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After reading into this in Marcus, mworks, thread with his histos and how he used uvb bulbs as a "basking lamp" for about 45 min a day or week, cant remember. I decided to do this little experiment myself and found it to be quite useful. All my frogs come out to the open and bask in the light. Its like they know that it is beneficial. All my auratus, tincs, pumilio, and thumbnails come out and bask. It is so cool to watch. I even place a UVB bulb over one of my tadpole tanks and the froglets came out with a lot brighter color.
I was curious to see if anyone else has played with this and their results from using UVB bulbs ? I hope to hear from other from some other froggers on this subject.
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What kind of UVB did you use? I have been wanting to try this myself.
"He that is slow to believe anything and everything is of great understanding, for belief in one false principle is the beginning of all unwisdom" LaVey
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Exo terra 5.0 UVB bulb, not the tube one
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try it out and be sure to post your findings!!!
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I am pretty sure I have one of those laying around. When i first set up my Varadero tank I had a 2.0 and 5.0 in the fixture. Everyone started jumping all over my case insisting that dart frogs dont need UVB and that I should change it....
I will be sure to post what I find.
"He that is slow to believe anything and everything is of great understanding, for belief in one false principle is the beginning of all unwisdom" LaVey
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The U.K guys are all big on UVB for dart frogs.
Having been to Costa Rica and observed pumilio and auratus in situ....I can say that I did not witness any "basking" behaviour. Heck direct "hard" sunlight hardly reaches thru the canopy in most places. I'm wondering if some people are hooked on UVB and the relationship with Darts chiefly because the frogs are diurnal.
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The glass will filter out the UV though. You need to set your tops up where you have some type of screen or you have to buy the glass (forgot the name that allows UV to pass through
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Starphire Glass...Low iron.
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Does acrylic perform the same kind of filtering of UV? I think in EU they call the low iron glass something else. I know if I was to fork out that kind of money for it I would be using it for the front of the tank not the top!
"He that is slow to believe anything and everything is of great understanding, for belief in one false principle is the beginning of all unwisdom" LaVey
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Yea I wouldn't waste the money for the top, but a side or 2 wouldn't hurt and you could shine the light in that way. I know Marcus does his from the side through the front glass. Think acrylic does filter out most of the UVB and some UVA wavelengths to it's dentriment. I think if I remember correctly that it will cause it to color over time to a yellowish color....But there are differant levels/qualities that you can get acrylic/lexan in. When I built my corner tank I had them use Museaum grade acrylic that filtered out 100% of UVA/UVB lighting and it would not color the acrylic at least over a much longer period.....It also cost a bit more....
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Is there any known side effects from long term exposure to UV in dart frogs? I wish Ed was a regular here, I will have to do some digging on Google scholar when I get a chance and see if any decent studies that have been done.
Otherwise we may need to do our own little experiment here. If I had enough room for two tadpole bins I would try lighting half with a standard 2.0 bulb and the other with 5.0 and see if there was indeed a difference. maybe I can divide my bin and give it a try as long as it doesnt make things too hot.
"He that is slow to believe anything and everything is of great understanding, for belief in one false principle is the beginning of all unwisdom" LaVey
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Chris,
We NEED to have a debate on this. There are no experts here and I seriously doubt we are going to find an academic peer reviewed paper on this topic, so.......good ole fashioned hobbyists posting their experiences and opinions is PLENTY good enough for me at this point.
Try to take a picture of your Set up too, Chris. Your bulbs and fixtures and position of same / distance ect to the tadpoles.
I don't doubt that UVB and sunlight reach the canopy floor in some areas - it HAS to as the jungle topography is certainly varied, but my question is - Do Dart Frogs truly "Bask" ? Are they SEEKING out these high lighted areas for direct benefit ?
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This sounds like it's going to be a good experiment! I look forward to seeing what you all find.
![[Image: UVb.jpg]](http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww277/TheGworks/Histrionicus/UVb.jpg)