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I just bought a Repti-Sun 5.0 light from Zoomed, and put it on yesterday. I haven't seen my turt get onto his basking dock since. I have seen someone write that the basking temp should be 10 degrees hihger than the water, but this bulb only gives off UVA/UVB without the heat. WOuld he still bask with no heat? Are there bulbs that give of UVB/UVA with heat? I haven't seen them.

He needs an additional light for a heat source. The UVB lights don't give off enough heat. You can use an regular lightbulb for this purpose. Temp should be 88-90F.

Is the Reptisun a tube or compact flourescent? If it's a tube, try to keep as much as possible over the basking area and clamp a light next to it. If it's a compact flourescent, clamp then next to each other over the basking area.

Hey, thanks! It's a compact flourescent.

I just put a reg 40 watt lamp over the baskking dock and now he is basking, thanx!

Hey Marisa, quick question. I thought UVA produced heat. Am I wrong? I just purchased the T-Rex Active UV Heat bulb with UVB. Does the UVA have to say it is a heat bulb for it to give heat? I'm just curious because I thought that's what all UVA bulbs did.

The T-rex Active UV Heat bulb provides UVA, UVB and heat.

UVA is not heat and I used to get that mixed up too - I had to really research about it. UVA exposure generally promotes normal behavior including activity, feeding and mating. For people, UVA causes aging of skin and wrinkles.

steve wrote:UVA is not heat and I used to get that mixed up too - I had to really research about it. UVA exposure generally promotes normal behavior including activity, feeding and mating. For people, UVA causes aging of skin and wrinkles.

I read on the RES care homepage on here that UVA does provide the heat. I'm confused about what you said above. Can you clarify? Also, most of the flourescent tube bulbs I find do not specify the percentage of UVB it emits. Is there any way to find out if it doesn't specify on the package? Thanks!

LOL, that's what I meant when I said I used to get it mixed up. The new site has been written (there's more than twice the info as well) but it is not live yet. Still going over it carefully...

You can check the manufacturers site for %. Most reputable brands will list. There are also a few sites that have comparison charts of diff. brands... they're buried in my bookmarks somewhere.

steve wrote:LOL, that's what I meant when I said I used to get it mixed up.

LOL! I've read so much on here, I thought I was losing my mind! Thanks for clearing that up. I apparently was not providing the right heat, and I didn't want to mess that up again. Gandalf is loving the warmer basking area. I think he looks at me and says 'it's about time!'. LOL

Heat is heat, and light is light. UVA and UVB refer to different wave lengths
of light. Both are necessary for life (although for humans an excess of either will cause skin problems over time, including skin cancer).

UVB bulbs (including regular ones) will also produce UVA. The really reputable UVB bulbs (to me) will state how much of each on the package.

Thanks Marisa!