UVB lighting.

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Cancer, blindness, to name a few. Easy to accomplish, too. This is in fact UV light, aand it is VERY easy to get it wrong. Nobody here - that I’m personally aware of anyways - uses UV lighting. Big hassle for almost no return.
 

ParrotGenie

Member
Jan 10, 2019
946
19
Indiana
Parrots
2 umbrella Cockatoos One male named Cooper and female named Baby 1 Little Corella male named Frankie and have 5 Cockatiels three named Male named Pepper, Fiesco for the female and female named Wylie.
Skip it as can cause eye cataract, bring bird outside to get full benefit. I won't get into details, but to keep it short compact fluorescent will not be beneficial like true sun light. I do use lighting for my cages, but none that will put out UVB as don't need it as birds come outside. Plus only use lighting to control breeding cycles.
 
OP
MangoTheGCC

MangoTheGCC

New member
May 14, 2019
47
0
Canton, Massachusetts, USA
Parrots
Mango The Green Cheeked Conure (pineapple mutation)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Cancer, blindness, to name a few. Easy to accomplish, too. This is in fact UV light, aand it is VERY easy to get it wrong. Nobody here - that I’m personally aware of anyways - uses UV lighting. Big hassle for almost no return.



Thank you for the information.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OP
MangoTheGCC

MangoTheGCC

New member
May 14, 2019
47
0
Canton, Massachusetts, USA
Parrots
Mango The Green Cheeked Conure (pineapple mutation)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
Skip it as can cause eye cataract, bring bird outside to get full benefit. I won't get into details, but to keep it short compact fluorescent will not be beneficial like true sun light. I do use lighting for my cages, but none that will put out UVB as don't need it as birds come outside. Plus only use lighting to control breeding cycles.



Thank you for the info. I just removed both the light for my new conure mango and the one I’ve been using with my budgie gismo for over 5months when I looked into them I only heard good things not bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I can give you a few more specific details as to why artificial UVB lighting can not only be extremely harmful to your birds, especially if you don't have quite a bit of knowledge about the different lighting available and you choose one of the MANY HARMFUL LIGHTS SOLD, but more importantly why birds don't require/need to have one in the first place...In addition to owning and breeding birds since I was very young, I have also owned anc cared for Reptiles since I was about 8 years-old; I've also been the Medical Liaison for a large Avian and Reptile Rescue for over 8 years...And I can tell you with 100% certainty and with ZERO HESITATION that buying an artificial UVB light for your pet birds/parrots is totally unnecessary and as stated above by ChrisMD, "More harm than benefits...Skip it."...That's great advice...

The #1 reason why people who buy a UVB light for their birds usually end-up harming or making their birds sick is simply because there are way too many types of UVB lights out there (Compact, Coil/Spiral, Tube, MVB, and now LED), way too many UVB strengths (T5, T8, T12, etc.), and way too many Intensities (2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 10.0, etc.), and unless you have been educated in UVB-lighting or have done A LOT OF RESEARCH prior to buying one, you just end-up buying the wrong thing (doesn't help that "the right thing" doesn't really exist for birds in the first place, lol). And the major health-issues/conditions caused by putting your Bird and/or your Reptile under an artificial UVB light that is too strong, too intense, or that actually emit very harmful light-rays in-addition to the actual UVB rays, are severe Eye Damage/Blindness (both temporary and/or permanent), Photoconjunctivitis (probably the most-common health-condition caused by artificial UVB lights, as well as usually being the very first sign/symptom to appear, and your first indication that the UVB light you have is not good), Skin Injuries and Disease (everything from 1st and 2nd-Degree Burns to Basal and Squamous Cell Skin Cancer), and with birds/parrots they can actually cause permanent-damage to their Feather-Follicles and their Preen-Gland.

***And you cannot just take the easy route and buy your bird a "Full-Spectrum" Light specifically made for birds/parrots, because you have no idea what your birds will be absorbing at ll in that scenario. A lot of people take this route simply because they can then avoid having to choose an actual UVB-specific light...And it's not the answer at all...

***The main thing that I personally think is the most-important aspect of UVB-lighting that people need to learn and really understand is WHY they think that their birds/parrots need to be under an artificial UVB light in the first place...And if you ask most people who do have their birds under an artificial UVB-light WHY they think that their bird needs or even benefits from being under the light that they have them under, sometimes for years and years, they either can't answer you at all, they give you an answer that is wrong or doesn't make any sense at all, or very often they will make the statement of "Because I want to make sure that my bird is getting enough Vitamin D, and I'm not sure that their diet is providing that to them"...And the problem with this statement is that it's just plain incorrect...

