UV Fluorescent VS Mercury Vapor.

[wingl]

Originally posted by Icefire
Wingl
How many Watts are those Halogen and how close are they from
the hot spot? how hot is it?
I saw some nice 12 Volts Halogen with CRI of 100 (Color Rendering Index) which is the same as Day light.
they are for arts/painting

The halogens are from Home Depot and are 15watts. The cube is ~2'x2'x2'. The snakes have areas to hide from the light, but I'm now worried about the exposure. It heats the enclosure to about 85F during the day and my heat pad takes care of the evenings. I gotta tell you, it was the biggest mistake of my life to use halogens. I can't keep the humidity levels up past 50% and only until the sponge dries out. (1 day) Gotta mist every single day. I even have a live plant in there and the plant dries out just as quick. Next time....stick to florecents!

[Icefire]

I'm gonna use fluorescent to light/UVB, but I need a heat source.
I need a 115F hot spot, with ~40% humidity, So I guess halogen
are just okay for me

could you look at the "hot spot" at around 12" of the light please?

[wingl]

Much luck to you. Just keep in mind...I could only get the humidity up to that level. Most of the time it's at 10-20%. If I forget to mist or the soaked sponge I keep in there dries out, the humidity drops to <10%. The enclosure I have can hold humidity well enough when I turn off the lights. I really don't recommend them unless you have a desert species. My Rosy Boa loves it.

[Icefire]

Well I'm gonna house Collared Lizard and my gf will have Bearded Dragon
I guess they don't need much humidity, they are "semi" desertic
species. so 20-40 will be enought.

[Linds]

I don't use them myself as I don't use any artificial UV lights for my reptiles, as I house them outdoors during the warmer months instead and feel this is more than sufficient considering they can store it away for years We have always used them at work, we don't monitor how often we change the lights however so I couldn't tell you the active life of them. I can't remember as they closed down shop a while ago, but I think the hot spot in the beardie tank hovered around 105 degrees. :sun:

[ReptilesReign]

Originally posted by Icefire
Well I'm gonna house Collared Lizard and my gf will have Bearded Dragon
I guess they don't need much humidity, they are "semi" desertic
species. so 20-40 will be enought.

20-40 % is more than enough. I live in New Mexico and have Beardies - humidity drops to 7 percent here in the summer and averages 12-20 percent year round where I live. The collared Lizzies and Dragons will do great for you ! Easy care fellas.

About the MV bulbs.. - That UVB group at yahoo is the best resource for info. I would consider using an MV for rehabilitative purposes for an animal with MBD, but not for general husbandry. You have to invest in a UV meter if you're going to go MV , or you never know for sure what the output is at a given time. MV's need to be on an adequate surge protector also because power surges damage the filaments, reducing output. It gets costly.

As mentioned, super large ( tall) enclosures would benefit since the UVB reaches 36 inches. Personally, i dont have any enclosurers that tall

Good luck to you and enjoy the new additions when you get them!
Rommie
P.s
Check out my website , i have links for a crash course in Beardie set up and care.