# Hi I am new to the hobbie and I had a question about Exo Terra Night-glo bulb



## Roblicious (Mar 2, 2011)

*Hi I am new to the hobby and I had a question about Exo Terra Night-glo bulb*

Hello, I got my first emp a little over a month ago, I think it is 3i, he's about 2 inches maybe, I also bought a desert hairy (adult or near adult) a week after, and this friday I am going to pick a baby jacksoni (1 molt to go to adulthood I think).

Anyways, I currently have 2 terrariums, both are 5g, 1 is a exo terra 12x12x12, it currently houses my baby emp and I have a regular fish tank 5g for my desert hairy. Currently the DH is in a KK for now, I am waiting for the sand to dry in the fish tank one.

I am using a 25w exo terra *night-glo* (purpleish color) bulb to heat/light my emp's home at the moment (I have a 50w IR light and a heat pad as well, but the 2 of those are being used to help dry the sand in the other enclosure). The night-glo light is on 24 hours since I dont have another heat source for it and it gets cold in my room often times dropping to 60F in the enclosure according to the temp gauge.

My plan is to use the IR for the daytime and the night-glo when I goto bed for the emp, and the heat pad on the side of the tank for my DH 24/7.

I have read all over that the night-glo is both safe and unsafe, I am seeing more evidence that it is safe because no where on the label or website states that there is any UV from the night-glo. tThe thing that worries me is that people are saying if he glows its bad, then people are saying hes glowing in reaction to the filament coloration not to the 'potential UV output' of the light itself. 

My emp walks around at night climbing the fake background all the way to the top and digs deeper burrow from time to time, and this is with the night-glo on. I have had to move where the lamp was shining because he would climb to the top right under where the lamp/bulb is shining and I didnt want to risk a BBQ scorpion in the morning.

Can anyone please clear this up? I would hate to harm the baby cause of something so little.

BTW leaving the IR light on 24 hours is not an option it hurts my eyes and it is hard to sleep with it on 

Sorry for the long intro and 'overinformation' I guess I wanted to cover all bases.


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## Michiel (Mar 3, 2011)

you don't need all kinds of fancy lights (IR/ glow in the dark daylightother thingee)....I just use ordinary red bulbs for heating terrariums and in some cases heat cables. 
Maybe the manufacturer has info of those glow-in-the-dark-moonlight-UV-special-nightime-Exopet-expesive-Get-all-the-money-out-of-your-pocket-the-petstore-told-me-their-great-BS-lamps....

Temps can vary from 18-20 Celsius in the night, to up to 30 Celsius during the day. I provide this for all my scorpions....just with the cables and ordinary red bulbs......


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## Roblicious (Mar 3, 2011)

Lol, well I got the night-glo and IR light for a couple bucks since I had a card at petsmart so it wasnt a big deal, I just want to know whether or not the night-glo is safe or not. Liek I said, I see both answers :/

The night-glo is on 24/7 currently cause the IR is being used as a drying heat source for my DH enclosure, within the next few days ill be moving the IR light over and using the night-glo only at night.


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## Michiel (Mar 3, 2011)

Roblicious said:


> Lol, well I got the night-glo and IR light for a couple bucks since I had a card at petsmart so it wasnt a big deal, I just want to know whether or not the night-glo is safe or not. Liek I said, I see both answers :/
> 
> The night-glo is on 24/7 currently cause the IR is being used as a drying heat source for my DH enclosure, within the next few days ill be moving the IR light over and using the night-glo only at night.


Ah okay, normally that stuff costs you a bundle, while you don't need it. 

well, they won't hurt the animals if they don't emit light in the UV spectrum. If it did, the package, and the website would have to say so, especially in the "lawsuit crazy" North America....

If that IR light hurts your eyes, don't use it too long and replace with an ordinary bulb when it dies....


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## Roblicious (Mar 3, 2011)

Michiel said:


> Ah okay, normally that stuff costs you a bundle, while you don't need it.
> 
> well, they won't hurt the animals if they don't emit light in the UV spectrum. If it did, the package, and the website would have to say so, especially in the "lawsuit crazy" North America....
> 
> If that IR light hurts your eyes, don't use it too long and replace with an ordinary bulb when it dies....


It's like a purplish hue that it emits, I dono where that falls on the spectrum.

I use the IR during the day time for the most part so it doesnt bother me, that and I am not home for the better part of the day.

So it is safe to have the night-glo on for a majority of the night? and possibly the day then? Wont the scorpion run away and hide from the light if it harms them? I know when I shine my LED pocket light at one of the scorpions they get riled up and run away from it.


