UVB Change

MangoTango

Established Member
hey guys. embarrassed to say this, but I forgot to change Mango’s T5 HO 5.0 Linear UVB after a year. It was put up October 2022 when she first got the 2x2x4 enclosure. October 2023, I forgot to change it. I remember testing it with these which I know aren’t the best but its all I had atm (Im saving for the actual UVB gun tester thing I forgot the name), and even now its still showing that it’s emitting a the same amount (as much as the card allows for me to see) as October 2023. I changed the bulb yesterday (Dec 13 2023) in horror bc I was so upset with myself, thankfully I had accidentally bought two bulbs Oct 2022 so I did not have to wait for shipping or anything.

with that being said, how much UVB has she lost in the past two months? is it detrimental? is it concerning? should I increase supplementation or something?

one thing I will say, is she has been in the winter slump. some days she doesn’t immediately go to bask, she’s awake, but she’ll stay in her sleeping spot for a few hours. sometimes she climbs around a bit before basking. some days she barely basks at all. she’ll go to her sleeping spot about two hours early, and never closes her eyes but just sits there, and lately it’s been hidden in the back. we have a good bond and she usually wants to come out to me, and she still does, just not as often. she is eating completely normal, poops from what I’ve seen have been great, pretty big lol, urates have never been whiter, but poop production has slowed down a bit, maybe because she isn’t basking as often, eye tracking is great, and eyes are never sunken. colors range from dull to bright occasionally when I feed her, take her out, or just sometimes in her enclosure for no reason, but they’ve def been a bit dull, and they usually are in the winter. I’m in NY btw. her basking temps also were only reaching 77 because it was a little colder in the house, so I gave her a higher wattage so now they’re at about 82 highest only when its super super warm in here, but again she doesn’t bask much anyway.

so I was thinking, are the low energy levels from a lesser amount of UVB? is there any cause for concern? did she miss a ton of UVB? or is this just winter slump?

here’s a thread about winter slump/blues that we relate to

here’s some pics from the past few days
 

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I can get several years out of the arcadia and Zoomed T5 HO's before they go down by half power and need to be exchanged. At the 24 month mark ive had at least 2/3 new output on 5 bulbs.

So its not detrimental to be a little off. They only need a few hours of direct sunlight per week, which is 6-7 UVI. And if you had a proper setup, your bulb would be putting out around 3 uvi at the peak basking spot.
 
I think she’ll be fine. My Arcadia uvb bulbs lasted a good 16+ months before needing to be changed. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. :) To help remember to change your bulbs, mark it on your new CF calendar or put an alert on your phone.
 
I can get several years out of the arcadia and Zoomed T5 HO's before they go down by half power and need to be exchanged. At the 24 month mark ive had at least 2/3 new output on 5 bulbs.

So it’s not detrimental to be a little off. They only need a few hours of direct sunlight per week, which is 6-7 UVI. And if you had a proper setup, your bulb would be putting out around 3 uvi at the peak basking spot.
and @MissSkittles bro so why do they say change yearly?? 😭 is that just a marketing thing to get u to buy them more frequently or?
 
After one year, the output can’t be guaranteed to still be in a decent range. If you have a solarmeter to test it, you can probably get more time out of your uvb bulbs, whether it be one month or 6 months. Without a way to test the UV output though, it’s a gamble.
 
After one year, the output can’t be guaranteed to still be in a decent range. If you have a solarmeter to test it, you can probably get more time out of your uvb bulbs, whether it be one month or 6 months. Without a way to test the UV output though, it’s a gamble.
gotcha gotcha okay, yeah I def want to get a solar meter just in general ! thank you all very much!
 
gotcha gotcha okay, yeah I def want to get a solar meter just in general ! thank you all very much!

Yea in my case it pays for its self in a year or so if you are running multiple cages. If you are just running one bulb, well $250 can buy a lot of bulbs :p

In my case i was even recycling the 12%'s from the beardy cages to the cham cages after they went down by half, then its like having a brand new 6% for the chams. Then after they are dun in the cham cages, they can be recycled again into 6500k bulbs for the brighter cages.
 
gotcha gotcha okay, yeah I def want to get a solar meter just in general ! thank you all very much!
If you just have one or two chams/reptiles, it probably is cheaper to just change your uvb bulbs every year than to buy a solarmeter. I only bought one because of 5 chams, (some with double sized enclosures which took 2 separate lights) and a bearded dragon (which is now 2 bearded dragons), plus wanting to give my leopard geckos uvb.
 
Yea in my case it pays for its self in a year or so if you are running multiple cages. If you are just running one bulb, well $250 can buy a lot of bulbs :p

In my case i was even recycling the 12%'s from the beardy cages to the cham cages after they went down by half, then its like having a brand new 6% for the chams. Then after they are dun in the cham cages, they can be recycled again into 6500k bulbs for the brighter cages.
makes sense, and all super smart!
 
If you just have one or two chams/reptiles, it probably is cheaper to just change your uvb bulbs every year than to buy a solarmeter. I only bought one because of 5 chams, (some with double sized enclosures which took 2 separate lights) and a bearded dragon (which is now 2 bearded dragons), plus wanting to give my leopard geckos uvb.
yeah I got just my one girl and wow that’s a lot of reptiles! 😅 makes sense why you bought one!
 
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