10.0 UVB output for desert dwelling reptiles. Essential for calcium metabolism and preventing metabolic bone disease.
Essential for reptile health
10.0 UVB output
Trusted brand
6-month lifespan
Must replace every 6 months
UVB degrades over time
Needs fixture
UVB Output: 10/10 · Build Quality: 8/10 · Value for Money: 8/10 · Lifespan: 7/10
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Most diurnal reptiles need ultraviolet B light to synthesise vitamin D3 in the skin, and D3 is what lets them absorb dietary calcium. Without it they cannot use the calcium they eat, however much you dust.
The result is metabolic bone disease: soft or deformed bones, a rubbery jaw, tremors, spinal kinks, fractures and eventually death. It is common in captive reptiles, it is almost entirely preventable, and it is frequently irreversible once established.
That is why UVB is a husbandry requirement rather than an accessory, and it is the single most consequential thing to get right for a bearded dragon, a uromastyx, a tortoise or a chameleon.
The number describes the proportion of the lamp's output in the UVB range. Higher means more UVB.
A 10.0-class lamp is intended for desert species with high UV requirements — bearded dragons, uromastyx, many tortoises.
A 5.0-class lamp suits tropical and forest species with lower requirements.
Nocturnal species such as leopard geckos and many snakes have historically been kept without UVB, and there is growing evidence that low-level UVB benefits them too. Ask a reptile vet about your species.
Too much UV is a real thing as well as too little — overexposure causes eye and skin damage. Matching the lamp class to the species and the distance is the whole job.
UV output falls off sharply with distance, and the correct lamp at the wrong height delivers effectively nothing or dangerously much.
Follow the manufacturer's stated distance for your lamp and fixture combination.
Mesh blocks a meaningful share of UVB. If the lamp sits on a screen top, the animal must be closer than it would be with the lamp mounted inside. That has to be accounted for.
Reflectors matter. A lamp in a plain fitting scatters most of its output. A proper reflector directs it down and materially increases what reaches the basking spot.
Provide shade. The animal must be able to move out of the UV as well as into it. An enclosure with no shaded retreat removes the animal's ability to regulate its own exposure.
The only way to actually know your numbers is a UV index meter. They are not cheap and they are the difference between guessing and knowing. Keeper communities often share them.
A UVB tube that still emits visible light may have stopped producing useful UVB. Output degrades long before the lamp stops lighting up.
Replace on the manufacturer's schedule — typically somewhere between six and twelve months for a fluorescent tube depending on the type — and write the fitting date on the tube in marker. Relying on memory is how a dragon ends up under a dead lamp for a year.
This is the most common serious husbandry failure with UVB, and it is invisible without a meter or a calendar.
Linear tubes distribute UV along a length of the enclosure, so the animal receives it while moving normally. Compact coil bulbs concentrate output into a small area, which historically caused eye problems in some animals and makes the gradient much harsher.
For a basking species, a linear tube running a good share of the enclosure length is the better arrangement.
A common and dangerous confusion. A fluorescent UVB tube produces very little heat, and a basking lamp produces heat and little useful UVB. A basking species needs both, mounted so the basking spot has the right surface temperature and the right UV index at the same place.
And as with any heat source: never run a heat lamp or mat without a thermostat, and measure the basking surface temperature with an infrared gun or a digital probe, not a stick-on dial on the glass.
On the manufacturer's schedule, typically between six and twelve months for a fluorescent tube. Output degrades long before the lamp stops emitting visible light, so a tube that still lights up may be producing no useful UVB. Write the fitting date on the tube in marker — this is the most common serious UVB failure.
Yes, a meaningful share of it. A lamp mounted above a screen top has to be closer than one mounted inside the enclosure. A proper reflector also matters, because a plain fitting scatters most of the output rather than directing it at the basking spot.
The proportion of output in the UVB range. A 10.0-class lamp suits desert species with high requirements — bearded dragons, uromastyx, many tortoises. A 5.0 suits tropical and forest species. Too much UV causes eye and skin damage, so matching the class and the distance to the species is the whole job.
No, and confusing the two is dangerous. A fluorescent UVB tube produces very little heat, and a basking lamp produces heat and little useful UVB. A basking species needs both, arranged so the basking spot has the right surface temperature and the right UV index in the same place.
Yes. UVB lets the animal synthesise vitamin D3, which is what allows calcium absorption — it does not supply the calcium. Dust insects on a schedule appropriate to the animal's age, and use D3-containing supplements only as directed, because oversupplementing D3 is itself harmful.