UVB lighting

Ikihi

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Jan 8, 2017
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How long should a russian tortoise physically be under the UVB lamp? Currently she goes under it for probably 40 min while eating and then goes to the other end of cage with the UVA heat lamp for most of the day. The UVB lamp is sitting 17 inches up, on top of wire mesh, and its a 10.0 zoo med bulb that is 26 watts. I've used this setup for months now. Should the lamp be lowered down if shes not under it much?
 
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Yvonne G

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If you want to be a purist and have more fixtures over the enclosure than you really need, you can mount the UVB light in a fixture directly overhead and only turn it on for about 3 hours in the middle of the day. But most of us use our UVB light for heat (Mercury Vapor Bulb), so I turn my UVB light on at 7a and off at 7p.

I'm assuming the 10.0 Zoo Med 26 watt bulb is a fluorescent tube? I would hang it under the mesh. Screen filters out quite a bit of the UVB. And I THINK the manufacturers recommend about 12 inches above the substrate, no?

UVB rays bounce around and reflect off objects in the habitat, so a tortoise doesn't need to sit directly under the light to benefit.
 
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