Let's make sure we get this straight right off the bat: UVB light DOES NOT PROVIDE YOU OR ANY OTHER LIVING CREATURE WITH VITAMIN D!!! There are a lot of people who will argue this until they are blue in the face, rather than just doing a Google-search,lol. No matter how long they are willing to argue with you, UVB light will NEVER provide any Vitamin D to anyone or anything. So that's the first thing that everyone needs to know...

So that leaves the question "Well, if UVB light doesn't provide any Vitamins to living-creatures, then why do many Reptiles/Amphibians actually REQUIRE a UVB light to simply live and grow?"...And this is very, very true, there are many species of Reptiles and Amphibians (as well as some other living creatures) that cannot live without getting a certain amount of Natural-Sunlight or an Artificial-Light of some kind, usually one that includes UVB-output. The most well-known example of this are Bearded Dragons (of which I have a 3 year-old female who I got as a month-old baby who was about 4.5" long)....It's tragic, actually very tragic that even today, in 2019 when Bearded Dragons are as common a pet as birds, dogs, cats, etc., that we still see the majority of Beardies who are surrendered to the Rescue or that you see being "Re-Homed"/Sold on Craigslist suffering from severe Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD), along with the many secondary-health conditions/issues that go right along with MBD, such as stunted-growth (overall), partial-paralysis, severely weakened muscles, extremely low bone-density which results in frequent bone-fractures, chronic constipation and more-often Bowel-Impactions due to a total lack of peristalsys, etc. And most-all cases of MBD and all of the resulting secondary-conditions are due to the Beardies #1) Having NO UVB-light at all, #2) Having a UVB-light that is not strong enough or intense enough for a Bearded Dragon, #3) Having a UVB-light that is obstructed by a glass or clear-plastic cover on the fixture that covers the bulb/tube, obstructed by a mesh-screen that covers the Beardie's tank and that the UVB-light is behind, or #4) Because their UVB-light is much too far-away from the Beardie inside of it's tank/vivarium

****So here's the deal on UVB light: UVB light DOES NOT provide anyone or anything with any Vitamins or any other type of Nutrition, but rather ACTIVATES the Vitamin D (specifically Vitamin D3) that is already in the GI-Tract because it was contained in the food that the living-creature ate....And when it comes to certain living-creatures, such as many Reptiles/Amphibians, THEIR BODIES CANNOT ABSORB ANY CALCIUM THAT THEY INGEST IN THEIR FOOD OR IN CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS AT ALL UNLESS THEY HAVE ACTIVATED VITAMIN D3 INSIDE OF THEIR BODIES AS WELL AT THE SAME TIME THAT THEY HAVE THE CALCIUM IN THEIR BODIES.

So with Bearded Dragons for instance, when they eat a meal that consists of live-insects, fresh veggies and greens, and that also has a Calcium-powder and a Multi-Vitamin powder sprinkled on it, after they finish eating they will have both Vitamin D3 and Calcium inside of their GI-Tracts where they are readily-absorbed into the blood-stream and distributed to all of the cells in their bodies that require both to perform the actions they are responsible for....However, they cannot absorb any of the Calcium that they just ate in their food and that is sitting in their GI-Tract WITHOUT HAVING ACTIVATED VITAMIN D3 IN THEIR GI-TRACT AS WELL...And in-order to "Activate" the Vitamin D3 that they have inside of the GI-Tract that they ate in their food, THEY MUST GET AT LEAST 2-3 HOURS OF NATURAL-SUNLIGHT EACH DAY, OR AT LEAST 12-13 HOURS OF ARTIFICIAL UVB-LIGHT OF AN ADEQUATE STRENGTH AND INTENSITY EACH DAY. Once the Vitamin D3 in their GI-Tracts, which they ingested in the food that they ate, is activated by the UVB-light that they absorb, then the now-activated Vitamin D3 in their GI-Tracts will allow for the absorption of the Calcium in their GI-Tracts through the tissue throughout their Stomach, Duodenum, Small Intestine, and Large Intestine (basically, I'm condensing here), and then the Calcium enters their bloodstream and spreads to the cells throughout their bodies that need it (which for pretty much ALL LIVING CREATURES is ALL OF THEIR CELLS)...