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## Michiel (Mar 4, 2011)

Roblicious said:


> It's like a purplish hue that it emits, I dono where that falls on the spectrum.
> 
> I use the IR during the day time for the most part so it doesnt bother me, that and I am not home for the better part of the day.
> 
> So it is safe to have the night-glo on for a majority of the night? and possibly the day then? Wont the scorpion run away and hide from the light if it harms them? I know when I shine my LED pocket light at one of the scorpions they get riled up and run away from it.


"Purple light" is not the same as UV-light, this has to do with wavelenghts. It is known that prolonged exposure to UV-light is detrimental to scorpions. 
Scorpions are photophobic, so their normal response is to run away, hide from lightsources, that's why they are nocturnal....
I don't know if that "night glow" lamp emits UV-light, you should find that out, on internet, manufacturer etc etc....


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## H. laoticus (Mar 4, 2011)

Roblicious said:


> It's like a purplish hue that it emits, I dono where that falls on the spectrum.
> 
> I use the IR during the day time for the most part so it doesnt bother me, that and I am not home for the better part of the day.
> 
> So it is safe to have the night-glo on for a majority of the night? and possibly the day then? Wont the scorpion run away and hide from the light if it harms them? I know when I shine my LED pocket light at one of the scorpions they get riled up and run away from it.


Take a look at the box it came out of.  Check to see if there's any written information about UV.  If you don't have the box, google the bulb's name and see if it has UV.  I think I used one of those bulbs a long time ago and I can't remember much about it, but I don't think they are UV bulbs.  It's just a bulb that's coated to look like it's a "night-glo" kind of bulb lol.  I'm sure it's fine to use, but I do remember my scorpions not being very fond of the blue lighting.


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## Roblicious (Mar 4, 2011)

That's why I am asking I've read that it does and doesn't contain UV. I get mixed results

It says it simulates moonlight nothing abouy uv plus you can't believe the box all the time lol

He doesn't run away from the light when its on he's somewhat active with it on lol


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## InfestedGoat (Mar 7, 2011)

You dont need a heat lamp on at night unless its really cold indoors.


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## Roblicious (Mar 7, 2011)

I took the exo terra lamp off the enclosure and just use my IR 50w bulb on a lamp that sits about 6" above the lid, I have rearranged the room to when the IR light is on it doesnt bother me even when it is on at night.

Last night the baby emp came out of its burrow with the night-glo on and was walking around, it had a slight glow to it, but it stayed under the shade of my fake plants for the most part. If it was bad for it, it would just run back into the hide wouldnt it?

I am pretty sure the night-glo is fine, but better safe then sorry. I used the night-glo bulb for about 2 weeks, so I hope its all good lol.


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## gromgrom (Mar 7, 2011)

You'll wanna use IR, took me a while to get back to this topic. However, I've had emperors with the Night Glo bulb and they were fine, in fact, they came out just as much. Then again, think its just painted black/purple, and its UV. Dont know, the IR bulbs are the best and my favorites.


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## Roblicious (Mar 7, 2011)

Yeah I think it might be a UV bulb painted so it doesnt produce 'as much' thats why people are saying its safe to a point

what kind of bulbs dont have UV? Just IR?


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## gromgrom (Mar 7, 2011)

Roblicious said:


> Yeah I think it might be a UV bulb painted so it doesnt produce 'as much' thats why people are saying its safe to a point
> 
> what kind of bulbs dont have UV? Just IR?


sold in common stores? yes


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## Roblicious (Mar 7, 2011)

So having the scorpion enclosure in a room with the light on or near a window is bad then??? 

My desert scorpion comes out all the time, no matter the time, hes digging in the sand right now lol


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## gromgrom (Mar 7, 2011)

Roblicious said:


> So having the scorpion enclosure in a room with the light on or near a window is bad then???
> 
> My desert scorpion comes out all the time, no matter the time, hes digging in the sand right now lol


no... using a UV bulb when you can use an IR bulb is whats silly. 

plus you can look up stuff beyond what was covered here, some feel UV harms them, I wouldnt know. All I know is they wont want bright UV all day and night, and its good to give them the day/night cycle


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## scorpguy (Mar 15, 2011)

Here is what I found on the eco-terra night glo bulbs. My understanding is that they us an incandescent bulb with a purple/blue glass coating that is meant to stimulate moonlight.  Although it doesn’t say anything on the box about UV rays I wanted to be sure, because like the rest of you that have used these, my scorpions glow while the light is on. I’ve been using the bulb as a heat source 24/7 for about two months and my scorps seem pretty active with it on. I found this chart on the exo-terra website and posted the link where I found it in case the rest of you want to check it out for yourselves. According to this, the night glo bulbs do not produce UVA or UVB light. I my opinion, even though the scorps glow it should be fine. What do you guys think?

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/lighting.php


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## Roblicious (Mar 15, 2011)

Wow that clears up a bunch thanks!

