Lighting?

Evanskiver · Nov 27, 2012

I have been seeing a lot of "Full spectrum lighting" ads on parrot stores online. Is there anything to this? Does is help and is it important? Lastly, It says it is close to sunlight, is this something that could cause harm to us if we put the bulb in the main light for the room? We are in it constantly and just want to make sure it does not have the same dangers as the sun.

Thanks for the help!

Evanskiver

Aquila · Nov 28, 2012

They need natural sunlight just like people do, to aid in Vitamin D3 production which in turn aids in Calcium absorption. I have a full spectrum light on for my birds in the evening after the sun's gone down, and on days when it's cloudy. Glass doesn't allow UV rays to penetrate, just the natural light, so parking the cage in front of a glass window won't offer the same benefit. You can't get a tan through a window.

As for being harmful? No, not at all really, it's not powerful enough to cause harm used responsibly. The only real dangers would be from the heat output if it's placed too close to a cage, or in an area that a bird could accidentally come in contact with.

Edit: I don't use it as a main light in the room, I have a clamp lamp that I use over the cages, as the bulb has to be a certain distance away or it's ineffective.

MikeyTN · Nov 28, 2012

Through my reading about it from some top Avian Vets, they said it was a waste to use full spectrum bulbs as they don't actually do anything.....I'll leave it at that.....

MonicaMc · Nov 28, 2012

I've heard that they are great, and I've also heard it's a waste.

I can tell you that many owners have reported brighter, happier birds who are more active. Not too many report seeing no difference.

I will say that if natural, direct/indirect sunlight is available, then that's best!

Birdie Buddy Habitats

rreekers · Nov 28, 2012

I was not exactly sure it a full spectrum bulb would help my bird or not. I read a lot of info and decided to get one and my jenday conures behavior changed in a few day. Playing more and more happy noise. I would suggest getting one.. I think its worth it and it was beneficial for me and Sinna

JerseyWendy · Nov 28, 2012

Mike is right. Unless you put your bird under a bulb that would cause YOU sunburn, they ARE a waste of money.

BUT....I use them for all 3 of my birds, and no, I'm not a crispy critter

My birds are happy, and GLOW under their lights. When we had power outages for prolonged periods of time recently, my fids were awfully quiet. As soon as I hooked up their lights to the generator, they "woke up" and acted their normal selves.

Health benefits? I think so, especially since they are livelier when the lights are on, and they are also happier.

As for the the vitamin D3 - nothing beats real sunlight.

MaraWentz · Nov 28, 2012

My vet has said they don't do much and the windows dont really filter out all the uvs like ads say they do. They are not really needed and don't help much at all (we stupidly invested in one), but they do add more light, which does wake up Erin more, such as any bright light would.

Eloy · Nov 28, 2012

I have 5 of them and they really help me with Eloy so he doesn't go to bed with sunset.
And for a dark and rainy day he is more active and happy if the lamps are on, so I say that they are good both for humans and for birds that need more light to be happy.

Evanskiver · Nov 28, 2012

Being that I have 2 birds in the same room, would it be viable to just buy a bulb and put it in the light socket?

MonicaMc · Nov 28, 2012

No... not really... as you want the lights to be within 16-24" of the bird. During the burn in period, the light needs to be 24" or further away.

The light will be beneficial, however it works best when it's close to them. Too close, and it can burn their eyes and skin.

Evanskiver · Nov 28, 2012

oh ok. Looks like the only way to go is the expensive route. Atleast it is a 1 time buy.

JerseyWendy · Nov 28, 2012

Evanskiver said:
oh ok. Looks like the only way to go is the expensive route. Atleast it is a 1 time buy.

No, you do not need to go the expensive route at all, unless you want to invest in a TANNING BED.

Daylight Compact fluorescents are the way to go, IMHO. They are bright enough, and you do not need to invest in an expensive "fixture" to make one work.

MikeyTN · Nov 28, 2012

Ok here's the thing....at first when I use uv lighting on Dixie, she seems happier yes! But we changed her over to regular fluorescent lighting, she's still the same! And she's been with the regular light for a very long time now!!!! I think they're happier to not be in the dim but have a spot light on them.

JerseyWendy · Nov 28, 2012

Ditto Mikey!!!!

Kiwibird · Nov 28, 2012

We had a bearded dragon (who passed away from old age, bless her little soul) before we adopted our parrot. She needed a specialty full spectrum bulb all the time, and those cost $80 (we needed to replace it about once a year, since she needed it on all day, every day). When we adopted our BFA, I put the bulb in the living room light fixture. Since we no longer leave it on 12 hours a day, it's lasted over 5 years. Don't really know if it does anything for him, but boy is it bright for us! Im actually considering buying a second one (cost puts me off a bit) for our bedroom because its like a cave in there with standard bulbs lol. But with our guy, his cage is positioned about 6' from a HUGE window, and during the warm months (about 8 months a year here in AZ) he gets to come outside 2-3 hours a day in the natural sunshine, so he really isn't in need of supplemental light. Anyways, I would say if you get the high quality bulbs, they do produce the kind of lighting they promise. Our beardie lived to the ripe old age of 16, and her species MUST have sunlight or they will die, so obviously the bulbs did their job well.

MikeyTN · Nov 28, 2012

We're not saying the bulb don't do their job. Just that they really don't do much for birds. I kept saltwater reef aquarium for 7 years so I know about the different types of bulbs and how expensive they were. I was using metal halides, $100+ per bulb for every 6 month's or so depending on usage. I use VHO, Compac Fluorescent, Led, T-5's. Tried them all! You need good lighting to grow corals so that was quite essential to have.

MollyGreenCheeks · Nov 28, 2012

Here is the difference I see and it is a visible change, take it or leave it.

Birds see much more of the color spectrum than humans see. When birds are in the wild they are under the sunlight and the full colors of the feathers are available for view. Well, when we use UVB lights it provides the "same" rays of the sun to light up their feathers. We humans can even see a great difference in the colors of our feathered friends when we use UVB lights. Now wouldn't it make sense for us to provide that same light for our birds visual stimulation?

MikeyTN · Nov 28, 2012

Molly, the thing is it greatly diminishes each time you use it. In the reef club I was in we've tested the bulbs at different age and we see how fast they change. Unless you can purchase a new bulb once a week to a month, your actually wasting your time trying to achieve the same wave length as the greater wave length bulbs creates more heat then we want, cost a lot more too....

Remy · Nov 28, 2012

I noticed a big difference when I added a light for Puck. I had noticed that he didn't groom a lot, but he looked fine. As soon as I added in a bright light for him, he started grooming! I put in a regular compact fluorescent while the good one was on its way, and I'm not sure whether he cared or not. He definitely benefited a lot from brighter light though. The true full spectrum bulbs do make a nicer light though.

MonicaMc · Nov 28, 2012

FS Lights need to be changed every 6 months to achieve the best benefit from the bulbs themselves. After that, they aren't nearly as great...

Kiwibird, I moved into a new place back in February and the old tenants were using energy saving bulbs. The place was like a cave! Dark and dingy! One bedroom in particular, even though the window faced north, is pretty dark! I had a screw in FS Light that I wasn't using (I want to get a tube lighting instead) so I installed the light into that room, and it was amazing the difference it made! Makes me want to put more bulbs like that throughout the rest of the house! LOL

Lighting?

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