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UVBs Good or not ?

O

OliGM

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I looked around a little but couldn't find anything about it, so I decided to post...

Here is a good debate I would like LOTS of input from each others experience.

Are you using UVB lamps or not ? Have your lizards experienced MBD because they weren't exposed to UVBs for a certain period ?

Thanks for your participation!
Oli
 
One of the great debates of herpetoculture.

Tha vast majority of people do use UVB if for no other reason than it's suggested in most published articles on the subject. Some will consider you borderline neglegent if you don't use it. Interesting how a certain percentage of these people will use the same UV bulb for a year or two when the UV effectiveness is normally reported to be gone after 6 months or so.
Personally I kept and bred bearded dragons for 9 years or so and in that time never used a UV light at all, for adults or babies. I did expose a few clutches to natural sunlight for an hour or so 3 or 4 times a week, but couldn't find any noticable benefit as compared to the ones who didn't get it.
Never had a case of MBD. Never had a single nipped tail with the hatchlings for that matter, but that has nothing to do with lighting.
Adult females laid 4-5 clutches per year with very high fertility, and if memory serves, I only had one deformity hatch the entire time.
I did supplement daily for the adults and every feeding for the hatchlings. In the beginning I used Rep-Cal with D3 and no phosphorus and eventually switched mostly to Miner-all Indoor with D3.

This is just my experience with dragons. As I said the majority of people will insist that UV is a non-negotiable requirement whether they've investigated it objectively or not.
For one pet dragon, or a couple of dragons in a single cage, I might use some UV I don't know, but I know I'd wind up in the catagory with the people who use the same bulb forever because I already have seen that my personal keeping methods haven't shown the actual need for it.
 
I have 2 male beardies that have not had UV since they were about a year old. Both are nearing their 3rd "hatch" day in October and are healthy and robust.

I would offer breeding females and babies/juveniles UV if I were in that position though.

Just my .02¢
 
Interesting topic so far. I'd love to see further discussion on this issue, especially with larger breeders that have kept large numbers of dragons with and without UVB.
 
I breed bearded dragons and produce about 500 baby season. I keep all mine under UV to keep there best color.RED ORANGE and so on.
 
Thanks so far ;) I'd like to hear more from any experienced breeder or keeper, so please don't hesitate to share your stories about UVs and your diurnal lizard.....
 
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