thing I think would help - at the start of the video you said "I will provide the data" or something like that. It would be helpful if you did that - simple links in the description, etc. or even just post the references in the video and we'll go look it up ourselves. I heard a lot of what sound like sophistries - plausible sounding but fallacious reasoning, and a promise of data unfullfilled. It leaves more questions than it answers really?

Thanks for this video! I always do my research on products that have significant importance/consequences. You've saved me good money.

Interesting... Nice vid

nice man :D straight to the point

thank you,top man!

Near the 6:20 mark of your video where you show that your UV meter works by placing it under the LED UV strip you made, the meter's display isn't visible. I've played that portion back several times and can't see it.

Thank you. Payday i’m buying your product

I find scientists (actually we’re all scientists) very attractive, it’s just observation and measuring results. As you can tell, I keep posting as thigggts pop into my head. I just saw a uva uvb meter reader on amazon for $161, then there’s a more expensive one. I am trying to learn the difference and am hoping you can teach on this in another video

nice video

I was going to buy full spectrum light bulbs for plant growing bcz the blue/red lights hurt my eyes 🙈

its very interesting and this clearly not a boring experiment with a bald man. ^.^ Actually i have been tried to collect information about Full Spectrum for my Plants, Some Expert recommended it to me.

Isn’t uvb light helps with production of vit d and synthesis of calcium. I mean I wouldn’t compare a parrot to a human as they do need different stuff in order to be healthy, not forgetting the fact skin and feathers are completely different thing. I do agree with people misusing the lamps as those should not be one for a whole day it’s like sitting on a direct sun everyday which is not healthy to a human what to say to any animal…

direct sunlight is the way to go no lamp could replace morning sun😛

I must be a rare gal, i’ve watched 10 hour videos on y t specifically, “tricksofthestrades” channel. My attention span is gigantic if i’m watching something newsworthy like you young bald handsome man 😂

Wtf why gets my question deleted all the time?!?

LED LIGHTS DON'T give off any UVB

Since I work R&D in an optical company, I feel I have to weigh in here. To be precise, it isn't "physically impossible" to generate simulated sunlight from electricity. However, it is in fact "technically impossible" with the technology available to humankind in the year 2022 to do so in the context of anything that would even come close to being reasonable for a home appliance with regards to size and cost. And this isn't likely to change in the next couple of decades. So I would say you are correct in terms of the conclusions you draw, but not quite correct in the semantics you use.

www.breedingcage.com

You state at the beginning that it is impossible to convert electricity to UV yet we convert electricity to many other electromagnetic spectra. Then you detect UV however faint from the bulbs. You also state that birds get cataracts from UV which I know from personal experience (my own eyes) can happen but how can it happen if the bulbs don't emit UV light?

I wish I had seen this a couple of months ago. The rescue I got my bird from insisted that I get a full spectrum light, even though I have a large sunny window in the room the birds are in. Well I bought one of these and it finally came in the mail. I set it up. Guess what? It’s SUPER blindingly bright, and I’m like, wow, this is crazy! My birds are blinking and trying to get away from it. It so bright. But, like you said, “If it keeps my bird healthy”, right? Now my parrotlet is screaming and super hormonal. This fricken light is coming down. Stupid people at this rescue gave me so much bad information and INSISTED I do all of these things, I really thought they knew what they see talking about. They’re just getting their info from the Internet too. Anyway, you’re right, don’t waste your time and money. Birds just need regular sunlight!

Thank God I live in Arizona where we have sun everyday and now I can save myself some money. The sad thing is, we believe our vets and how can you trust them again. The problem I have is, and I do understand the science, but what does your lights do for our feathered friends. That's the science I want to know. You didn't really help.

Tube lights for reptile are best for parrots at the safe distance. If your looking for sun alternatives

yes, well youtube viewers may have small attention spans, but is that really the issue? Or is it possible that youtube creators, instinctively think that their video will be the centre of the viewer's universe? For me, personally, I skip a lot of videos because I am after a specific piece of information. If the information is NOT flowing thick and fast I will often skip through or just go to the next video in the list of search results. Modern youtube videos should be created with special attention to keeping A moderately fast rhythm. While creating a video, one should try to give it a rhythm that does not change too much or get too slow. I'm not talking about a musical or audio, but rather the pace of information contained in such videos. I'm not criticising this video, I've not even finished watching the video. I also suffer from similar flaws in my own videos. For e.g. a creator will often take a minute or so to explain 'why' he or she even made the video. Most people, even if it's their first time on youtube, don't care about 'why' the video was made, only 'whats' in the video. It's really not so unreasonable to feel the urge to skip when faced with such videos. I'm not so sure that component of behaviour actually suggest that youtube viewers have an attention span one way or another. I think that youtube is still juvenile. It has moved beyond infancy and is now a teenager learning how to position its self in the world. Eventually, both creators and viewers will find equilibrium. I hope!

I feel so sorry for those poor little little birdies that don't have any toys, or anything, in their cages. Mark, I hope you don't keep them in the cages all the time like that. Do you let them out to fly and play? Birds need so much more than food, drink and proper lighting. They need entertainment, and socializing with other birds and / or people.

Thank you for this video i have two birds that reside in my bathroom no windows.. I have been researching bulbs this video saved me a lot of money and a waste of time. And ps i watched the whole video ;)

Could... you.... speak........ any..........slower

You just want people to buy the products you provide. Shame on you

Brilliant video. I've been looking to get a 'health lamp' for my parrot. Having seen your video, I don't think I'm going to bother. You've saved me £100 :)