I`ve burned my tortoises eyes !

Bee62

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Hello, I want to share with you a bad experience with UVB & UVA light and tortoises eyes.

I bought 2 new Arcadia D3 bulbs ( no coil bulbs ) to give my tortoises enough UVB. Unfortunately I have no UV meter yet but it is on my list to buy next. I have to explain that my tortoises are young and living indoors in a close enclosure. I screwed 4 wooden vievariums together to one big enclosure.
The basking spot of the tortoises which they like most is in a smaller, lower part of the enclosure. In think the bulbs must have been too low above the tortoises. It was not too hot under the basking spot and the tortoises spend much time under the new basking bulbs. After a week I recognized that one of my torts developed a weird thing on her eye.
First I thought that she`s got a bacterial infection but nothing has changed in the enclosure or with the torts, except of the new bulbs !
I put out the new bulbs immediately ! That was 2 weeks ago. The eye of my tortoise is looking much better now. I think it is healing but it needs time. I think that UVB and UVA rays have burned the eye of the tort.
I want to share this experience with you to prevent other tortoise owners making the same mistake like me. The new bulbs had been approximately 7 inch over the tortoises shell. Now I know that the distance was much to short just for new bulbs !
Btw: The tortoise was all the time alert and good eating. Behaves totally normal.
Pictures following:
This is the "burned" eye.

DSCN5418.JPG


and two weeks later the eye looks much better but healing needs time. The swelling is much better and it is not so red like before

DSCN5483.JPG

DSCN5481.JPG
 
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Toddrickfl1

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Wow glad you caught it. I had a problem with a UVB bulb when I first got my tort too. Things like this is why I chose not to use artificial UVB. I'm lucky enough to live somewhere my torts can get natural sunlight most of the time.
 

TammyJ

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Thank you for letting us know what can happen with the wrong bulbs! There was another thread here where it was pointed out how very strong some of these lights can be....stronger than direct sunlight! Hope your little guy completely heals.
 

Tom

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Wow Bee! I'm surprised this happened to you. If these are the Arcadia 12% HO tubes, they need to be at least 20 inches (50cm) away, and they are still so strong that I only run them for about 3 hours mid day. At 20" I get a UVI reading of about 7 on my Solarmeter 6.5. Mid day summer sun here is only about 7. In mid winter I'm lucky to get a reading of 2 or 3 in full mid day sun. At 7 inches away, I bet it was putting out A UVI of 20 or more... Ouch.

Live and learn. Thanks for sharing this experience. I hope others learn from your example.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Sabine, is this from a tube UVB or one of those MVB bulbs that put out UVA, UVB and heat?
If so, I recently posted about that type bulb that one put out a UVB reading of 4 and the other put out 43!
I do hope that recovery will be swift. But those MVB bulbs are just not good.
Thanks for this post
 
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Bee62

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Wow glad you caught it. I had a problem with a UVB bulb when I first got my tort too. Things like this is why I chose not to use artificial UVB. I'm lucky enough to live somewhere my torts can get natural sunlight most of the time.
Lucky you are that your torts get enough natural sunlight. I will never make such a mistake with artificial UVB again !
 

Bee62

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Thank you for letting us know what can happen with the wrong bulbs! There was another thread here where it was pointed out how very strong some of these lights can be....stronger than direct sunlight! Hope your little guy completely heals.
I have read the other thread too and left a link there to my thread. Hopefully the eye will completetely recover.
 

Bee62

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Was it an Arcadia D3 long tube bulb or a light bulb? Never heard of the tube bulbs causing problems but at 7in away it could cause harm. That's why a solarmeter 6.5r is a handy tool to have.
It was an Arcadia D3 bulb for UVB visible light and heat. This one:



The solarmeter is the next purchase.
 

ZEROPILOT

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It was an Arcadia D3 bulb for UVB visible light and heat. This one:



The solarmeter is the next purchase.
That's the one!
Those bulbs are EVIL!
Those are the ones I purchased for my chameleons.
Garbage.
 

Bee62

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Wow Bee! I'm surprised this happened to you. If these are the Arcadia 12% HO tubes, they need to be at least 20 inches (50cm) away, and they are still so strong that I only run them for about 3 hours mid day. At 20" I get a UVI reading of about 7 on my Solarmeter 6.5. Mid day summer sun here is only about 7. In mid winter I'm lucky to get a reading of 2 or 3 in full mid day sun. At 7 inches away, I bet it was putting out A UVI of 20 or more... Ouch.

Live and learn. Thanks for sharing this experience. I hope others learn from your example.
Sorry Tom that it happens to me. I am sorry for my tort too ! But I am glad that with the knowledge I`ve got from TFO I was able to notice the problem and react immediately. Learn and live is a good device. Hopefully others make not the same mistake like me.
 

