UV Bulb question

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tv_mikey

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Hello Everyone! I'm new to the forum and I'm currently using a Reti Glo 10.0 UVB 13w in my babby tort enclosure. I just read in another thread that C.F. Bulbs hurt torts eyes. I'm I using the correct UV Bulb for my baby tort? Thanks
 

Yvonne G

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No, tv_mikey, you're not using the correct bulb for your babies. The CF spiral bulb you're using might harm your babies' eyes.
 

dmarcus

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I agree with Yvonne, and over time those coil type bulbs can slowly cause blindness in a tortoise...
 

SulcataSquirt

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I would definitely change out the coil bulb for something different. We use the Mercury Vapor Zoo Med bulb for our Sulcata.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I totally disagree with Dmarcus. The blindness does not happen "over time". It happens quickly and extremely painfully. I had 3 small Sulcata, one was blinded, one died and the third was adopted out quickly. The one who was blinded happened over a few months time but the residual treatment trying to treat him for the pain and the blinding lasted a couple of years. I would go to wake him up in the morning and his eyes would be flaming red and he'd be rubbing them on his legs and he'd be foaming at the mouth and drooling it was simply awful. I had never seen a tortoise show pain before and this baby hurt so bad it actually hurt me. The Vet put him on a pain management regimen trying to stop the pain over nite but it didn't help much as part of the over nite problem was dryness.
So please if you love your animal take my advice from my own personal experience and turn off that bulb this minute and break it. The end result of my baby was total blindness in one eye and severely diminished sight in the other and most probable lasting pain. He was adopted out after I had him for 3 years. I just didn't have enough room for 2 Sulcata.
 

Tnewton

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tortoisefanatic said:
tv_mikey said:
What type of bulb do you guys recomend?

A mercury vapor bulb, or MVB. I use PowerSuns, but there are others.

Alan


A tube uvb bulb or mvb as stated. I have been using solarglo lately and so far im satisfied, only prob is these bulbs lose uvb a lot quicker then they claim
 

fbsmith3

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DO NOT BRAKE the florescent coil bulb, they contain mercury and aerosolized mercury is toxin.
If you can not return it, you can still use it as an expensive plant light; just aim it toward the plants and away from any animals or peoples eyes.
ZooMed guarentees their CFL bulbs no longer focus UVB, but like others I'd rather not chance it.

Just please DO NOT BREAK any florescent bulbs and if you do call a hazmat team seriously, they all have mercury and are toxic.
 

Jedi

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Are the floodlight bulbs (as in the home depot kind and the kind you can put in recess lighting) good for for torts?
 
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byerssusan

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wow and again I learn something new every day.. Thank goodness for this forum..That is exactly the type bulb I have been using also Repti glo 10.0 uvb..Geesh here I am worrying about Phoenix's eating habits and I stupidly put a bulb in her enclosure which can make her go blind!! Let me ask this..If I make an enclosure for her ..a safe one..for outside like for a couple of hours a day so she can get natural sunshine and shade of course (It gets hot here in Arizona) could I then not even have to have a sun light for her enclosure?

well I had better go ahead and ask this also. I am using a Zilla Day White Light Incandescent spot for Phoenix to bask under 50 watt.. Is this correct?
 

Tony the tank

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Can someone explain what causes the blindness..I have read of certain lights causing temporary painfully blindness( almost like welders flash).. But nothing permanent..I have read the retina is very good at screening out UV rays to avoid permanent damage..

I have experienced first hand a severe case of welders flash( cheap welding mask)I was blinded for almost a week..(and it was incredibly painfully)..but I made a complete recovery with no side effects..
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I don't know what caused it, but I had one tortoise blinded and another died so they are bad bulbs. Maybe Madkins can explain or exoticdr but I don't know how it happened I just know it did. I think the one was in such pain from the bulb that he was thrashing around and caught his neck under the end of a brick and suffocated, I know from watching Tony Stewart that it caused severe pain in his eyes. He would foam at the mouth and drool heavily and rub his eyes, so I know it hurt and I think that's how the one died. But I'm just guessing from watching Tony Stewart.....
 

jaizei

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fbsmith3 said:
DO NOT BRAKE the florescent coil bulb, they contain mercury and aerosolized mercury is toxin.
If you can not return it, you can still use it as an expensive plant light; just aim it toward the plants and away from any animals or peoples eyes.
ZooMed guarentees their CFL bulbs no longer focus UVB, but like others I'd rather not chance it.

Just please DO NOT BREAK any florescent bulbs and if you do call a hazmat team seriously, they all have mercury and are toxic.

LOL
 
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