# Full Spectrum Lighting



## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

So I've been thinking a lot about this issue. Galileo doesn't get any real sunlight (can't take him outside, too cold, etc.). I bought a reptile full spectrum blub that had the lowest intensity. 
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/compact_fluorescent_bulbs.php
and have been using it for the past few months with no problems. But I started doubting whether it was actually getting him enough light for vitamin D production. So I did some more thorough searching on this forum. First I found information on reptile FSL being bad and even dangerous for birds. A person on this forum used one with a high intensity and it burned the 'tiel's eyes. 
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=6686
These reptile lamps provide different amounts of UVA/UVB, depending on the intensity. It turns out that the one I'm using is UVA only, but the high intensity one the person that made that post used was very high in UVB.
So now I plan to just get one that is intended specifically for birds. 
Some people also use more general FSL that you can get at department stores, such as these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...isplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=full

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=clamp

I don't know if these provide the lighting that a 'tiel needs, so I don't think I'll use anything generic. 

However I also found some conflicting information on specifically which form of UV light birds need, UVA or UVB.

tielfan, please help me out here, as you made this informative post:

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27588

I want to quote from this post:



> The UVB issue. Ultraviolet light is divided into three subcategories: lower wavelength UVA, middle wavelength UVB, and higher wavelength UVC. *UVB is the wavelength involved in vitamin D synthesis*.





> *UVA is important because it is part of the visual spectrum of birds*, and any fluorescent light with a CRI greater than 90 will meet the need for UVA.


But what confused me was the contradictory info in the post about reptile bulbs:

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=6686



> The whole point of using the bulbs is to get the vitamin D-producing benefit of the UVB radiation. Birds' eyes are better protected from the harmful effects than human eyes are, but it still shouldn't be overdone.
> 
> Correction: *birds get the vitamin D-producing benefit of UVA radiation, not UVB*. UVB is more intense than UVA and should be avoided in a bird light. Reptiles DO need UVB so reptile lights emit it.





> I made a misstatement earlier in the thread which I will correct shortly. Birds need UVA and not UVB, which is more intense. Reptiles DO need UVB so reptile lights include that part of the spectrum.


OK, sorry for all the quotes. But I thought this was confusing and needed clarification. I know for sure that humans require *UVB* for vitamin D3 synthesis, so I would assume it's the same for other animals. I don't think that means it's a good idea to use the reptile UVB lamps, since there could be intensity issues. Also these lamps require that they are within close proximity of the animal (only 50cm even for the highest intensity, and 30cm for the mid-range one), which can probably cause even worse burn issues. It's probably best to use the ones intended for birds, which I'm going to get soon. 

So I wanted to clear up the confusion (I was definitely confused! I assumed others might be as well). I think both UVA and UVB are important, in different amounts, for different reasons. UVB is what's needed for vitamin D3 production, and UVA is part of the visual spectrum for birds. Here's also a brief description of the different reason that UVA and UVB is needed:
http://zoomed.com/Library/ProductDBFiles/Birds and UVB.pdf

In conclusion, to be safe, I'll use bulbs intended for birds, and check before buying them that there is a moderate amount of UVB and UVA emitted.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Good job of researching this issue! I made some mistakes in the old threads; it's UVB that has the vitamin D benefits.

I haven't been able to find a bulb that meets all the standards that are thought to be ideal for birds, but the Feather Brite bulb is the one that seems to come closest. But nothing has actually been proven and some people have gotten good results with other types of bulbs. Just be careful to avoid a bulb with a UVB rating higher than 5. The Feather Brite bulb will fit in any ordinary lamp so you don't have to buy their high-priced fixture if you don't want to. I have a Feather Brite bulb hanging over the cage in a cheap brooder lamp. It's two feet above the cage since I'm primarily going for the UVA (the picture's a bit distorted so it looks even higher than that):










Dietary sources can also be a useful source of vitamin D. Good-quality pellets contain D3 and so do Nutriberries, which are very useful with birds that won't eat pellets.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks for the reply tielfan! 

The only Feather Brite full spectrum bulb I found online is a 15w compact spiral fluorescent bulb, 5500k, 91 cri, UVA 4%, UVB .05% (my guess is that 0.05% is equivalent to "5.0" score system)
http://www.featherbrite.com/featherbrite-15w-full-spectrum-bu15.html 
But is 15W enough? seems like it would have to be really close to the cage. 
I found this one:
http://www.everythingbirdie.com/zoomedavcofl.html
which is 26 watts and 5.0 UVB.

Also, my lamp is always on a timer, so that it's on for ~8 hours a day, turning on and off on it's own.

