I'm commenting before watching the entire video but here is an important resource: frances baines is at the forefront of reptile lighting, a british vet and she has some articles that are fantastic and provide a lot of insight. I would advise everyone to find her articles and read them. I printed everything I could find out to keep in my "useful articles binder" for future reference because there's no way you'll remember it all after reading it once and who knows you may need to reference a different reptile next time. Just a tip
Pet stores should rent these out! I find the idea of petstores renting these gadgets out sustainable and feasible. Walmart rents out carpet cleaners that are more expensive. So if they would set up a short contract stating if you return the item damaged/not at all/too late then your fee will be $X and you'll have to provide your cc info. I could see a lot of reptile owners making use of a service like that because the way I see it most can't afford this. I know I can't.
@@reptiliangarden why shucks lol thanks 🤭😆 Sorry for spamming the comment section btw I just read so so much stuff on lighting in the last few weeks I thought I'd share what could be useful although I doubt many will read it because ... run on sentences 😂
WTF Trishia??? I am so proud of you! Congratulations for this amazing video!! A few weeks ago you knew nothing about this and now you went full on quality research and made this super awesome video! Thank you so much, this video deserves to go viral in the herp community. It is perfect to teach someone how to use UV bulbs. Although you had some minor mistakes, most of them are just details in scientific speech. So I want to give you a great suggestion if you want to keep making these educational excelent videos. There is a group of scientists and vets specialized in advanced husbandry (advanced means more than the bare minimum, going for natural/bioactive instead of sterile minimal tubs, it does not mean "hard to understand" care, it is actually pretty easy as you showed in this video) And this group what they do is review videos for youtubers to make sure those videos are scientifically accurate: for example you say you want to put the basking area in the right Ferguson zone. thats not true because the Ferguson zone is a classification of the animals basking nature, what you want to say is to achieve the correct UV index. This group would correct this minor mistake and you could be confident everything you are saying is 100% correct (until further scientific evidence denies it xD) . Some fellow youtubers that already do this are "JTB Reptile", "Reptiles and Research" and "Cold Blooded Care" - this last 1 is towards kids, and I think that's beautiful. From what I know, this isn't a service, they want to get to every youtuber they can, so I think they happily do it for free. You can contact Roman Muryn and you can find him through the "Advancing Herpetological Husbandry" page on Facebook or ahhconferences.com.
Here are their rules and goals that I copied from their page: "About our Peer Review Our review process is designed to ensure that our Badge is only awarded to videos promoting high standards of husbandry and animal welfare. We therefore aim to: Ensure that the content of the video is based on scientific evidence. Confirm that any content, if copied by the viewer, is unlikely to cause harm to any animals or their keeper. Check that any recommendations are physically safe and legal to follow, within our bounds of knowledge. (for example, DIY electrical wiring, first aid treatments) Confirm that any animal in the video is being appropriately managed and presented. Confirm that husbandry practices within the video align with the accepted norms. Check that there is no misrepresentation in the video. Check that there is no slander or any personal attacks. Confirm that there is no content that could have legal obligations upon us having given the video the approval badge. "
With chameleons, the UVI level depends on how much D3 you supplement with. With a 3-4 UVI level (for panthers and veileds), no supplemental D3 is needed (some keepers do a small dose once a month just in case). A 1.5-2 UVI level needs more regular D3 supplementation (like using Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall-Indoor every feeding or giving a stronger D3 supplement once every two weeks). And a T5HO 5.0/6% bulb is actually stronger than a T8 10.0 uvb bulb. I would recommend an Arcadia 6% T5HO uvb bulb instead of a 10.0 one. Mercury vapor bulbs should only be used in big open air areas and clamped at a 45 degree angle for proper use (I would switch yours out for a regular basking bulb). For more accurate measurements, make sure to hold the meter perfectly vertical, not tilted at all. Great job, though!
