PowerSun MVB Issues

[duke11]

Phew, good thing I bought the T-Rex for my turtle instead of the Powersun! Thanks for posting!

 

[joesaldivar]

I am so mad at Zoo Med! We just replaced Rocky's 100w PowerSun on June 14. I noticed over the last few days that he kept his eyes closed a lot. I was thinking of taking him to the vet tomorrow (today is Sunday) but decided to get onto beardeddragon.org first. One of the first postings that I saw under "health" was the one regarding the PowerSun. It made me so angry! I can tell by the posts that this has been going on for at least six months. Why on earth are these bulbs still on the shelf? I called the Petsmart where I paid $80 for it and told them what happened. The manager told me to bring the bulb back and they would refund my money. I'm calling ZooMed tomorrow and giving them a piece of my mind. Poor Rocky.
We are going to install a basking lamp alone for a couple of days. Has anyone found an alternate to the PowerSun that they liked? I really don't want to buy another one. Also, has no one seen any problems with the 160watt version? My light fixture has a dimmer switch and I suppose I could just buy the 160watt and dim it down if I had to. I'd rather switch brands though.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Joe,

Thank you so much for giving your information. This is terrible. I cannot believe we are having more problems with Zoomed's lights. They are supposed to be working on them right now but I wish that they would take the new ones off of the shelves, but, I guess that is just not going to happen.
I hear from other people, that they are not very helpful nor friendly on the phone when the people attempted to complain about the lights. So, good luck when you try to contact them. Let me know how it goes.
Did your dragon's eyes swell or was he just closing them constantly? How close did you have the light from him?

Tracie

 

[Nikki1292]

So far, my beardie Gizmo has had no problems with his powersun. There are no branches and such under it so he can't get close to it and there are two hides in the tank, though he doesn't use them. He is very active but does choose to rest under the powersun rather than the heat light most of the time. The only time he goes under the heat light is if the room is chilly and after he eats. Then he is under it for an hour or so. I only leave the powersun on for about 9 hours. The heat light is turned on at 10am while the powersun is turned on at 12pm, both are turned off at about 9pm as that is normally when he starts getting lazy.

I haven't had problems so far, he is doing very well. But after reading everything about the powersun, I will be keeping a VERY close eye on him. If I see any problems that were mentioned here, I will be getting a new UVB bulb.

 

[joesaldivar]

Good luck with the PowerSun. The problems I had with it were apparent almost after the first day. Unfortunately, I didn't know at the time that PowerSun was having problems with this bulb (shame on me for not watching the postings more closely) so I just thought Rocky was sleeping a lot. He had been under it 3 or 4 days when I realized that something was definitely wrong. I think I saw him chewing his food with his eyes closed and that tipped me off that he hadn' been asleep all that time. The good news is that after I pulled the bulb out he was just fine the next day. Traci, I don't think I ever answered your questions - his bulb is about 12 inches from his basking spot and his eyes were never swollen, just closed.
Just a tip for everyone that I learned the hard way - you can't use a mercury vapor bulb with a dimmer switch. I ordered the 160w Mega Ray. I have a dimmer switch on the light fixture so I thought I'd turn it down to the strength I needed. When it came in I installed it in Rocky's cage and started monitoring the temp. When I tried to dim it the light went completely out. I did this a couple of times then called MegaRay. I was told the outlet has to be at full power. I had to send the 160 back to trade for a 100w. So we STILL don't have a UVB light yet. Rocky and I have been spending some good quality time out in the sun together, though. lol!

 

[Nikki1292]

I was curious, although I haven't had problems with my powersun, if I ever do, would I need to buy a UVB bulb if I just spent about an hour off and on throughout the day in the natural sunlight with Gizmo?

 

[joesaldivar]

I consulted "The Bearded Dragon Manual" which is a good reference for beardie care. I was surprised to read that it recommends only two to four hours of sun exposure a week for bearded dragons. I thought they would need several hours a day. I went to a few other websites but very few discuss how many hours of "natural" UVB rays a bearded dragon needs each week.
Franki

 

[zebraflavencs]

Frankie, even though He is the top of his game, his game is over 25 years old.
We have the most up to date information, so keep your eyes peeled here
Janie.

 

[Nikki1292]

I think I may actually be having a problem with the powersun. I read more threads about it out of curiosity and noticed some of the problems in Gizmo. He wasn't moving around as much as he did the first 2 days I had him but I thought he was just sleepy. Then I noticed that he kept 1 eye closed a lot and that he wasn't actually sleeping, I just couldn't see his other eye. He wouldn't move from his rock near the powersun and when I tried to feed him yesterday he refused to eat both his salad and his crickets. I'm going to leave the powersun off today and see what happens. So far he seems a little more active and I have gotten him to eat 2 crickets but he won't eat anymore. Though it isn't 12pm, maybe its too early for him.

 

[joesaldivar]

Yes, just keep an eye on him. I noticed a definite difference in Rocky by the next morning. His eyes were wide open.
I will say that after I left the UVB light off for the next few days (I was waiting for the new one I ordered to come in) he was extremely lethargic. I started taking him outside for some natural rays and he regained most of his energy.
Franki

 

[Nikki1292]

He is doing MUCH better with it off. I was able to get him to eat 8 crickets, not all at once, but he did eat. He wouldn't chase them like he use to, instead I had to hold them and let him eat out of my hand or sit them in front of him on their backs so they wouldn't hop away. He still won't touch his salad. He was also more active. But I think there is another problem. He was acting weird while I was feeding him. He kept backing up to the point I had to pet him while feeding him. It was this way for the first few but then I didn't have to though he kept backing up. It took about 4 minutes just to get him to eat 1 cricket. I'm really worried about my baby (he isn't a baby age wise but I consider him to be my baby family wise) but I am almost 100% sure this was caused by the powersun as he is eating a little and more active. And to make sure he didn't get dehydrated, I gave him a warm bath.