Andrew7769 wrote:yep no problem
well i have had them for over 3 years and my RES for about 2? my painters eat everything bask for hours shed about 5x the amount my RES does and shells are never really white or bad for that long, while i def wont keep my turts for 10years without UVB just to prove a point i believe that waiting another few months to save up some money for a bulb will not harm them, saying this i am actually designing a turtle "play den" made of wood with a easy access pool for outside during nice days(just basicly a few 2x4s nailed to a frame and some shaded rocks and a shaded pool) i have met people that have raised their turts on no UVB and they are fine, and yet i think this question is like smoking, yes not evryone dies form lung cancer from doing it but you are taking a risk by doing it, and also some non-smokers get lung cancer, i think that it depends on the turtle and you had better be safe then sorry in regards to UVB.(btw my painters were hatching rescues)
P.S. please keep in mind that i used the phrase "i think" a lot in this post so i urge that you buy the bulb if you have the money like i said its better to be safe then sorry/
Hey, I hear ya! Many yrs ago when I first got Sheba, there were hardly any decent turtle supplies anywhere (plus, people weren't doing all that internet shopping that they do now either since not every store was online yet). We were lucky we had Reptomin back then. It was definitely a lifesaver since it was fortified with Vitamin D. Sheba spent many yrs under a lamp that we had for a big plant next to her tank. It was some kind of "broad spectrum" bulb but it is anybody's guess if it was really any good for Sheba or not. So for many years, I kept buying these slightly purplish bright 100W-150W plant lights for her to bask under & fed her lots of Reptomin.
In the summer, I always moved her 55 gal tank out to our covered patio where she got lots of real sunshine thru the screened windows. The hotter it was outside, the more she loved it & she basked all the time. It was my attempt at giving her "real" light, since I knew that bulb couldn't be the same as real sunshine.
But, she made it thru and is still with me. Ever since finding this board over a year ago, I have completely upgraded her set up with the best stuff on the market & she is happier than ever! So will a few months matter as someone is saving up $$$ for UVB lights, etc.? Doubtful. Warm clean water with nutritious pellets can get you thru for a few months.
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:14 pm 
I think I might try something like that too one of these days. I agree with you too about it being like smoking and cancer. Some people smoke a pack a day for 70 years without getting lung cancer while others live clean lives and still die from it at a relatively young age. Except with smoking, it's introducing a toxin whereas with lack of UVB we're removing a beneficial element. But like you said, better safe than sorry.
