So my vet just tested my newish reptisun 10 and said it's junk. She recommended the Murcury Vapor bulb by MegaRay, she said it's a basking spot and UV all in one which is cool. But now that I'm looking at the bulb online... If I'm reading correctly it says minimum distance from the bulb is 11in. Anyone has experience with these, do they get insanely hot or something? My dragon likes sticks to bask in and if I buy this there is no way she can use her stick anymore.
Also.. what kind of dome can I use? I have the regular domes with the ceramic thing. But on josh's frogs website they're saying to use wire domes...
Reptisuns definitely aren't junk. They can go bad with age though, just like all UV producing bulbs, including the megaray.
The issue with MVBs is that a lot of times, the effective distance of the UV doesn't jive with the effective distance you need it to be for proper temperatures. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on your setup. Additionally, MVB's provide UV in a much smaller area than how a long tube would provide it over a large area of the tank.
I would verify your vet tested your bulb properly, and if it's bad, buy a new reptisun bulb.
I agree w/ Brandon -- Reptisuns are not junk and it could be he didnt correctly test the bulb or the bulb is old -- and like Brandon said they all wear out w/ time of usage
I agree with the previous comments as well. Which ReptiSun 10 do you have? They brand a lot of different bulbs under that name and they aren't all equal, unfortunately.
The MegaRay bulbs are good, but I prefer to use them as portable basking sites since, as mentioned, it can be difficult to get the proper temperature gradient while having the bulb at the correct height for UVB exposure. MegaRays also tend to have a fairly narrow, intense cone of UVB in the center of the bulb that drops off in intensity quickly. In the main enclosure, I prefer to use a T5 tube for UVB because it provides a much wider spread across the enclosure.
I'm not sure what kind of reptisun 10? It's a T8? It's only 3 months old, if that. So not my issue is I just bought a zilla timed power center and plugged my MVB into it and now it won't work. There goes another 60$, this is my second MVB because the first one out out enough heat but not enough UVB so I got a higher wattage. I also think this bulb may have sun burned her nose? I can't tell if it's shed or a burn. I went on amazon to return the bulb and saw an awful review with pics of this girl's bearded dragon with like open wound burns and stuff. Now I'm thinking I'll just go buy a new T8 reptisun and say eff it to the mercury vapor.
Can you post a photo of her nose? Hopefully it's just a shed. That's the rub with MVBs - the UVB output doesn't necessarily provide the right heat at a given distance.
The T8 ReptiSun is a tube style bulb and is pretty good for small enclosures. They have their best output using a fixture with a reflector at about 6-8'' above the main basking area. If you need to cover more distance than that, I would move to a T5 which is a more powerful tube style bulb. That will require moving to a T5 fixture as well though.