too much of a good thing?

[PonchoandDaddy]

Hey everyone, I work with a guy who has a beardie, the other day over lunch we were discussing our dragons which of course lead to how we care for them. Shortly into the conversation he blurts out that she has never been under uvb lighting and has shown absolutely no symptoms of any problems. He says he dusts her food with calcium w D3 and just has a regular household bulb for heating. After a semi-argument about the subject he asked me what are the odds of the uvb light hurting her since she's never had one and by some miracle is perfectly healthy. Kind of like a "if its not broke don't fix it" kind of thing.

I personally told him I felt like adding a reptisun 10 would only make his dragon that much more healthy but that I would ask y'all.

He's willing to get the light if I am positive the "if its not broke don't fix it" rule of thumb doesn't apply to this situation and I just want to be 100% before I go around giving advice.

 

[kcarello]

Oh my goodness!! Yes, bearded dragons need full spectrum lighting for 12 - 14 hours a day. I would like you to pm Drache613 and have her explain it to you. She is excellent and will be able to completely explain all the reasons.
Good Luck,
Kelly

 

[Rukii]

UV lighting is essential to the overall health of beardies. Reptisun 10.0 tube lights are what I, and seemingly the general consensus of users on here use for their beardies. Whatever you do, don't let him get the compacts, those are just bad news :| I would also recommend a heat/basking bulb if the temperatures on his beardie's basking spot are not high enough.

 

[PonchoandDaddy]

Oh trust me I completely agree with y'all and I almost fell out my chair when he told me his 3 yr old girl had never had anything but a household bulb for bassking and she's completely healthy. I guess the D3 is the reason but I still couldn't believe it.

I'm going to buy the light and fixture so there's no excuse for her not to get it and I know its the right thing.

I just wanted to make sure this wasn't one of those situations that you should just leave well enough alone. Just for the record my Poncho has had the best I could possibly provide the entire time I've had him.