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 #1876220


Thunderchief
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 Lighting Choices

I have recently acquired a Golden about 5 months ago. He is my first arboreal Gecko, but far from my first reptile. For some background, he is well kept in an 18.5x18.5x24 which also has a sheet of plexiglass covering some of the top screen to keep humidity up. I have a question on his lighting, currently I have a 60 watt day bulb for UV and also a 75 watt for nighttime. They do not touch the screen and temperatures and humidity are running fine, but I heard that the day bulb is not only unnecessary being that Golden are nocturnal, but could also be harmful to their eye health. Is this true?
10/06/08  07:21pm

 #1876444


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: Thunderchief   In reference to Message Id: 1876220


 Lighting Choices

The tank size and everything is fine. It is important to have a bulb on during the day to simulate day and night.

As for the blindness part, I can give you a website that explains the hazards of compact UVB bulbs and blindness in lizards:


Link


The biggest problem with UV bulbs mainly lies in compact ones, so if you have a compact light or a light with high UV output, remove it.

If you get paranoid over the bulb period, then it’s best to be safe than sorry and simply replace it with a regular household bulb that’s 60 watts - as well as dusting the goldie’s food with d3 calcium once to twice a week. Remember to use an oldschool household bulb and not one of those new energy saving ones - which will also lead to eye issues due to the intense light.

I don’t think the goldie would have suffered too much even if you put a bad bulb over it, being that they have this tendency to hide during the day and not bask like other more diurnal lizards. It’s the diurnal lizards (and leopard gecko), and turtles that were mainly effected by the recent study.
10/06/08  11:50pm

 #1876698


Thunderchief
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 1876444


 Lighting Choices

thank you for the advice. Now though it seems his color is way off, almost a black coloration. He is still eating though since there is poop, and the crickets seem to be disappearing.



10/07/08  04:49pm

 #1876952


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: Thunderchief   In reference to Message Id: 1876698


 Lighting Choices

Goldies get stressed very easily, so he could simply be upset that you changed the light or took it away. They get dark when upset, cold, or in some cases for camouflage. Near black is usually stress.

So what exactly did you change between then and ’now’?


You can never really tell with crickets, as they have this tendency to hide under things. You could try to dish-train the lizard. Take a plastic or ceramic dish with moderately high walls and put some mealworms or a small superworm in it. Then the goldie will go to the dish. It’s a far easier way to track if your lizard eats or not. Not saying you have to do it, but it’s always an option. If I feed crix, I only put in two or three at a time and coat them with pure calcium (without d3, then the d3 calcium two times a week) so they show up against the substrate.



10/07/08  10:52pm

 #1877148


Thunderchief
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 1876952


 Lighting Choices

I tried with meal worms first and then super worms. He refused both. He might have changed because of a jump in humidity and temperature, because I have an exo-terra tank with a screened top. I was losing a lot of humidity so I put a piece of Plexiglas over top of it, with holes cut out for the lighting and a vent. This though made it upper 80’s to 90 which is a bit on the hot side. So all this enviormental tinkering is probably the problem. As long as he is not starving himself or infested with parasites I’m relatively happy.
10/08/08  03:09pm


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