***So what's the difference between certain Reptiles, Amphibians, and other living creatures, and most-all species of Birds/Parrots when it comes to this process? Birds, just like humans and most other mammals, can readily-absorb the Calcium that we ingest in our food WITHOUT having Activated Vitamin D3 present as well. That's the difference. We can absorb Calcium that we eat by simply just eating it. Now, is UVB light necessary to living creatures, including Birds? Absolutely. But not in any way close to the way that it is if you're keeping a Reptile/Amphibian inside of your house as a pet (assuming it's one of the species that absorbs Calicum through this process)...
 

Major_in_MS

New member
May 16, 2019
2
0
Mississippi
Parrots
Felix-Budgie,
Blizzard-Budgie,
Pepper-Sun Conure.
So, is a full spectrum plant light bad to have over a budgie cage? I just had a few of these lying around so I used them.

What kind of bulb is the best lighting for my birds area?
 
OP
MangoTheGCC

MangoTheGCC

New member
May 14, 2019
47
0
Canton, Massachusetts, USA
Parrots
Mango The Green Cheeked Conure (pineapple mutation)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #10
I can give you a few more specific details as to why artificial UVB lighting can not only be extremely harmful to your birds, especially if you don't have quite a bit of knowledge about the different lighting available and you choose one of the MANY HARMFUL LIGHTS SOLD, but more importantly why birds don't require/need to have one in the first place...In addition to owning and breeding birds since I was very young, I have also owned anc cared for Reptiles since I was about 8 years-old; I've also been the Medical Liaison for a large Avian and Reptile Rescue for over 8 years...And I can tell you with 100% certainty and with ZERO HESITATION that buying an artificial UVB light for your pet birds/parrots is totally unnecessary and as stated above by ChrisMD, "More harm than benefits...Skip it."...That's great advice...



The #1 reason why people who buy a UVB light for their birds usually end-up harming or making their birds sick is simply because there are way too many types of UVB lights out there (Compact, Coil/Spiral, Tube, MVB, and now LED), way too many UVB strengths (T5, T8, T12, etc.), and way too many Intensities (2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 10.0, etc.), and unless you have been educated in UVB-lighting or have done A LOT OF RESEARCH prior to buying one, you just end-up buying the wrong thing (doesn't help that "the right thing" doesn't really exist for birds in the first place, lol). And the major health-issues/conditions caused by putting your Bird and/or your Reptile under an artificial UVB light that is too strong, too intense, or that actually emit very harmful light-rays in-addition to the actual UVB rays, are severe Eye Damage/Blindness (both temporary and/or permanent), Photoconjunctivitis (probably the most-common health-condition caused by artificial UVB lights, as well as usually being the very first sign/symptom to appear, and your first indication that the UVB light you have is not good), Skin Injuries and Disease (everything from 1st and 2nd-Degree Burns to Basal and Squamous Cell Skin Cancer), and with birds/parrots they can actually cause permanent-damage to their Feather-Follicles and their Preen-Gland.



***And you cannot just take the easy route and buy your bird a "Full-Spectrum" Light specifically made for birds/parrots, because you have no idea what your birds will be absorbing at ll in that scenario. A lot of people take this route simply because they can then avoid having to choose an actual UVB-specific light...And it's not the answer at all...



***The main thing that I personally think is the most-important aspect of UVB-lighting that people need to learn and really understand is WHY they think that their birds/parrots need to be under an artificial UVB light in the first place...And if you ask most people who do have their birds under an artificial UVB-light WHY they think that their bird needs or even benefits from being under the light that they have them under, sometimes for years and years, they either can't answer you at all, they give you an answer that is wrong or doesn't make any sense at all, or very often they will make the statement of "Because I want to make sure that my bird is getting enough Vitamin D, and I'm not sure that their diet is providing that to them"...And the problem with this statement is that it's just plain incorrect...



Let's make sure we get this straight right off the bat: UVB light DOES NOT PROVIDE YOU OR ANY OTHER LIVING CREATURE WITH VITAMIN D!!! There are a lot of people who will argue this until they are blue in the face, rather than just doing a Google-search,lol. No matter how long they are willing to argue with you, UVB light will NEVER provide any Vitamin D to anyone or anything. So that's the first thing that everyone needs to know...