In order to use the meter accurately it needs to be completely vertical with the bulb. Holding the meter at an angle will give you very inaccurate readings. Veiled Chameleons ideally should have a minimum of 3-4 on the reader not 1-2 so he will definitely benefit from proper uvb. Also watch his head being so close to the heat, high chance to burn his casque while trying to get uvb from the current way you have it installed. Make sure you readjust all the vines when you switch to the 10.0 bulb and do it as soon as you can to avoid further damage. Definitely take out the MV on the dragon, super dangerous.
BreezExotics With chameleons, the UVI level depends on how much D3 you supplement with. With a 3-4 UVI level (for panthers and veileds), no supplemental D3 is needed (some keepers do a small dose once a month just in case). With a 1.5-2 level, more regular D3 supplementation is needed (like using Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall-Indoor every feeding). A 5.0/6% T5HO bulb is actually stronger than a 10.0 T8. As for the mercury vapor bulb and angle of the UVI meter, I agree. Mercury vapor bulbs should only be used in big open air areas and clamped at a 45 degree angle for proper use. And in all enclosures, there should be areas that measure no UVI at all.
I got a panther Cham a week ago. Your videos were amazing help. He’s around 4months old... So tiny! He is called atlas , super friendly too. Just loves climbing around. 👏👏🥳🥳
HI, please do have another look at the MV with the dragon. UVI 14 is extreme energy and from what I could see in the video the meter wasn't directly under the lamp where the projection from this tech is always strongest. Ideal UVI for a dragon at basking is UVI 4.00-7.00 max and alongside good light and shade for self-regulation. As the index increases the time taken to burn decreases. Anything above UVI 9.00 would be seen as a danger point really. What do we mean by this, well as all life has developed to take all that it needs to thrive from the wild habitat, that has become the 'need' per species over its vast development. It has therefore developed a 'use for' and a 'level of protection against' that supplier. If a supplier such as solar energy is provided in a qty that is higher than the body has a use for and is also protected against, we risk dermal and ocular burn. Worth a double check at least. Always check directly below the center of each lamp and then map out the energy within the projection zone from strongest to weakest over the footprint. You will then see if there is a risk. You can then either change tech, or raise the lamp up until there is no way possible that the UVI at the shoulders of the animal at this shortest point is greater than that specified as being optimal. You are welcome to write to me if you want to double check anything J C-S.
Excellent points, John. That's what makes using a singular bulb (like a mercury vapor) for both UVA and UVB very hard to successfully execute. I've had better luck using a dedicated fixture for UVB and using a halogen flood for the UVA/basking bulb.
Thank you! I am going to take out his solar sun bulb and just use a regular heat bulb since the linear uvb is in the accurate zone now. I definitely don’t want him to get burnt. I appreciate your help!
Tricia you probably should change Dude’s heat/UVB/UVA bulb for one that does not have UVB, you can see the UVI is way too high in one spot, more than double than what he’s supposed to have. Too much UVB can be just as harmful as not enough.
Trisha this was one of the most informative videos I have ever seen, plus with some of the others chiming in an almost perfect 10. Thanks for doing this research. I wish places like Petsmart could train their employees correctly. Banba definitely seems to like his "Ferguson zone" !!! ✌🏻❤🦎🦎🦎
By far the BEST information I’ve heard on RU-vid!! Thank you so much! I just got my meter and wanted to be sure I was using it correctly or not. I wasn’t. I am now though. Thank you
Yeah I'm so mad about that damn thing right now. It was sold out everywhere so I bought the reptisun hood and spent the extra money to get the arcadia bulb because that's all that was available this entire time up until just very recently. Now they tell me that their bulb will burn out quicker in that fixture. So annoying. I had been asking them before and never got an answer. So now my leo has the reptisun 5.0 because my arcadia bulb is back in it's packaging being useless to me. I mean at least I found out in time to take it out before it got damaged but to have a 20 dollar bulb just sitting there for nothing is very annoying. I may eventually get the shade dweller but I just spent so much money on reptile stuff there is no way I can afford it anytime soon. Ugh.
