Squinting under UVB?

So, I had a zilla slimeline fixture and I read that the zilla bulbs weren't good so I went to Petco and bought a reptisun 10.0 for way too much (I wanted it asap). I also bought a florescent fixture from Home Depot to mount inside her cage with command painting hooks. The edges of the bulb are dimmer than the rest of the bulb which kind of concerns me, but the rest is very bright. I know that this isn't caused by the fixture, because it is rated for 15w (same as the 18" reptisun) and it is the same when put back in the slimline fixture (also rated for 15w). Anyways, she has been squinting a little bit when she is under the UVB and tends to close whatever eye is facing the UVB, but quickly gets wide open and alert eyes when not under it. I put it back in the Slimeline fixture and put it on top and there has been an improvement, be she is still squinting a bit. Is it because of how bright it is, or is the bulb malfunctioning and causing eye irritation?

ditch the Zilla UV … very bad Chinese knockoffs made very poorly using poor quality quartz and cheap phosphors.

Only brands of UVB globes and tubes that are "trustworthy" are Exo Terra, Arcadia and Zoo Med (but not their T5HO tubes).

Only brands of UVB globes and tubes that are "trustworthy" are Exo Terra, Arcadia and Zoo Med (but not Zoo Med T5HO tubes, I'd recommend avoiding Zoo Med T5HO until they sort their phosphor life issues).

kingofnobbys":1ae71lcz said:

ditch the Zilla UV … very bad Chinese knockoffs made very poorly using poor quality quartz and cheap phosphors.

Only brands of UVB globes and tubes that are "trustworthy" are Exo Terra, Arcadia and Zoo Med (but not their T5HO tubes).

Click to expand...

Sorry, should have specified that I threw out the Zilla bulb a while back. I put the Reptisun 10 into the Slimeline fixture so I could put the UVB on top of the cage. I didn't explain that very well in my post.

Hello,

How is your dragon doing now, is he improving? Let us know how things are going.
I'm glad you are using the Reptisun 10 tube now, it is a much better light.

Tracie

She is doing a lot better. I have moved her basking spot a little bit and put the UVB back inside so that the uvb sits about 7” above her. She has not been squinting and started to perk up immediately when I mounted it this way.