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Post by deguconvert on Apr 13, 2022 18:03:17 GMT
Hey! My girls wants some extra rays since we moved and our new apartment is kinda dark/shady - now they get almost no natural sunlight. I'm looking at this bulb for my setup reptiplanet.pet/portfolio-items/repti-planet-repti-uvb-5-0-2/?portfolioCats=88 Is this bulb acceptable? What about wattage 13 or 26? Distance? Sorry I'm so newb in this UVB game. I rather ask before I do something wrong. :S Bouncy, Moletteuk . . . can you have a look and a thought? I don't trust my brain today.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 14, 2022 10:06:09 GMT
The first thing to figure out is how far away from the light your degus will sit because the amount of UV light that a bulb emits drops away exponentially with distance from the bulb.
For that brand of bulb I would go with the rainforest version. Generally you want a bird lamp or a rainforest lamp for degus unless the bulb is going to be further away from the degus than recommended. That brand states that their bulbs work up to 30cm away.
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Post by bouncy on Apr 14, 2022 13:13:15 GMT
It's also worth remembering that, unless your goos were next to a permanently opened window in your old place, it is only really the light they're missing. Window glass effectively blocks UV rays from sunlight. If you don't specifically need extra UV for vitamin D (because you feed a food already fortified), you could add LEDs instead. These will be cheaper in the long run - less energy, and don't need replacing every year!
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ktz
Newborn Degu
Posts: 20
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Post by ktz on Apr 14, 2022 13:15:13 GMT
The first thing to figure out is how far away from the light your degus will sit because the amount of UV light that a bulb emits drops away exponentially with distance from the bulb. For that brand of bulb I would go with the rainforest version. Generally you want a bird lamp or a rainforest lamp for degus unless the bulb is going to be further away from the degus than recommended. That brand states that their bulbs work up to 30cm away.
Thank You for reply! Found Trixie bird lamp 23w 25%UVA 2.6%UVB so I guess this would be a better option. I have 3 available spots where my girls love to camp - ~14cm, ~20cm and one around 28cm distance from where bulb would be.
We have already running full warm color LED setup. The reason is more for rays rather than light and as they tend to eat more natural foods and kinda rarely grab a nugget (we tried tons of brands) idk if they get vitamin D as much they need. :S There is option for calcium and D drops for water (Zolcal-D) - but I don't want to use it, too paranoid getting them to toxic levels so I rather choose lamp in one spot where my girls can camp if they want and get some extra "sun".
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Post by bouncy on Apr 14, 2022 14:54:28 GMT
Okay! I agree it's likely a little extra UV will benefit. When I used them, I put it at the top of their cage (literally on top of the bars), about 4" above one of their half levels. It meant they could bask if desired (they LOVED it) or walk away. I used a desert bulb because it meant they could get the full benefit if they were lying out in their natural habitat, or go below.
My logic between a desert and rainforest bulb is that the desert was more akin to their wild habitat. They could always go below if they'd had enough (like degus ever hate sunbathing).
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 14, 2022 15:45:12 GMT
I think if they aren't getting much other vitamin d then I would go for a rainforest lamp, rather than bird.
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