BTS checklist

[Scaley87]

Hello all.

I've wanted a bts for a very long time, and i hope to get one in a couple of months. Below is a few of the basic items that i plan to get. Please tell me if Im missing something or if Im wrong.

Animals Plastics T8 (4'x2'x1') w/ fluorescent fixture and an 8" hole for dome light

100 watt bulb for heat http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-100W-Equi ... /203504852

Zoomed Reptisun 10.0 UVB T5HO

Rock/Slate (under dome light)

hides

water dish

bio-active substrate

calcium powder

temperature gun

thermostat?

timer

[Scincus]

Seems pretty complete to me. I may have missed something though, so I would get a second opinion.

[El Lobo]

That's a very physically big and powerful lamp for an enclosure that is only 12" high. Mounted internally a standard sized 60 watt spot lamp should be sufficient.

[Richard.C]

yeah tend to agree with elobo,you wont know what size bulb u need until u set cage up and have it running,then u can check with temp gun and adjust wattage size to suit your conditions

another thing to be wary of is flouros give of heat to,more so the holders than the tubes though

[Scaley87]

how about a zoomed terrarium flurorescent bulb then? the one for plants/aquariums?

[timisimaginary]

make sure the calcium also has d3. even though you're using a UVB light, skinks burrow and hide a lot, may not get as much exposure as you think. also, for the UVB light i would stick with the 5.0 instead of the 10.0. the T5 10.0 lights put out a LOT of UVB, and at that cage height it could be overexposed. i would consider 12" to be the absolute minimum safe distance for one of those bulbs, and when you factor in substrate depth and basking platform height, your skink could end up much closer than that to the light. the T5 5.0 lights put out about the same amount of UVB as the old T8 10.0 lights.

also, the thermostat is unnecessary. use the temp gun, and then raise the light or use a dimmer to dial in a basking spot of 95-100. the light should stay on the whole daylight period, not be turning on and off to regulate temperatures.

[Scaley87]

how about this bub? http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/solar_glo.php

and i guess regular (house) fluorescent bubs for the fluorescent fixtures.

would this be ok.

OR a 65 watt halogen flood light (for basking) from home depot and one or two UVB bulbs http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/lighting.php

[timisimaginary]

how about this bub? http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/solar_glo.php

and i guess regular (house) fluorescent bubs for the fluorescent fixtures.

would this be ok.

OR a 65 watt halogen flood light (for basking) from home depot and one or two UVB bulbs http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/lighting.php

i'm not a big fan of the MVBs like the Solar Glo. in my experience, they either put out too much heat and not enough UVB, or they put out enough UVB but not enough heat at a safe distance to be useful for basking. i used the Solar Glo and i think it was pretty weak UVB wise. the Zoo Med Power Sun is the same way. the best MVB i've used is the Mega Ray, but at a safe basking distance it doesn't produce enough heat to be used alone.

for a skink, if you are supplementing with calcium + D3, the lack of UVB output of one of these bulbs may not be an issue. but you are still wasting money on a bulb that doesn't provide much UVB, and MVBs also seem to have quality issues that can lead to shorter lifespan of the bulb.

the basking flood light/UVB fluorescent tube light combo is usually the cheapest and more effective option.