Mega-Ray and Reptisun

I'm not asking which is better, I will always stick with a Reptisun 10.0 but what I was wondering is if it's safe to pair them up? Instead of a standard bulb for basking use a Mega-Ray which will give him UVB plus basking time, but also keep the reptisun going at the same time. Which yes sounds like overkill I know, I'm just wondering if it's safe or would it be harmful? I don't see how it would be harmful but I'd prefer to ask anyway.

Megray's are pretty intense so depending on distance he may bask off to the side of it to avoid such a narrow beam of intense UVB, or if he's like my adult female he'll stay away/run from it like its a disease that will kill him. When I put a megray UVB on my adult female she freaked out and ran from it all the way to the other side of her 75 gallon enclosure. This definitely wasn't a case of, "theres something moving over me its going to hurt me I should run", as i lift up heat lamps from her enclosure all the time and she just sits there.

All beardies have a preference though, some like intense levels of UVB, some like high levels, some prefer a moderate amount, and then theres others that like lower levels, which these levels of UVB should always be offered to add a variety of options.

Personally I see MVB's for beardies as a secondary UVB source.
Can it be used? Yes, but should it be the main UVB source? Not really as it doesn't offer options that a tube light offers, the pathway of the UVB is also pretty narrow and doesn't cover much ground compared to a tube light.

Depending on the distance of the MVB to the basking spot you may need another heat bulb as these suck at heating, you could adjust the height of it but get it to close to get good temps and the UVB will be too strong and cause problems.


But to answer your question simply, it should be safe as long as you mount it correctly and offer areas with low levels of UVB or some areas with no UVB at all.

How big is your setup and what are your furnishings like?

If you are using a T5HO, the megaray isn’t really going to add much useful light to your setup. If you don’t take care when setting it up, or use a meter you could be offering way to much UVB also. They have a pretty narrow “bright” spot, something like 8” diameter if I recal correctly. As far as supplemental light they don’t have a great color spectrum either. Personally I wouldn’t.

I would reserve the MegaRay as a portable basking source and a travel light. By using a non UVB emitting basking light you can adjust the height/output solely on heat (and to a lesser extent diameter of the heat spread/beam). It's nice to use a bulb that is dimmable so you can fine tune output as well.