UV light vs D3 supplement ??

[Suzettem99]

Hello, I am trying to find the best UV light for my sulcata and have been reading previous posts to find one. I did come across someone’s reply to a post from a well known and experienced member that said if you give your tortoise Calcium with D3 or a supplement with D3 (I can’t remember exactly which one now), that you don’t need a UV light which would sort of make sense since the light is used to turn D2 to D3. Can someone confirm or deny if this is true? Any thoughts? Should I just get a light and not give supplements with D3?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello, I am trying to find the best UV light for my sulcata and have been reading previous posts to find one. I did come across someone’s reply to a post from a well known and experienced member that said if you give your tortoise Calcium with D3 or a supplement with D3 (I can’t remember exactly which one now), that you don’t need a UV light which would sort of make sense since the light is used to turn D2 to D3. Can someone confirm or deny if this is true? Any thoughts? Should I just get a light and not give supplements with D3?

UVB lights and the correct kind of UVB lights aren't easily found just everywhere.
But in California USA, you should be just fine.
Get a T5 HO 10.0 florescent strip light fixture and leave it on a few hours each day.
With that and a correct diet, you can save the money you'd spend of 90% of those supplements each month.
And a few hours of outdoors sunshine can replace the T5 uvb.....
You can still ad a tiny bit of Calcium powder. The UVB will make the D3

 

[Suzettem99]

UVB lights and the correct kind of UVB lights aren't easily found just everywhere.
But in California USA, you should be just fine.
Get a T5 HO 10.0 florescent strip light fixture and leave it on a few hours each day.
With that and a correct diet, you can save the money you'd spend of 90% of those supplements each month.
And a few hours of outdoors sunshine can replace the T5 uvb.....
You can still ad a tiny bit of Calcium powder. The UVB will make the D3

Thank you! Is there a specific brand that you recommend? I don’t want to purchase one that will stop working soon because someone of heat lamps did that.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Arcadia is probably the best choice. If you search Arcadia, you want a T5 HO 12% in whatever length suits your enclosure.
I personally use the less expensive REPTISUN. If you search that, you want a T5 HO 10.0 in whatever length suits you.
Do not get any of the many UVB lights that screw into a fixture.
Get a linear florescent tube.

 

[Suzettem99]

Arcadia is probably the best choice. If you search Arcadia, you want a T5 HO 12% in whatever length suits your enclosure.
I personally use the less expensive REPTISUN. If you search that, you want a T5 HO 10.0 in whatever length suits you.
Do not get any of the many UVB lights that screw into a fixture.
Get a linear florescent tube.

Thank you so much I appreciate the help!

 

[Markw84]

Arcadia is probably the best choice. If you search Arcadia, you want a T5 HO 12% in whatever length suits your enclosure.
I personally use the less expensive REPTISUN. If you search that, you want a T5 HO 10.0 in whatever length suits you.

What are you paying for Reptisun? The Arcadia HO T5 12% 22" runs $21.50 for the bulb, $24 for the 34". $70 for the 24" Arcadia fixture with bulb. I see Reptisun bulb only running about $45.00???

 

[zovick]

What are you paying for Reptisun? The Arcadia HO T5 12% 22" runs $21.50 for the bulb, $24 for the 34". $70 for the 24" Arcadia fixture with bulb. I see Reptisun bulb only running about $45.00???

Hey Mark,
Not sure where you saw that price. Are you sure it wasn't for 6 of the tubes? The most expensive Reptisun linear tubes are $24.99 each for the 46" T5's if bought from LLL Reptile. The shorter lengths are less $$ and if you buy 6 or 12 at a time, the price per tube is even less than that.

Here is a link: https://www.lllreptile.com/catalog/186-fluorescent-linear-tube-uvb-bulbs

 

[Tom]

Hello, I am trying to find the best UV light for my sulcata and have been reading previous posts to find one. I did come across someone’s reply to a post from a well known and experienced member that said if you give your tortoise Calcium with D3 or a supplement with D3 (I can’t remember exactly which one now), that you don’t need a UV light which would sort of make sense since the light is used to turn D2 to D3. Can someone confirm or deny if this is true? Any thoughts? Should I just get a light and not give supplements with D3?

I prefer to hit all three of those bases. Why not? I use a calcium supplement with D3, I sun babies periodically, and I also run Arcadia 12%HO tubes in some of my enclosures too. I've never seen any hint of MBD in any of my tortoises, so it must be working.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

What are you paying for Reptisun? The Arcadia HO T5 12% 22" runs $21.50 for the bulb, $24 for the 34". $70 for the 24" Arcadia fixture with bulb. I see Reptisun bulb only running about $45.00???

My fixtures are several years old and the tubes I got spares ahead of time.
When I bought them, the price was less at the time.

 

[Suzettem99]

I prefer to hit all three of those bases. Why not? I use a calcium supplement with D3, I sun babies periodically, and I also run Arcadia 12%HO tubes in some of my enclosures too. I've never seen any hint of MBD in any of my tortoises, so it must be working.

So glad you replied because I was referring to one of your comments form a previous post. Thank you for your help! Always get good advice from you!