Re: Kind of Curious??

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Frilled Dragon Forum ]

Posted by MatthewT on February 11, 2003 at 11:40:57:

In Reply to: Re: Kind of Curious?? posted by MatthewT on February 11, 2003 at 11:37:34:

One more thing....Even if that repti sun is still good, if thats all your using without natural sunlight as a supplament and withough dusting with caclium powder your little guy still could have a case of MBD. If the twitching dosen't stop or if you are seriously worried I would take your little guy to the vet. And request X-rays! They can load him up with calcium gluconate shots and get him on the road to recovery if this is the case.

Matthew

:Absoulutely not. Glass filters the benificial wave lengths of UVB. So with a window and a glass aquarium your little critter will get NO UVB at all. Your best bet is if you live in a warm place to take your critter outside in something screened like a reptarium for a few hours per day of every couple of days. Screens only filter something like 10% of UVB, so nothing major. Never use a tank though as this can cook your little guy. Nothing can compare to real natural sunlight! I sun all my reptiles in the summer here in Ohio. reptariums work wonders for outside sunning cages. Also I recommend getting a mercury vapor bulb or "active uv heat" as they are somtimes called. They produce more UVB than a repti sun. Its still only a fraction of what nature produces even in a shaded area, but the repti suns don't even register in comparison. If you are only using a repti sun you should still supplement with calcium powder and multi vitamin/mineral supplements or MBD can still occur. If you do choose to go with the mercury vapor bulb though you won't need to suplement calcium powder as frequently since there is more UVB being produced from the light. A big plus its a basking bulb and UVB source all in one. Zoo med makes them btw and I use Mercury vapor bulbs on all my set ups. Hope this helps! Take care.

:Matthew

::Hey Matt thanks for the reply. When I get a chance I will buy a new one, even though I don't think the one I have is even 6 months old. Would he be getting enough UVB with a tank next to a window??

:::How old is your repti sun? I've heard 6 months is tops on those suckers. They do loose their UVB and this could be a case of MBD.

:::Matthew

:
:

Follow Ups: