TRex Active Heat Issues and some answers UPDATE 5/18

[eric898]

Hi everybody,
I just wanted to say that this is a great forum and has been extremely helpful. Our bearded dragon is about 4 and is very robust and healthy, he has never had parasites or any other problems. Last week I ordered a T-Rex active UV Heat bulb to replace his UV Mega Ray which was a little over a year old. Well the bulbs came on Monday (4-5-2010), I had ordered 2 from LLLreptile.com. I replaced the bulbs in both of our dragons light fixtures and noticed that the bulb in the 4 year old dragon's cage produced a much brighter white light then the other one did. We didn't think that it was a problem until yesterday (4-9-2010) when we noticed that he was closing his eyes and was very weak when we picked him up. I called our Vet and wasn't able to get an appointment until Monday. So I got on this website and read about the problems that people were having with these bulbs and immediately turned the bulb off. We put Reiley under his piece of driftwood and let him sleep for the night figuring that he would be better in the morning. Well this morning I went in to see if he was up and found him still sleeping. I picked him up and was alarmed at how weak he was, he had absolutely no energy. My wife and I were both devastated at this sudden turn of events that had happened. We kept him warm and were preparing for the worst. My wife started to give him some water and electrolytes and gradually he started to turn around. He seems to be doing much better now, but is still closing his eyes. I checked the number on the bulb and it is a K1. For the past couple of hours we have been making sure that he doesn't go into shock by giving him electrolytes and a rescue food mixed with baby food squash. He is starting to gain some strength, holding his head up and keeping his eyes open, and he just ate two crickets. His eyes seem to be getting stronger and we are pretty certain that he can see since he found the crickets. We have another Beardie, named Pogo, and his light is an capital "I" 1 and he does not not seem to be having any problems. We just called a friend to tell her to check her light which she also recently purchased from T-Rex. This has really been upsetting. Riley has been a great little guy, full or personality and energy and curiosity until 24 hours ago. We hope he makes it. Keep him in your prayers.
Thank you, because if it hadn't been for this information, Riley might be dead right now. We are grateful to have some hope for him.

 

[beardie osk]

Hi everybody,
I just wanted to say that this is a great forum and has been extremely helpful. Our bearded dragon is about 4 and is very robust and healthy, he has never had parasites or any other problems. Last week I ordered a T-Rex active UV Heat bulb to replace his UV Mega Ray which was a little over a year old. Well the bulbs came on Monday (4-5-2010), I had ordered 2 from LLLreptile.com. I replaced the bulbs in both of our dragons light fixtures and noticed that the bulb in the 4 year old dragon's cage produced a much brighter white light then the other one did. We didn't think that it was a problem until yesterday (4-9-2010) when we noticed that he was closing his eyes and was very weak when we picked him up. I called our Vet and wasn't able to get an appointment until Monday. So I got on this website and read about the problems that people were having with these bulbs and immediately turned the bulb off. We put Reiley under his piece of driftwood and let him sleep for the night figuring that he would be better in the morning. Well this morning I went in to see if he was up and found him still sleeping. I picked him up and was alarmed at how weak he was, he had absolutely no energy. My wife and I were both devastated at this sudden turn of events that had happened. We kept him warm and were preparing for the worst. My wife started to give him some water and electrolytes and gradually he started to turn around. He seems to be doing much better now, but is still closing his eyes. I checked the number on the bulb and it is a K1. For the past couple of hours we have been making sure that he doesn't go into shock by giving him electrolytes and a rescue food mixed with baby food squash. He is starting to gain some strength, holding his head up and keeping his eyes open, and he just ate two crickets. His eyes seem to be getting stronger and we are pretty certain that he can see since he found the crickets. We have another Beardie, named Pogo, and his light is an capital "I" 1 and he does not not seem to be having any problems. We just called a friend to tell her to check her light which she also recently purchased from T-Rex. This has really been upsetting. Riley has been a great little guy, full or personality and energy and curiosity until 24 hours ago. We hope he makes it. Keep him in your prayers.
Thank you, because if it hadn't been for this information, Riley might be dead right now. We are grateful to have some hope for him.

