UVB lighting

[asinglefork]

I'm in the process of setting up my 4X2X2 enclosure for my Halmahara BTS and I'm having trouble figuring out the right UVB light to get. I plan on having a lot of (fake) foliage and several cork bark pieces everywhere for enrichment, but that means UVB will be partially blocked. Should I go for a higher percentage of UVB to make up for that or will he regulate himself well enough?

For the basking spot, I'll be using the Arcadia Deep Heat Projector as recommended by the company that manufactures his new enclosure.

Right now he has a 100W Incandescent bulb with a dimmer sitting directly on the screen in his standard 40-gallon tank. For UVB I have the Zilla tropical slimline 18" with the plastic cover removed.

I'd love some product recommendations!

[Manny]

There are a lot of variables when it comes to uvb lighting. Distance from your pet, is there a mesh screen between/around the source etc. If you go to arcadia reptiles. they have a guide there for light. It will tell you what type of light is recommended for specific distances from your pet. John Courtney Smith from there is also very good with answering any questions on the subject. The guide is done by reptile name and it also lets you know which ferguson zone your are looking to achieve for your pet. Which is quite nice if one owns a solarmeter.

As far as the setup with fake plants. Since your after a heat gradient, you could leave the area around the basking area foliage free. Which is a good thing on several levels. It will make it the highest level of uvb/heat and you will keep the synthetic material out of the heat as well. Thereby reducing the potential of gases from the synthetics. Last but not least, doing it in this manner allows your pet to self regulate.

[asinglefork]

Thanks! I was planning to keep the foliage out of the way of the basking spot. The light fixtures will be inside the enclosure so no blocked light from mesh (and less lost humidity!)

I've been doing a lot of reading Arcadia lights but they're always out of stock everywhere I look.

[Manny]

I've noticed the short supply of the arcadia products both in the online stores here and in the states. If those are the products you would like to use. Take a look at ReptilesRuS here in Canada. I believe they just had a restock of some of their items. Wouldn't be surprized if there is another round of shortages with the utptick of Covid cases being reported. In the states I believe lightyourreptiles.com is the main distributor of Arcadia hardware products.

btw that lighting guide should still be useful even if you use products from another company. Just have to note which types they are recommending T5/T8 (for distance from pet) and what they are putting out percentage wise.