So that leaves the question "Well, if UVB light doesn't provide any Vitamins to living-creatures, then why do many Reptiles/Amphibians actually REQUIRE a UVB light to simply live and grow?"...And this is very, very true, there are many species of Reptiles and Amphibians (as well as some other living creatures) that cannot live without getting a certain amount of Natural-Sunlight or an Artificial-Light of some kind, usually one that includes UVB-output. The most well-known example of this are Bearded Dragons (of which I have a 3 year-old female who I got as a month-old baby who was about 4.5" long)....It's tragic, actually very tragic that even today, in 2019 when Bearded Dragons are as common a pet as birds, dogs, cats, etc., that we still see the majority of Beardies who are surrendered to the Rescue or that you see being "Re-Homed"/Sold on Craigslist suffering from severe Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD), along with the many secondary-health conditions/issues that go right along with MBD, such as stunted-growth (overall), partial-paralysis, severely weakened muscles, extremely low bone-density which results in frequent bone-fractures, chronic constipation and more-often Bowel-Impactions due to a total lack of peristalsys, etc. And most-all cases of MBD and all of the resulting secondary-conditions are due to the Beardies #1) Having NO UVB-light at all, #2) Having a UVB-light that is not strong enough or intense enough for a Bearded Dragon, #3) Having a UVB-light that is obstructed by a glass or clear-plastic cover on the fixture that covers the bulb/tube, obstructed by a mesh-screen that covers the Beardie's tank and that the UVB-light is behind, or #4) Because their UVB-light is much too far-away from the Beardie inside of it's tank/vivarium



****So here's the deal on UVB light: UVB light DOES NOT provide anyone or anything with any Vitamins or any other type of Nutrition, but rather ACTIVATES the Vitamin D (specifically Vitamin D3) that is already in the GI-Tract because it was contained in the food that the living-creature ate....And when it comes to certain living-creatures, such as many Reptiles/Amphibians, THEIR BODIES CANNOT ABSORB ANY CALCIUM THAT THEY INGEST IN THEIR FOOD OR IN CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS AT ALL UNLESS THEY HAVE ACTIVATED VITAMIN D3 INSIDE OF THEIR BODIES AS WELL AT THE SAME TIME THAT THEY HAVE THE CALCIUM IN THEIR BODIES.



So with Bearded Dragons for instance, when they eat a meal that consists of live-insects, fresh veggies and greens, and that also has a Calcium-powder and a Multi-Vitamin powder sprinkled on it, after they finish eating they will have both Vitamin D3 and Calcium inside of their GI-Tracts where they are readily-absorbed into the blood-stream and distributed to all of the cells in their bodies that require both to perform the actions they are responsible for....However, they cannot absorb any of the Calcium that they just ate in their food and that is sitting in their GI-Tract WITHOUT HAVING ACTIVATED VITAMIN D3 IN THEIR GI-TRACT AS WELL...And in-order to "Activate" the Vitamin D3 that they have inside of the GI-Tract that they ate in their food, THEY MUST GET AT LEAST 2-3 HOURS OF NATURAL-SUNLIGHT EACH DAY, OR AT LEAST 12-13 HOURS OF ARTIFICIAL UVB-LIGHT OF AN ADEQUATE STRENGTH AND INTENSITY EACH DAY. Once the Vitamin D3 in their GI-Tracts, which they ingested in the food that they ate, is activated by the UVB-light that they absorb, then the now-activated Vitamin D3 in their GI-Tracts will allow for the absorption of the Calcium in their GI-Tracts through the tissue throughout their Stomach, Duodenum, Small Intestine, and Large Intestine (basically, I'm condensing here), and then the Calcium enters their bloodstream and spreads to the cells throughout their bodies that need it (which for pretty much ALL LIVING CREATURES is ALL OF THEIR CELLS)...



***So what's the difference between certain Reptiles, Amphibians, and other living creatures, and most-all species of Birds/Parrots when it comes to this process? Birds, just like humans and most other mammals, can readily-absorb the Calcium that we ingest in our food WITHOUT having Activated Vitamin D3 present as well. That's the difference. We can absorb Calcium that we eat by simply just eating it. Now, is UVB light necessary to living creatures, including Birds? Absolutely. But not in any way close to the way that it is if you're keeping a Reptile/Amphibian inside of your house as a pet (assuming it's one of the species that absorbs Calicum through this process)...




Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top