Lighting: UVA/UVB Are both needed?

[Rkmuhammad]

Hello all, I just purchased my first BD last night and I have one light for him/her which is a Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp 100watt. I'm satisfied with the heat I get from it, and it says it provides UVA light. What I want to know is do I have to buy an additional light for UVB or is there a bulb that provides all 3, UVA, UVB, and heat?

 

[GoFast]

that light will be fine as long as you have a UVB source. As a little FYI that may save you a couple bucks...a regular household bulb emits just as much UVA as that "special" basking bulb :wink:

 

[Catalyst]

Hello all, I just purchased my first BD last night and I have one light for him/her which is a Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp 100watt. I'm satisfied with the heat I get from it, and it says it provides UVA light. What I want to know is do I have to buy an additional light for UVB or is there a bulb that provides all 3, UVA, UVB, and heat?

Yes, you need an additional bulb to provide UVB for your dragon. All lights produce UVA, there's nothing special about a petstore heat bulb - you can just as easily use a regular lightbulb or a halogen flood light for your dragon's heat bulb. It's the UVB light that you need to get from a pet supply source.

You can get a bulb that does both heat and UVB - it's called a mercury vapor bulb (or MVB for short). The best ones are the Megarays and the T-Rex Active Heat Flood bulb. Powersun is another common MVB, although it has been noted by some as having a tendancy to burn out early and is a bit more outdated when compared to the megarays and t-rex bulb.