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about your boy.......so I'm assuming that you discontinued the T-rex, right? You'll have to get in touch with lllreptile and tell them that these bulbs have been declared defective and your sending them back for a refund.
We here at this site have been dealing with T-rex and their suppliers, and have been fortunate to be reimbursed for the bulbs. We all had similar symptoms that you expressed, and when the bulbs were discontinued, there was a turn around in their behavior and eyes......so I'm hoping this is the case with your boy. I am waiting for the MVB solar glo, which have had positive results, until all these glass issues are rectified with other MVB's. I will pray for your boy for a speedy recovery, glad you found this thread!

 

[vickson420]

Oh goodness I am so sorry to hear about your little one.You did the right thing by turning it off and you will not want UVB in there for a few days at least to give him time to heal but in the meantime replace it with any ordinary household bulb to maintain the proper temps(of course the wattage will vary until you get the temps).Please do contact LLLreptile for a refund but also please call TRex directly as well and let them know about it.As for the I(EYE)1 it should not cause any issues as it wasn't part of the problem from what we have been told but I still recommend you just keep an eye out initially to ensure there are no problems.I recommend daily baths and if he isnt eating you can do babyfood slurrys to keep his energy up.Please keep us posted and any questions feel free to ask.

Now to everyone I else I just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten to post updates but sadly there are not any at the moment.I have had no real contact with Alan or Rachel recently even though I have attempted to contact them so I am honestly unsure as to what is going on.When and if I have anything to add I promise you I will. I can tell you Frances is currently testing the bad TRex as well as some other MVB bulbs to see exactly what happened but those results are not ready as of yet.All I can say right now is hang in folks.

 

[beardie osk]

Hey Vicky and Diane,
I wanted to let you know that I got my refund from Pet mountain, whew :silent: ........glad to get it and that it's finally over.

 

[vickson420]

Great Glad to hear you got it!

 

[diamc]

Hey Vicky and Diane,
I wanted to let you know that I got my refund from Pet mountain, whew :silent: ........glad to get it and that it's finally over.

That's great Christine, good thing you were persistent, it certainly paid off, literally.:lol:

eric898, we're certainly glad that you found this forum, hate to think what would have happened if you hadn't. Your poor beardie, it is great that you were watching him closely and then researched problems with that particular bulb. Just out of curiosity, what was the distance that you had the bulb placed?

I totally agree with Vicky with everything she said. I wanted to ask what type of thermometer you're using to check the temps and what are the temps? If you're using any type of stick-on, your temps could be as much as 20 degrees off. So, if you're not using an infrared temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end, your temps will be inaccurate. Walmart has the AcuRite brand digital with probe for about $12.00, it will give both basking temp and cool side at the same time as well as a humidity readout.

Please keep us updated on your beardie and watch the other one closely.

 

[vickson420]

Hi All
I spoke with Alan via email over the last day or so and he has been advised by Westron that a new batch of bulbs was shipped via UPS yesterday which means they should have arrived today or tomorrow at the latest so people should be recieving replacement bulbs shortly.If you do get a replacement can you please let us know and also let us know how your animal responds.Also I did get one of the new Standard UV MVB bulbs form TRex and am going to try it out to see if we have a new option.

Will keep you posted
Vicky

 

[eric898]

Reiley is finally starting to come around, today is the first day that he has opened his eyes and kept them open for any amount of time. We had the bulb about 12" from his basking area. On Monday we took him to the vet, he was in a very weakened state at this time, the vet gave us Ofloxacin 10ml opthalmic solution 1 drop in each eye for 10 days, also a small bottle of liquid tears to apply 2 to 3 times a day. We are also giving him warm baths 3 times a day and 2 to 3 ml of electrolytes. He is also getting squash baby food mixed with critical care powder twice a day. We cut out all UVB light and are gradually reintroducing it. We contacted T-Rex and spoke to Alan, he was very understanding and told us that he would rectify the problem. The defective bulb was sent back to LLL Reptile, we replaced it with an Exo Terra Solar Glo . I know that this bulb is not quite as good as the T-Rex but after what we went through we just needed to try another product. We had been using the UVB heat bulbs for the past ten years and never had any problems with them. We want to thank everyone on this forum for the valuable information, without it I don't think Reiley would still be with us. Also the other bulb from T-Rex seems to be working fine.

