1) Tank size - They are currently in a ten gallon tank. This is only temporary, so please don’t flame me. I have a 50 gallon that is 48 long x 18 high x 12 wide. Would this be OK for two adult Uros?

2) Heat - I have a 60watt halogen bulb from Home Depot in a Flukers 150watt clamp lamp. I also have a 25 watt UTH on the tank. Floor is currently about 105. All other temps are good too.

3) UVB - What should I go buy? Everyone around here recommends different setups. 8.0 repti florecent, power compact, or incadesent? I like the idea of the power compact that pet smart sells.

4) tank setup - on the left side of the tank I put in a brick paver so they can get off the heated bottom. The right side has a pop tart box for a hide.

5) substrate - Well I went to the pet store and bought vita finch food. When I put it in, it was full of bugs. Not sure I like the birdseed idea. How about indoor/outdoor carpet? Right now I don’t have anything in the tank.

It is imperative that you remove the uromastyx from the ten-gallon tank immediately. Even if you need to go out and buy a temporary 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub- please do so. You cannot establish the necessary temperature gradient with appropriate basking spot in this small of an enclosure. Even if you were able to establish a proper gradient, an 8” uromastyx would not have a large enough temperature zone variance to effectively regulate its body temperature. A short length of time with temperatures that are too low or too high can be enough to throw your uromastyx into a downward spiral that may be difficult to bring them out of. This is especially true if the uromastyx is already stressed from moving or shipping. If you currently have the 50 gallon aquarium- use it. Regardless of whether this is large enough for two full-grown adults, it is a much more appropriate temporary enclosure than the ten-gallon aquarium you are using right now.

Although the 50-gallon aquarium is fine in length, the width is small. The general rule of thumb when determining a ‘minimum’ enclosure size for reptiles is to use 1-1.5 x the animal’s length (full grown potential) to determine width (depth) and 2-3x the animals length for enclosure length. I have two male malis 15” in length and an enclosure that is only 12” in width would be difficult for them turn around in. I don’t know about you but I would feel pretty claustrophobic being in a room where my shoulders brushed against the two walls.

UVB- It is difficult for anyone to tell you exactly what bulb to buy. My suggestion would be to purchase a bulb and fixture that you can manipulate to within 12 or so inches of your reptile. If this means a compact versus a standard bulb then so be it. When looking at the amount of uvb, look at the percentage of uvb versus uva. Some manufacturers will say 10% UV but only a small percentage of that is uvb.
I do need to say that not all bulbs are created equal. I tested two 8.0 Repti Glo standard tube lights the other day and ended up with the worst uvb measurements that I have seen in any bulbs. I would need to place these two lights within 3 inches of my animals for them to be effective and even then the uvb is minimal.
I tested the 10. Zoo Med bulbs (roughly $40 Pet smart) and had a 50% decay rate after only 3 weeks of use but they are still a step above ESU’s compact bulb. Doug (deerfernfarms.com) sells Arcadia compacts and these (overall) have produced the best results for me in the compact line.
The best results that I have obtained from a standard uvb bulb is Desert Sun’s 7.0 (have not tested 8.0).

Doug is too busy answering those questions to get back to you on the Miner-All and Arcadia bulb. lol
Seriously, he has been having some email trouble so pick up the phone and leave him a voicemail. This will take you out of his 900+ emails per day pile and give you much quicker results on your order.

I have not rated the day cycle and I will need to look for my old ratings on the Reptisun and ESU. I know that there were two different ESU compact bulbs (13 and 20 watt) but I do not remember the wattage making much of a difference. I do remember that ESU rated the lowest of the compact bulbs that I tested (not many out there) and it had a rather high decay rate. I think that I tested 5 or 6 of these bulbs but I do not remember the exact number off the top of my head.

Although I am a ‘little’ more organized with my reptile stuff since moving into the new house and buying a four-drawer filing cabinet- I am having a hard time putting my hands on the Zoo Med 10.0 figures that I posted on this forum back in July. I did manage to find the decay rate that I followed up with a few weeks later so from that you can ‘estimate’ the original figures by doubling:

The decay rate on one of the 10.0 bulbs (did not check the other) was about 50% after three weeks of use. Although I have been running this light for 14 hours a day since July 21st, I expected MUCH better results. The UVB levels as of yesterday:
12" = 26 uW/cm2
18" = 13
24" = 7

Here is an old Kingsnake post on the Desert Sun 7.0: (these readings were taken on an older bulb – almost six months -not a new one) You will notice that the distances of measurement differ as I think that I was comparing data from another site. This is a standard bulb and the measurements were taken from the center.
3" 126-128
6" 60-61
12" 30

