Lets hear all about these bulbs!!!

[FabGyrl]

OKAY SOOO... As I am sure you have all been kinda reading, I adopted my lil gal a few days ago... She is in a 33 gallon with not much! I am going to build it up as I get more money and am heading to the river to find a nice flat rock and maybe some branches!!!!!!
Anyways the real question here is the darn lighting/heta thing... She has a heat rock, which I have been told isnt too good and she uses a EXO TERRA "SUN GLO" bulb. The guy at the store was telling me how important UVB is and was showing me a bulb that does the heat and UVB for $135... :shock: A fellow on here told me that this sounded WAYYY pricey... so lists of recommended lighting with UVB/websites are much appreicated!! I realise a lot of you are in the states but our dollar isnt too far off these days so... ANYWAYS ANYTHING HELPS!!! I am going to take a pic of her/and her tank so you guys can all tell me how awful I'm doing... LOL... Thanks guys!! :lol:

 

[FabGyrl]

 

[shadi11]

there is a reptisun 8.0 and reptiglo 10.0 which is a floresent strip it works well and is usually about 20-30 dollars if you dont care about the seperate heat light. which sometimes you need additional heat with the bulb the petstore referred to anyhow..
also is that play sand or calci sand. the only recommended sand is playsand. and thats usually for dragons over 13 inches. i personally use papertowel for my babies because its easy clean up and will be switching to slate

 

[FabGyrl]

Hi!! It is silica?? based sand. I thought it heard somewhere that it isnt good, but the guy in the shop swore up and down that it is okay as that is what they use and he uses at home... When it is needing a change... i am going to purchase the non slip "mats" everyone keeps talking about!! If the florescent strip is 20-30... how much is the fixture??!!

 

[shadi11]

the fixture is about the same.. i have found some at small department stores. an undercabinet light. which as long as it fits the bulb it can be used. or the hardware stores. those usually run around 10 dollars.

 

[FabGyrl]

Ive also heard that these bulbs are dangerous to look at as they represent the "sun" I have two small children... should I move her to my room where they cant see her/and the light?

 

[shadi11]

heres a link to a site that shows the bulbs
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=553
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1016

 

[FabGyrl]

thanks for your replies!!

 

[melissawf]

I have my beardie out in the living room and rigged my own "thing" with the fixture with sheet aluminum and a board to deflect the light and some wire from coat hangers to hang it low enough to do him good. I hang it from the back of the tank. The actual fixture is a cheapie from Walmart, less than $10 and you have to remove the lens cover thing so the bulb is exposed (otherwise it blocks the UVB). You could take a piece of thin fiberboard (pegboard would probably be good) and wrap it with aluminum foil and then put screws into it to hold the fixture and then use the wire to hang it from your lid or bend the wire around the side of the tank to hold it from the side. I don't think the kids will be sitting and staring at the light. I have four, almost five, children and they just look at Beardie. I think he would get depressed if I shoved him into a bedroom where he wouldn't get nearly as much attention. He even enjoys the 3yo who likes to touch his eyeballs (yes, I do try to prevent it but she is insanely wild).

I would get rid of the sand. Even playsand has risks. My beardie tastes absolutely EVERYTHING! He tried to pick pebbles out of concrete in the sidewalk recently! He was digging like mad and biting at it! He also nearly ate a piece of plastic wrap on the floor the other day. I was NOT looking forward to having to grab that spiky head and force his mouth open to go after it
Also, sand is difficult to keep clean. "Scooping the poop" doesn't account for the liquid part of what they leave behind.

-Melissa