Bee62

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That's the one!
Those bulbs are EVIL!
Those are the ones I purchased for my chameleons.
Garbage.
I am using these bulbs for all my tortoises and never had any problems when the bulb is not too close to the tortoise. It was my fault to put these bulbs in the lower enclosure too close to the tortoises. But I read that the Arcadia long tubes are much better. I will change the bulbs and use the long tubes. What have the bulbs done to your chameleons ?
 

Bee62

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Sabine, is this from a tube UVB or one of those MVB bulbs that put out UVA, UVB and heat?
If so, I recently posted about that type bulb that one put out a UVB reading of 4 and the other put out 43!
I do hope that recovery will be swift. But those MVB bulbs are just not good.
Thanks for this post
Wow 43 ? That is much too much. I see I need quick a solarmeter.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Like I said, the UVB that they produce is not reliable. And the UVB can either be not enough...or WAY TOO MUCH.
They're downright dangerous as far as I'm concerned.
With my Chameleons, I found that they provided almost no UVB at 10". And when I raised the branches higher, for more UVB, I found that it was all directly under the bulb. Right where it was also too warm and almost no UVB to the sides.
So, no UVB if too far away....And pinpointed UVB closer to the bulb.
Ad to that that the bulbs don't perform the same way from one bulb to the next, the high cost and the short length of time that they work at all....
They're just not good for anything in my opinion.
I do not keep tortoises indoors like you do...As you know. So maybe your results are different? Or maybe the quality control of the bulbs sold in Europe are better?
I also can't say.
Maybe with a SOLARMETER (That I do now own. And highly recommend) they can be made to work for you. Guessing how high or low with these things is an expensive gamble. And I know how important your animals are to you.
 
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ZEROPILOT

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It was an Arcadia D3 bulb for UVB visible light and heat. This one:



The solarmeter is the next purchase.
I bought my SOLARMETER 6.5R from an American business called JOSHS FROGS.
But they're available several places at about $200 U.S.
 

willee638

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Hello, I want to share with you a bad experience with UVB & UVA light and tortoises eyes.

I bought 2 new Arcadia D3 bulbs ( no coil bulbs ) to give my tortoises enough UVB. Unfortunately I have no UV meter yet but it is on my list to buy next. I have to explain that my tortoises are young and living indoors in a close enclosure. I screwed 4 wooden vievariums together to one big enclosure.
The basking spot of the tortoises which they like most is in a smaller, lower part of the enclosure. In think the bulbs must have been too low above the tortoises. It was not too hot under the basking spot and the tortoises spend much time under the new basking bulbs. After a week I recognized that one of my torts developed a weird thing on her eye.
First I thought that she`s got a bacterial infection but nothing has changed in the enclosure or with the torts, except of the new bulbs !
I put out the new bulbs immediately ! That was 2 weeks ago. The eye of my tortoise is looking much better now. I think it is healing but it needs time. I think that UVB and UVA rays have burned the eye of the tort.
I want to share this experience with you to prevent other tortoise owners making the same mistake like me. The new bulbs had been approximately 7 inch over the tortoises shell. Now I know that the distance was much to short just for new bulbs !
Btw: The tortoise was all the time alert and good eating. Behaves totally normal.
Pictures following:
This is the "burned" eye.

View attachment 286665


and two weeks later the eye looks much better but healing needs time. The swelling is much better and it is not so red like before

View attachment 286666

View attachment 286668
Sorry to see this happen, I always questioned if I positioned the UVA+UVB bulb at a proper high away from my enclosure. I was only told when purchasing my red foot tortoise never to use any UV bulb with UVC emitted that can cause blindness, is it normal when a tortoise closes it's eyes when basking under artificial UV light sources or natural sunlight? If they close their eyes regularly in an enclosure setting can it be possible the light is too strong?
 

ZEROPILOT

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Sorry to see this happen, I always questioned if I positioned the UVA+UVB bulb at a proper high away from my enclosure. I was only told when purchasing my red foot tortoise never to use any UV bulb with UVC emitted that can cause blindness, is it normal when a tortoise closes it's eyes when basking under artificial UV light sources or natural sunlight? If they close their eyes regularly in an enclosure setting can it be possible the light is too strong?
Yes.
One of the big issues with those MVB is that they can be wildly different one to the next.
There's no way of telling your lighting exposure levels without a SOLARMETER with this type of light. But even then, they're still a bad choice.
 

willee638

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Yes.
One of the big issues with those MVB is that they can be wildly different one to the next.
There's no way of telling your lighting exposure levels without a SOLARMETER with this type of light. But even then, they're still a bad choice.
Thanks that was definitely one of the first thing I've notice was my tortoise's behaviour after I replaced my previous Nomoypet UVA+UVB full spectrum bulb to another brand Lucky Herp Mercury Vapor self-ballasted bulb that was frosted I thought would be less harsh & the glass is thicker, the old bulb emitted more heat. I guess my room temperature would be 22 degrees Celsius & the enclosure with UV light is no more than 25 degrees which is I suspect too low & I probably should increase it to about 30 degrees celcius.
 

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