Ultraviolet Lights for Reptile Terrariums

Video Transcript

"Now, this strip light back here is a, like I had mentioned before, it is a UVB strip light. It's florescent, and it's full spectrum. These lights, they're kind of costly, but they're also very long lived. They also are extremely important for your Bearded Dragons health. This is something that they need on a regular basis. If you are not able to provide your Bearded Dragon with direct sunlight, then the UVB light is an absolute must. They have to have the UVB to be able to process food correctly. So, putting them in front of a window for sunlight is not going to be enough, because household windows do filter out the UVB rays, even the one's that don't specify they do filter out UVB rays, they will filter out enough to cause the Bearded Dragon to not have enough UVB to be able to properly digest. So, this is something that you need to take very seriously when purchasing your Bearded Dragon. You definitely want to make sure your strip light runs the full length of the cage. And it's a pretty good idea to get two of them for the maximum amount of UVB possible. Pet stores will often carry mercury vapor bulbs as well. Those are fairly new. They're a new addition to the reptile industry, and they've turned out to be really, really effective. They're very expensive, but again, they are very, very long lived, and they will put out double the amount of UVB rays as this strip light does alone. If you notice that the Bearded Dragon here is, was gaping. Let's see, it's called gaping. They sit with their mouths kind of hanging open. And, what this means is, they'll usually only do this underneath the basking light, and this is a good sign. This is a sign that he's getting enough heat to be overheated enough to gape, which is how they cool themselves down a little bit. And, you may think that overheating is a bad sign, but this is actually good because a lot of owner, a lot of herp owners don't keep their temperatures high enough, and this is very important, obviously. So, to see him gape like that is a good sign that he's able to get enough heat to properly get to the desired internal temperatures. "