actinic lighting

[Ryan Schweiger]

does anyone use a florescent actinic light? I am trying to find out the best way to light the cage at night so that I can watch my crested do her thing. But I don't want to make the light seem unnatural or to keep her from acting normal. I have heard that black lights are bad, and I can't find any red flourescent lights. Just wondering for idea.

[HeatherRose]

I've never heard of 'actinic' lighting, I just use a long fluorescent bulb. I've never heard any arguments that black lights were bad, I don't think they are, and if you want to see what your crestie is doing at night a black reptile light that doesn't give off much heat is probably your best bet. I used to use one a long time ago and it seemed fine. If there are any negative side effects of a blacklight, I haven't heard them. I'm not sure about red lights to be honest.

Good luck!

[DragnDrop]

Actinic is low enough in the UV range to stimulate your gecko's body into some chemical reacrtions. Whether or not it's low enough towards UV-B, I can't recall right now. However, since actinic does stimulate chemical reactions in skin and is suspect in eye problems such as cataracts in humans, I'd say don't use it on your gecko. He doesn't have eyelids to help shut out the UV rays there might be, and probably doesn't need whatever chemical reactions the light stimulates in his his body. It's great for marine fish, the water acts as a buffer for some of the rays, but don't use it for land animals. It's also great for some scanners, photo work and printing.

[spidergecko]

Actinic can go into the UV-A range but since it is used primarily for aquaria (enhances pigment in coral) I'm not sure what sort of negative effects it would have on reptiles if any. However, it is still fairly bright and I don't think you can mask this from your reptiles. They will still see the light as light. Whether this changes their behaviour, I don't know, but there are other alternatives. A weaker blue "moonlight" might allow you to view your animals without disturbing them. I think this might be more problematic than the actual chemical effect of the actinic light.

PC lighting is not true actinic so if you were thinking of using that, there should be no chemical effects. However, standard fluorescents are actinic (actinic 03).

[Ryan Schweiger]

so what is the best type of light to use for viewing my crested at night?

[corr]

I used a 40 watt "blue" bulb on my Beardie's cage for night time viewing and for a little heat.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/8812edit.JPG

Use the GE ones. The glass itself is coloured, not painted on like those "party" bulbs that fade after a week.