right now I have a 13 watt sprial bulb. . but its like less than 12inches from her body when basking.

when I get some more cash, I am upgrading to the tubed bulbs.

Wattage is less important than the amount of UVB it puts out. Collared lizards are a species that needs high UVB. I consider 5% UVB too low for a Collared lizard. I consider 8% or 9% to be minimum to keep your lizard healthy.

Your spiral UVB bulb may not be doing much good at all if it's only putting off 3% UVB, for instance. I consider Reptisun 10.0 and Repti-Glo 8.0 both good choices for Florescent UVB sources.

I am less familiar with mercury vapor bulbs.

Yea, I was thinking that myself. I am sure she can live with the 3% for another 9 days, till I get paid =), to buy a higher % of bulb.

Honestly, you'll be better off in the long run to get a Reptile UV setup. With a flourescent tube you'll need to replace it about every 6 months at a cost of about $40 US per tube. So when you figure 4 tubes over 2 years, you're talking about $160 US JUST for the lamps (not including the fixture). You'll pay less for the Reptile UV set up, but won't need to replace a lamp for about two years. MUCH more cost effective!

I think this is a common mistake that many of us make; we hear "desert" or "arid" and assume that it means loose sand. It's the same for Bearded Dragons.

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Where on earth do you buy your tubes!?! I pay about $18 for the ones I buy at the local petstore.

I used to have a similar store that sold the UVB tubes for about 20 bucks. It went out of business.
All over town they are around $40 each!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I buy mine at petsmart.

sounds good, i live right by a petsmart =).

what are the specs, so I can go right in there, an purchase without being dumbed.

The tank I have is 40 gal.

The higher the UV outpit the better but stick with the popular brands. ESU doesn't get very good reviews, I would steer clear and look for Repti-sun and Repti-glo and the other afore mentioned tubes if that is what you choose to go with. I would still recommened looking at the mercury vapor bulbs.

To find the right size you need a fixture first, i'd probably go down to home depot or some other building supply store (or walmart) and buy a 4 foot long fixture that takes two 48" tubes.

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

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I'd probably go with mercury vapor, too, given the choice.