lighting concern

I am a new beardie owner, and believe i may have made a mistake upon purchasing my UVB bulb. i had read the the coild are bad, so i of course avoided them.
upon further inspection, i believe i may have made a mistake.

http://turtleshack.com/store/images/zm_10_coil.jpg
i though that this type wasnt a coil, because my local pet store didnt have any real tubes - and these looked like tubes to me.

my question is if this bulb is bad, will my baby quincy be okay for a while with it? how long?
i guess all new owners make mistakes, but i wont have the funds to get a new bulbs for a while.
that being said, where is a cheap place to buy the correct bulbs?

okay.

i called my local pet store and got the okay to trade my coil for a tube without charge, so the price does not matter anymore.

i have a 12'' (30 cm) fixture currently (for a 20g tank, for a young juvie) what size tube would best work for a fixture that size?

Hi. I think the smallest reptisun tube is 18 inches.

Sounds like you have a dome or other screw in type fixture? You will need one that accepts a tube, so you might need to buy one. What tubes does your store offer?

Taterbug":k0l0z20m said:

Sounds like you have a dome or other screw in type fixture? You will need one that accepts a tube, so you might need to buy one. What tubes does your store offer?

Click to expand...

yes, i have a hood type fixture at the moment. its really small so i was unsure if there were even any tubes that would fit at all, so i was already making plans to buy a much larger one - however, that could be a while. a month or two, maybe?

i just got my baby so i spent lots of money on all the fixings, so i need some time to get my funds back together before i can buy a new fixture.

that being said, when i called my store to ask about trading the coil for a tube, they said they could order any type for me. theyre a smaller store and not commercial, so they dont carry any instore but have no problem ordering a tube for me to come in and pick up - so really i could get anything. of course, im planning on a reptisun 10.0, just need to figure out sizes. if 18'' is the smallest the tubes go, would you say mounting it inside would be cheaper than buying a fixture?

also, is no uvb better than compact uvb? i dont know if i should have the compact bulb on anymore or whats best for quincy. would he be better off if i just took him outside every day instead of using a bad bulb? sorry for all my questions! i appreciate the help.