UV Lights

[Trouta]

Gday Guys N Gals, been keeping reptiles for quite a few years now and have always done and been told to replace UV lights every say 6 months as they lose the UV part after this time. Ive been told over the weekend that this is not the case or necessary as its just a ploy by shops to get you to buy more lights more often

Anyone else heard this? Or what are your thoughts on this?

Cheers

 

[Hamalicious]

What are you keeping? Snakes don't need any UV. Some people say Diamonds need it but so far i haven't heard any actually evidence to support this.

Lizards do need UV though to give them Vitamin D, this enables them to absorb calcium. With out it, they will end up with bone growth problems, you can find pictures of this on google.

The story of replacing the bulbs every 6 months is also true. The spectrum on the tubes changes over time and weakens. This is also a problem for people who use T5 bulbs on their aquariums because the spectrum changes and promotes algae growth.

Not everyone changes after 6 months, some say 9 months, others say 12. I personally would change them every 9 months, i keep aquariums and lizards so i've been doing this for a while. 6 months would obviously be better but if you're buying good quality bulbs, it is a bit over kill.

Hamish

 

[Trouta]

Hi Hamish, yeah i dont use them for my snakes currently i have a lawsons dragon and just aquired 2 bearded dragons on the weekend, yeah i think ill stick to my original plan of changing every 6 to 9 months. what UV do you use for your lizards UV 5 or 10?
Thx Mate

 

[Senator358]

I change every 6 to 9 months apart from one tank with a new Reptisun T5 HO. They are made to produce UV for more than 12 but I'll see how it goes.