I have bought 5 small lightning kits for all my hatching. Each tank is 25 gallons, the lightning kits are small. They came with zoo med repti basking spot lamp 75 watt, and also a red light for nighttime.
The basking lamp says heat, daylight, basking, uva.
Is that good?
Also, how long do i use the red light for nights?
Or should i use red during the day also?
The red box says heat, 24 hour heat, night.
Now the reason for this question..one of my first clutch baby, 37 days old, started to have arms and legs trembling. I read online it could be calcium and or vitamin b deficiency. I do dust with calcium, and a multivitamin once a week...but i wonder about my lightning? The fixture is hanging about 5 inches from their top branch, and there is no wire mess. No cover at all.
I brought him outside, its been about an hour, and right this moment his arms and legs not shaking....
But im worried it will start again. In the 43 hatching thus far, this has never happened before.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Tami
Thanks, Brandon, does that mean that the basking light does not give adequate uva, even though the box says it has it?
Is zoo med for a uva light alone a good brand? I think 75 watts is as high as i can go on fixture. will that be enough?
So many questions lol,
Thanks!
I'm sure it gives OK UVA, but you need UVB to allow for Vit d3 synthesis.
Pretty much every light source imaginable will output some amount of UVA, but only specific bulbs produce UVB, and thats what you need. That's why we recommend a basking bulb and a UV bulb. Because typically a UV bulb is a bulb specifically made to output UVA and UVB.
Without a bulb producing UVB, your babies are going to suffer the effects of lack of calcium absorption such as twitching, soft bones, MBD, etc.
You are going to want to get the reptisun 10.0 long tube, or the arcadia tubes. You need a fluorescent fixture for these. Luckily with hatchlings and bin setups, you can buy 1 long tube that can span multiple setups.
Such as this:
Not my image, but similar to what I did when I was raising hatchlings. Note each bin has it's own heat bulb, and then there is a fluorescent UV bulb that spans a few bins each.
Yeah, the babies need good uvb right from the start. I just wanted to mention that I've seen set ups like the one Brandon linked but I highly recommend a criss cross of basking branches in each bin. Babies are much happier with branches to climb on. See how all those babies are off to the sides of those bins ? They are looking for better basking options which one small rock cannot provide. Here is how I did mine.
You can get branches + sticks outside and pop them in a preheated 250F oven for 30-45 minutes to kill any possible pests. Don't use anything with sap or pine.
By the way, you say you took the baby outside ? If you have good weather, get yourself a medium size kiddie pool set up in part sun with some areas shaded. Babies raised in the sun will never get MBD as long as they get the proper diet along with it. Here's how I set mine up years ago.
Nice setup! Great ideas, thanks so much.
I got the uvb 10.0 light and put it in.
Do you think her condition will correct itself soon??? Shes breaking my heart with her shaking. ?
Yes, I've seen babies get better in just 2-3 days in the sun when it's uvb/calcium related. Be sure she's getting calcium dusted food or add it to her water to drip on her snout for a drink. Get her in the sun daily and she may be back to normal in just days.
Thanks. I got the zoo med 10.0 uvb desert. Shes shaking so bad, and the rest of her is stiff. She cant walk. We put a hammock so she can be closer to the light, and fed her dusted small wax worms.
Shes so weak, i don't think she will last through the night. Should i leave the uvb light on tonight?
Oh, sorry I didn't get to this yesterday. That's really bad, she went downhill so quickly from when you said she first had the shakes. No lights on at night, just keep her warm [ about 80 F ] Can you get her in the sun some more ? Although she may have irreversible damage , sun is the best thing for her and may still help. Is the bulb you got a coil/compact or the long tube that Brandon mentioned ?
Hi, no worries, i appreciate the reply. We also add calcium to the water, and drizzle it on his snout until he drank. He did drink. We ended up turning the light off, and this morning, so far, hes not shaking. I hope, hope hope he will be okay.
We will take him outside again today.
Did you happen to see my post about the egg?
Thanks!
Tami
Tami, Unfortunately that won't be adequate. That is still whats considered a compact fluorescent. You don't' want a compact fluorescent, you need a long tube fluorescent such as this: