Have you ever had lighting issues?

I was wondering how many of you...
Started with Reptiglo, or Powersun, or any coil/compact type bulb and had problems, and when you switched to the reccomended Reptisun, Arcadia, Megaray, or T-Rex had good results?

Just curious about the general consencus on how good the good bulbs are, and how bad the bad bulbs are...

Thanks for you're input

At first I had a Reptiglo 10, and Sahara wasn't eating much, and hiding alot from the light. I took some advice from BD.org and switched to the Reptisun 10 tube, and she started eating more, being more active, pooping better -- all around a healthier dragon

Hi I had the desert 50 tube in the beginning and was given bad advice on calcium but when we switched to MORE calcium AND the repti sun the difference is amazing and now 9.5 months later our lizard is strong and healthy

munchkins9802":37d1e said:

Hi I had the desert 50 tube in the beginning and was given bad advice on calcium but when we switched to MORE calcium AND the repti sun the difference is amazing and now 9.5 months later our lizard is strong and healthy

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Great! This is good news! Glad to see BD.org helped, and the new lighting helped too. What was going on with your pooper with the original light?

avoiding it, darkened color, stress marks constant, and a lot of twitching and seizure like activitie 3 days after we got him. That was because PETSMARTS CARE SHEET misinformed me into feeding calcium only 2-3 x a week as a BABY.
once NEW light was put in, VERY active , more alert, less stress marks, went to basking spot willingly. ANd then added calcium 7x a week (now 5x) and vitamins 2x week, and colors and all.

Awesome!! Keep it coming!!

We have had this experience, absolutely, in stages actually...

We had a Zilla Desert Series 50 compact to start and all "seemed" fine at first, but within a few weeks: slowed appetite, stunted growth, sleeping/hiding most of the day and left eye closed most of the time when awake. *sigh*

We had a very small starter enclosure (a 15g) and so we upgraded initially to a ReptiSun 5.0 tube. Within hours, beardie was out and about, sleeping less, eating more, eye opening more and doing much better. BUT, overtime, we didn't see as dramatic of change as we wanted... beardie was doing better, but still seemed not to be eating enough, and growth was happening but very, very slow.

A few weeks later, we were able to find an inexpensive 40 breeder on Craigslist which allowed us to upgrade to a MVB (A 100w T-Rex). From the moment we plopped beardie in the new enclosure, she took off in a huge way. Ran right up the basking spot and stayed there the entire day. She'd never basked for that long, ever! That was in Febraury of this year. She was 5 months old and only 6 inches. :shock: By 10-12 days in, she was shedding, and from there it was a non-stop cycle of mucho bug consumption and rapid shedding and growth. The girl was on a mission! And she more than made up for lost time. I'm proud to report that at nearly 14 months old, she is now 17+ inches, robust and healthy (and spoiled beyond belief :roll: ).

We cried happy tears the first time she shed after recovering from her "shut down" period. When she had her first 100 bug day, we danced!

Hope this helps your "research." We love the opportunity to share our story. IMHO, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for quality UVB.

The best,
Em

I've always used MVB's luckily the UVB was one of the things I was doing right in the beginning.

However I did have or should I say Bender had issues earlier this year with a PowerSun 100watt when they changed them without telling anyone. Luckily I noticed he was having some kind of issue and changed his bulb out for another brand MVB and within days he was back to normal.

The lighting issues I have are my old house is off the ground not on a cement slab...so when you walk thru the house you must walk lightly or the MVB's will sometimes vibrate. Vibration will cause you MVB to flicker and flash then burn out prematurely.

Thanks Barbara. Good to know

This is a great learning excersise. To get to know everyone's problems and how to overcome them!!

Placed one of my beardies under megaray mvb from birth, at just under 6 months old and he measured 18.5 inches. Not sure if it was just food or lighting, but feel it was a combination of both that led to his extrodinary growth.

All my beardies are now on either mvb or metal halides.

:?:

:lol: :mrgreen:

anyone else?

About 2 weeks ago I changed to the Arcadia 12, and use this with a relector. Prior to that I was using a Eurozoo Advance UV 6 fluorescent tube ( a German make) which I got in September with my initial set-up. I wasn't happy with it - Ozzie was lethargic, with a very dull colour and frequently had stress marks. Although he was eating, he just didn't seem do be doing well at all. Then he started keping his right eye shut more of the time without there being any signs of infection or injury. I tried to find some product reviews on the Advance UV but couldn't find any. So, not wanting to take any chances I bought the Arcadia from UK and shipped it over to Germany..... WOW!!! What a difference. He is much more alert and interested in what's going on, he is showing very bright colours, his eyes are BOTH very wide and open, he eats (and poops :lol: ) very well and he is seems to have more life in him. And he is growing faster- he put on 29grams and grew 1.5 cm in a week, previously he was averaging 15-20 gram increase each week. As I haven't changed anything else in his set-up, I would have to say that it is due to replacing my UV with Arcadia 12

I started out with some type of fluker full spectrum and he grew for a bit ate normal
then he didn't shed for a while. hes 5 months and 13inches I don't know if hes on track and it kind of look likes his tail has a little kink. Now I've switched to a reptisun 1.0 the expensive one and he shed within the first 2 days and now his tail is starting again. I hope his growth isn't stunted I'd feel bad if I did anything to hinder his life. But hes strong and healthy now so I can't complain thanks to a light bulb weird