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[gomeztime]

A Tube is OK, but if you have the space in your enclosure a Mercury Vapour lamp far surpases the tubes. I invested in a UV Meter to check the output of different lamps and found that UV tubes, even the pricey 8.0 and 10.0 models, provide very little UV when compared to the sun. Most at more than 250mm provided less than 20 Microwatts which is four times less than the output of the sun in the winter solstice, and about 16-20 times less than the sun in the Summer Solstice. Mercury Vapour lamps can provide concentrated areas of between 100-300 Microwatts and even higher. The distance from the lamp is important and if you don't have a UV Meter I'd play it safe and not have the animals more than 300-450mm from the lamp.

So, I'd suggest that if you can use a Mercury Vapour lamp, then do so. If you must use a tube try and get it as close to the animals as possible, even within 100mm is fine. Also with a tube, use a reflector. You can make a reflector quite easily with some thin aluminium sheet from the hardware store and a couple of curtain rail clips to hold it to the tube. A reflector nearly doubles the amount of UV you project towards the animals.

There's loads more great info at a website called uvguide.co.uk. Worth a look.