 

[vickson420]

So happy to hear Reiley's doing so much better! That is wonderful news. As for the solar glo that is a dine bulb,the only downside is it doesn't last as long as the TRex and should be replaced every 6 mos but is still a good bulb non the less.I personally just ordered some myself to try out and am also testing out the new Standard UV MVB from TRex as well.
If you have any questions in regards to your beardie please feel free to ask and again thanks for the update.

 

[diamc]

Thanks for updating us on Reiley, that is great news, a good sign that he is already opening his eyes. It's a good idea to give his eyes a rest from any UVB at all. I would recommend that you have the Solar Glo placed at least 14" from your beardie, rather than measured from the basking spot. For the Megarays and T-Rex's now, it's recommended that the distance be 14 to 16" from your beardie even with the updated bulbs.

Sounds like Reiley is on the road to recovery, be sure to continue to keep us updated on him. You can pat yourself on the back for noticing the symptoms and doing more research before it got any worse, good job. :wink:

 

[vickson420]

Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to give you all an update on what is going on with the Active Heat bulbs.I spoke with Alan today via email and he has advised me that the new bulbs have NOT yet hit the market.The reason for the delay is because the original glass manufacturer has changed the specs of their product(clear glass stays) and Westron gave TRex the option to either coat the inside of the bulb or find a new glass vendor.Alan decided to find a new glass vendor which in my opinion was the best possible solution given the options.So far what they believe is the only thing that is going to change using the new vendor is the burn in time but I have been assure that the updated bulb will work as well as it did prior to this fiasco. I will continue to update as I get information until then all I can say is hold tight.

Vicky

 

[Drache613]

Hello Vicky,

Thanks, I was going to email you back this evening. I also talked with Alan, & that is basically what he told me. I totally agree, that is the best decision he could have made. If Westron is not going to cooperate, then, I would definitely opt to go with another manufacturer. Wow, that is terrible business by Westron if you ask me. They should have offered money back or to destroy the glass & use the old glass that was safe.

I hope the new bulbs hit the market soon. He did not say when, but hopefully this summer!

Tracie

 

[vickson420]

Tracie,
I may be wrong but the way he explained it to me was that they were changing the Glass manufacturer only not the actual bulb manufacturer.Westron will still be building the bulbs which is fine so long as they work hand in hand with the glass manufacturer.I do agree though that Westron should have from the beginning should have known the glass specs changed and been prepared to make needed adjustments PRIOR to there being an issue.Alan has made it clear from the beginning of the problem that he will not use a band-aid method and will not put new bulbs on the market until they are 100% functional.All of that being said people really need to be aware that there are bad bulbs still out there so they need to be very careful when ordering bulbs and if they have any issues at all they need to contact T-Rex ASAP.

 

[puppytoes72]

This is a very important thread to read for any T-Rex or Solar Glo users out there
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=127476&p=1029150#p1029150

 

[lexiegirl]

Right now I am not very happy with T-Rex. My personal experience was not a very good one. I am truly lucky that my beardie does not have any problems because I was using a L1 bulb for 4 months!! Of course it was part my fault because I did look at the bulb wrong . However, I guess it's true that everything happens for a reason b/c when I went to turn on the bulb today it did not work. After removing it and looking at it closer, it was one from the bad batch... so I am glad it quit working! No wonder my beardie hasn't been basking for the past 4 months. She would always stay at the opposite side of the tank. Smart dragon But after calling them today and getting the run around I was finally told to ship the bulb back. Now I'm hoping I'll get a replacement that has the correct specs.