I may also need to get a new fixture since mine is currently a regular table lamp standing on top of a book shelf beside the cage. It doesn't really get that much light to the cage. I heard the standing fixtures are usually pretty flimsy too. The one you have looks good in terms of getting light right on the cage.

Another issue I'm thinking of, is getting our 'tiel the right amount of dark/sleep hours, without cutting back on out of cage play time. Since we get home at 7pm during the week, and by the time we cook and eat dinner it's around 8, he only gets aprox. 2 hours out, 8-10pm. We try to have him back in the cage by 10 and covered by 10:30, although it varies sometimes, when we're home later he may get covered only by 11. But we also get up for work at 7am and leave at 8am. That means we have to uncover him before we leave, so he doesn't stay covered for the day. So he's uncovered (and wakes up) at 8am. I don't know if he continues sleeping after we leave. Although we have all the blinds closed to keep it as dark as possible, until the lamp turns on at 12, depending on how sunny the day is, it may get pretty light in the room at 8am, unless it's a cloudy day. I'm sure if he really wanted to sleep he would, and he takes naps, I've caught him taking naps even in the full light of the lamp. But I wonder if the 10:30pm-8am dark hours is enough? I don't know how else to do it, other than putting him to bed earlier, but that means cutting back on out of cage time with us. I've even thought about possible "mechanisms" for uncovering the cage later when we're gone (LOL). I would appreciate feed back on this.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

These are made specifically for birds. Although I've never tested the lighting, I have used other products of theirs and love them. http://www.avitec.com/Full-Spectrum-Lighting-for-Birds-s/2.htm

As for lighting intensity, I learned this by growing houseplants.... A bulb is at recommended strength at 1 ft away from the animal, at 2 ft it's half the intensity, at three feet it's 1/4, 4 ft 1/16 strength, and so on. 18 inches is the most you want a lamp from your animal to get enough light to do any good.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> These are made specifically for birds. Although I've never tested the lighting, I have used other products of theirs and love them.


According to http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=13448 it has 2% UVB. The so-called 5.0 UVB rating actually means .05% - that's 1/20th of 1%, which is the amount of UVB in natural sunlight as far as I can figure out. I'm guessing that the Avilux bulb is actually .02% UVB which is rather weak in the UVB department. I looked up this bulb a few months ago and had some sort of difficulty, but I don't remember exactly what it was. Maybe it was general unavailability of UV information at the time, or maybe it was unavailability of the bulb itself. But the CRI is better than the Feather Brite and the color temperature is good. 



> The only Feather Brite full spectrum bulb I found online is a 15w compact spiral fluorescent bulb, 5500k, 91 cri, UVA 4%, UVB .05% (my guess is that 0.05% is equivalent to "5.0" score system)
> http://www.featherbrite.com/featherb...trum-bu15.html
> But is 15W enough? seems like it would have to be really close to the cage.


There is (or was) a 20-watt Featherbrite bulb - see http://www.funtimebirdy.com/feather-brite-20w-full-spectrum-bulb.html for example. But I don't think they make it any more. I can't find it on the Featherbrite website, and when I emailed the company to ask about it they didn't reply. You could try asking them (and if they give you an answer please post it here because I'd like to know!). A 15-watt CFL is equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb, and the full spectrum lights are actually pretty bright due to their color temperature. 

The Avian Sun light doesn't come as close to the desired standards for birds as the Featherbrite does, but lots of people use this light and like it. The desired standards are pretty theoretical anyway, they haven't really been tested. The manufacturer (ZooMed) does not provide information online, but other internet sources say that the Avian Sun is 88 CRI, 7500K, no word on UVA, and 5.0 UVB. ZooMed reportedly told one of our members that it's exactly the same as their 5.0 reptile bulb with a different label and a higher price. 



> I wonder if the 10:30pm-8am dark hours is enough?


That's 9 1/2 hours plus naps in the daytime (especially when it's nice and quiet because you're not home). It's probably fairly similar to the amount of sleep wild cockatiels would get in the summertime. He's probably getting enough sleep for good general health, but if he starts having hormone issues then 12 hours of darkness or more would be desirable. With your work schedule it would be hard to give him more darkness without losing companionship and out of cage time, which are both very beneficial to his physical and mental health.



> The one you have looks good in terms of getting light right on the cage.


I have one of the Featherbrite cagetop lights too. It's nice for lighting up the cage when I'm not home, but whenever I'm home I let the birds out and I can't use the cagetop light then because they'd chew the cord. The hanging light solved this problem and now the birds can be out when the light is on. I covered the cord with plastic tubing so even if they try to chew it they won't reach the wires, and I put bird netting over the bottom of the fixture so they can't touch the bulb if they get a sudden weird desire to fly into the fixture.


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