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Advanced Discussion
Lighting/Enclosures
Are we overexposing our dragons to UV?
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[QUOTE="Taterbug, post: 1894683, member: 71213"] It's gunna be a long time.comming to get the data and studies, unfortunately. In the mean time I think we can make improvments and sort of side step the nuances of blood-data and such if husbandry becomes a more holistic discussion. With dragons, there is a lot of focus on UVB. This makes sense, next to calcium supplementation there is little in captivity that can be so deviating to the animals health. Is the answer to find out exact dosages of UV or is it better to provide the best replication of a natural environment as we can? UV has been a limiting factor for a long time for husbandry and healthy animals, it's becoming less so. Unfortunately alot.of "best practices" were developed around the tech of the time, and are sticking around. The attitude of more UV being the end all be all goal is misplaced. Lamps are a tool, and we are fortunate to have better tools now than we did before, the rest of husbandry can catch up now. UVI of 3 is reasonable, I 100% agree. The question then becomes how to best and most comfortably supply this? In the past, T8 lamps were the strongest available. A T8 lamp in a reflector will have an effective range of (for UVI~3) about 6-10" away from the bulb depending on fixtures, screen and so forth. That's pretty close. Alternatively, a T5 in a reflector can be more like 12-18" away. This means that not only does the light move further away (less glare, the gradient is more even with less margin between too low and too high) you are opening up more possibility for your gradient. Unfortunately now you are most likely limited by the size of your enclosure or by heat lights. It's not possible to have a nice big (lizard sized) thermo-photogradient in a 40g tank. It's just not. Fortunately, these are much easier to remedy (space and budget allowing) than underpowered UV lights. A small enclosure, or one that doesn't have much furnishings/enrichment has to be kept at more of and "ideal/average". Once you move to a bigger habitat, that nice strong UV light really offers new possibilities. The more space you have the more environmental enrichmenty you can offer and thats good for the mind and body. Because I have a pretty large cage I am more comfortable with offer a wider range of options - having more space and options means the lizard gets to choose not me. I offer a basking site of about UVI 5-6 and 130F basking temp as my "too hot"; it does get used in sort bursts, as does the cool areas and hides. I also have all my lights on timers so the lights dim on/off and the UV is on only when the basking lights are 100%. [/QUOTE]
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Lighting/Enclosures
Are we overexposing our dragons to UV?
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