Carolyn&Littlefoot
New Member
Hi all,
It's been almost a year since becoming a tortoise mom, and I was recently looking into creating a kind of cover for my tortoise enclosure inside (due to the possibility of adopting a cat in the distant future but thats a whole other thing). I wandered down several threads and opinions, and stumbled upon several comments across a few old threads (like 2008-2012) about the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB mini compact fluorescent (13 watts) bulbs. These comments have me pretty worried because 1. this is the UVB bulbs I have been using for a year (changing them every 6 months) and 2. I had not heard anything about there being possible eye damage to reptiles from this bulb. I've seen some things that it was just older and poor manufacturing that caused many of these occurrences but I wanted to come here and ask some people who have had tortoises longer than I have/know more than I do. Am I worried for nothing if my tortoise is happy and healthy? Is it absolutely necessary to swap out these bulbs ASAP, and if so, what UVB bulbs should I use? I already have 1 CHE and 1 Basking bulb, so I would really only need something that just puts out the UVB, not like a MVB. Thanks in advance for the help!
It's been almost a year since becoming a tortoise mom, and I was recently looking into creating a kind of cover for my tortoise enclosure inside (due to the possibility of adopting a cat in the distant future but thats a whole other thing). I wandered down several threads and opinions, and stumbled upon several comments across a few old threads (like 2008-2012) about the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB mini compact fluorescent (13 watts) bulbs. These comments have me pretty worried because 1. this is the UVB bulbs I have been using for a year (changing them every 6 months) and 2. I had not heard anything about there being possible eye damage to reptiles from this bulb. I've seen some things that it was just older and poor manufacturing that caused many of these occurrences but I wanted to come here and ask some people who have had tortoises longer than I have/know more than I do. Am I worried for nothing if my tortoise is happy and healthy? Is it absolutely necessary to swap out these bulbs ASAP, and if so, what UVB bulbs should I use? I already have 1 CHE and 1 Basking bulb, so I would really only need something that just puts out the UVB, not like a MVB. Thanks in advance for the help!