Actually a little mad at you! How bloody dare you not call yourself an expert! Seriously anyone criticising you for small things simply is jealous 😎 this one was next level! A decade experience huh? More like a century with all that detailed research well explained. And thank f*** I'm done praising 😂 sorry everyone ( who actually reads my stuff) indeed...
Do you yourself or any of your viewers believe the introduction of a UVB light would be beneficial to a salamander or morphed axolotl? Very useful vid by the way.
every animal benefits from UV exposure, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even insects, you can find this in a quick search in google scholar. The only animals that have evolved to not benefit from it are the ones that live deep in the darkness of caves or underground their whole life (usually they are almost blind or completelly blind and don't even have eyes) or strictly aquatic ones. But recent research is saying UVB is not filtered until some meters deep in the water, so they believe that aquatic beings from shallow waters will also benefit from it (corals that have to fix calcium in their structures for example). Just keep in mind that being beneficial and being necessary is very different, but in my opinion, if it benefits in any biological function, it should be provided
Such useful info thanks! I’m trying the discount code and it isn’t valid anymore. BOOHOO. Would love to measure the Ferguson Zone, and a discount code would be awesome LOL
I tried looking for cheaper alternatives, but I’m not sure if they are the same thing. I definitely want to make sure my chameleon is getting the correct uvb and change the bulb out every 6 months like you previously suggested, but I don’t think I can invest $200 into a meter when I only own one reptile :(
Great video update! Unfortunately I don’t have the solar meter yet. But I wonder if you’ve ever had the uvb on top of a mesh top tank. I know the mesh top takes away from the full output of the uvb. So I wonder if it would be better to put the 10.0 t5 linear uvb inside the tank instead?
A lot of people do! It depends on the screen and how far away the basking area is from the animal. If you use a solarmeter you can figure out where to place it to get the right Ferguson zone.
Why don't we just forget the light and give the animal the vitamin D3? Many dusting powders have that. Yes, both is better, but it seems to be a hassle to get the light exactly correct. If we can get a healthy effect with the powder, then do we really need the light??
Question: That device says UVA and UVA on the left side. How do you know if the reading is UVA or UVA? I just bought a device and I haven't found any instructions on how to separate the two wave lengths.
What is your UVB setup for your indonesian blue tongue? I just got one (assumed it was a Northern, whoops) and your videos have been super helpful already. I read that they should have a 5.0 UVB bulb instead of a 10.0 UVB, but if the screen filters out some of the power and if the light was far enough away, do you think a 10UVB would actually work fine?
Speaking of. Here is a psa so you don't end up in the same stupid situation as me and "waste" money. I really wanted the arcadia shade dweller for my leo but of course it was sold out EVERYWHERE. So I got the 7% bulb for the shade dweller and since it is a t5 bulb and the wattage etc was fine (I checked) I got it and put it in the reptisun 14" t5 ho fixture in which it perfectly fits. I had been asking arcadia and everybody who would listen BEFOREHAND if this was ok but never got an answer so I went ahead with it, I really wanted that bulb. Fast forward, I have had it for 2 weeks (I've taken it back out though) because I made a post about it on IG and then they finally tell me not to use it with that fixture because it's too strong and will burn out the bulb prematurely. I mean luckily I took mine out and it's still fine and I can save it but it's agitating that I now have a bulb laying around that I have no fixture for and after spending about 500 bucks on reptile things lately I'm just not in a position to buy the other fixture at this time or anytime soon for that matter. So my leo now has the reptisun 5.0 which is fine too. At the distance I have it at it is scored as a zone 2-3 so partial to full sun dwelling but since it is on the mesh top it will lose between 30-50% so it's fine. And it's a 12" bulb on a 30" long tank so by keeping it at one end and providing many hides (=shade) I'm achieving the same effect. Just wanted to leave this here so people know that you can't apparently mix bulbs and fixtures from different companies even though they fit. At least not in this case. Super annoying.