As I moved from one state to another within this past year, I still have quite a few unpacked boxes of material (just found a parasite book I have been looking for since last December), so I will try to locate my older readings. In the meantime, there is a site that gives some of this data but I must note that their measurements differed greatly from my own on some of the bulbs that were tested. The Desert Sun showed opposite result from my own and I have concluded that: someone did not know what they were doing, they had an old or bad bulb, or they were using a slimline fixture and neglected to remove the plastic. I came to this conclusion as I have tested a lot of these bulbs and they have all been fairly accurate in readings which tended to be higher than other bulbs tested. Some of the measurements on this site were reported by people in the field so there is no consistency with how the readings were taken from this group. Keep all of this in mind when looking at the site: http://home.comcast.net/%7Eholachapulin/Researchmain.html

My readings are done with two people for accuracy. I wait until the light has warmed up (15 min or so) and then take a half dozen or so separate readings and then average them. I measure my distances on standard bulbs from the center and each extreme end. The center readings is what I post.

Compact bulbs differ from standard bulbs and until recently, standard bulbs have almost always surpassed compacts. I find that hanging compact bulbs horizontally rather than vertically in a hood will give the best performance. This is one reason that I created that unsightly hanger that I posted a picture of this past summer. The readings on these bulbs tend to be strongest at the front of the bulb.

Keep in mind that you want to find a fixture that you can manipulate to within 12 or so inches of the animal. If you can somehow prevent filtering uvb light through a mesh screen, you will have much better results.

I finally have several Westron external ballast bulbs on the way. There is a back order on the external ballast so I might be waiting for a week or two. After speaking with the company (including the owner) on several occasions, I feel that this bulb might just be the one I have been looking for my whole life. (well, a few decades anyway). The bulb had another makeover last month and according to the company owner- the technology behind this bulb is different from anything currently on the market.
I am very excited to test these bulbs and will post all of the measurements that I take.
The external ballast setup is a little costly (roughly $69) but not too far from the price of those using a good MVB. I have spoken to a distributor who has tracked (uvb measurements) some of these bulbs and he has reported findings of less than a 50% decay rate (average 30%) after 12 months of use. Considering that these bulbs tout levels of 250 uwcm2 at 12 inches, theoretically, this bulb would still be giving off higher uvb levels at 12 months than brand new standard and compact bulbs on the market today. We will see…..

I am not familiar with the internal ballast MV bulb that you mention with the longer life span. From my understanding of bulbs, if the filament is internal and this lamp produces heat, the life span will not match that of an externally ballasted bulb due to the fragile nature of the internal filament. I do agree that securing this fixture will reduce the chance of failure but be aware that there is concern from many that constant heat produced from the bulb and enclosure also leads to rapid deterioration and failure. I do not use MV bulbs so I cannot speak towards their failure or success rate or how valid the heat factor may or may not be. Others on this forum who use MV bulbs can help with this.

I agree with you that changing multiple enclosures over to a $69 bulb would be costly and actually unaffordable for many. I wish that I only had nine enclosures. :)

I am in agreement that not all animals need the higher uvb levels while specific reptiles like iguana, uromastyx, bearded dragon, chuckwalla...ect would certainly benefit. I think the natural habitat with uvb levels need to be taken into consideration. If you have a desert dwelling critter that has natural uvb levels of 250 uW/cm2 or more, then this might be a good candidate for a higher uvb output bulb. I know that there were quite a few summer days here in Ohio where the uvb levels registered above 250 . I also know that places like Australia and Africa have much higher uvb levels than ours here in the US so I am not concerned with the uvb output on the bulb I am testing. If using a higher UVB output bulb, I would recommend NOT supplementing with d3 (still use calcium). If you still have a concern about the UVB levels, then use the light for five hours a day rather than ten. Speaking of output.... the only bulb that Westron makes that I would suggest caution with is the bulb used by zoos which is intended to produce these levels (mentioned above) at 3 feet. Purchasing this bulb and placing it 12 inches from your animal would not be a good idea and ’could’ lead to d3 toxicity, eye problems...ect.

My main concern when first contacting the company was not to discuss the UVB level but to discuss UVC levels which you do not want to see with any bulb. I have heard that some bulbs out there with higher UVB levels are also producing uvc and I wanted to verify with Westron that their bulbs have been rigorously tested and shown to be void of emitting uvc. I have been assured over and over that they have. (I believe that most will produce uvc but the glass used to filter it out is the key factor for preventing the actual release of UVC from the bulb)

I think that it would be interesting to compare the average lifespan AND the uvb decay rate of the MV bulbs with the Westron EB bulb. If tests should show that the average lifespan of a MV bulb is six months while the Westron is 12 months or that the decay rate is such that the MV bulbs needs to be replaced every six months while the Westron emits respectable levels for 12 months, then the cost of using the two bulbs would be about equal. Coming up with recommendations on how to find the money to afford them for a large number of enclosures - I unfortunately can’t help with. :(

"The general rule of thumb when determining a ‘minimum’ enclosure size for reptiles is to use 1-1.5 x the animal’s length (full grown potential) to determine width (depth) and 2-3x the animals length for enclosure length."