I packed up my exo terra lamp and night glo bulb a few weeks ago when I got a IR bulb in my lamp the other week, so I have been using that 24 hours a day to heat my enclosures.

I really wish that the heat-glo bulbs came in the same size as those 25w night-glo tubes, then the exo terra lamp wouldnt be a waste lol


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## Michiel (Mar 15, 2011)

Guys,

scorpions are nocturnal. In their habitats they are active on moonless nights....Doesn't anybody read books anymore 
Throw aways these crap things or at least stop talking about those moonlights....Is this thread STILL alive 

Rob, good that you are only using that IR light now....


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## scorpguy (Mar 16, 2011)

Michiel said:


> Guys,
> 
> scorpions are nocturnal. In their habitats they are active on moonless nights....Doesn't anybody read books anymore
> Throw aways these crap things or at least stop talking about those moonlights....Is this thread STILL alive
> ...


Michiel,
In terms of disrupting the scorpions day/night cycle, wouldn’t IR lights or ordinary red bulbs be just as bad? IR lights also emit light that is outside the IR spectrum and in the visible range. This is obvious just by looking at an IR light. When the IR bulb is turned on it produces light that we humans can see. Humans can’t see IR so therefore some of the light they produce is not IR. Wouldn’t this visible light have the same affect on scorpions as the light from any other non UV bulb that produces light in the visible spectrum? If things should be absolutely moonless for scorpions then it would seem that the only effective heating devices are those that don’t emit any light at all like heat pads, ceramic heat emitters and heat cables.


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## Roblicious (Mar 16, 2011)

scorpguy said:


> Michiel,
> In terms of disrupting the scorpions day/night cycle, wouldn’t IR lights or ordinary red bulbs be just as bad? IR lights also emit light that is outside the IR spectrum and in the visible range. This is obvious just by looking at an IR light. When the IR bulb is turned on it produces light that we humans can see. Humans can’t see IR so therefore some of the light they produce is not IR. Wouldn’t this visible light have the same affect on scorpions as the light from any other non UV bulb that produces light in the visible spectrum? If things should be absolutely moonless for scorpions then it would seem that the only effective heating devices are those that don’t emit any light at all like heat pads, ceramic heat emitters and heat cables.


Scorpions cant see the light that a IR produces, so it would never know it was on except for the fact there is heat radiating from somewhere. I leave my IR on 24 hours a day and I open my window for the live plants I have inside the enclosure, so mine do a get a day/night times.

From what I was told they know when its day/night from temperature fluctuation, as it gets colder during the night time, and warmer in the day time.


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## Michiel (Mar 16, 2011)

scorpguy said:


> Michiel,
> In terms of disrupting the scorpions day/night cycle, wouldn’t IR lights or ordinary red bulbs be just as bad? IR lights also emit light that is outside the IR spectrum and in the visible range. This is obvious just by looking at an IR light. When the IR bulb is turned on it produces light that we humans can see. Humans can’t see IR so therefore some of the light they produce is not IR. Wouldn’t this visible light have the same affect on scorpions as the light from any other non UV bulb that produces light in the visible spectrum? If things should be absolutely moonless for scorpions then it would seem that the only effective heating devices are those that don’t emit any light at all like heat pads, ceramic heat emitters and heat cables.


I am not a "lightologist" so I can just say what I know about scorpions and how I keep them. After this, that is end of discussion for me. 

I use plain ordinary red light bulbs and heat cables to heat my enclosures...Scorpions will behave normal in this type of light and it does not disrupt their cyrcadian rythms...This means that the scorpions are still hidden most of the day and will come out at night, without being bothered by the red light.

All these UV, Moonlight, Sun-Glo, Daylight and who knows what for flashy names and crap are more for reptiles, fish, living plants, but not for our arthropod hobby. It is just irrelevant....
The sad thing is that noobs buy these lamps because people in pet shops tell them they need them, CAT-CHING!


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## scorpguy (Mar 16, 2011)

Michiel said:


> I am not a "lightologist" so I can just say what I know about scorpions and how I keep them. After this, that is end of discussion for me.
> 
> I use plain ordinary red light bulbs and heat cables to heat my enclosures...Scorpions will behave normal in this type of light and it does not disrupt their cyrcadian rythms...This means that the scorpions are still hidden most of the day and will come out at night, without being bothered by the red light.
> 
> ...


That’s true about a lot of the fancy lights being expensive and generally not geared toward our hobby. I got lucky and the Night Glo bulb I bought was only $3.50. I guess the main point I was trying to make was that with no UV rays being emitted from the Night Glo bulb the only difference that I can see between it and an ordinary red light bulb is the color.  I have used both red and blue bulbs to heat my enclosures and haven’t noticed any difference in scorpion behavior.
 To answer the main question Roblicious had as to if they are safe for your scorpion, I would say based on the information on the eco-terra website, they don’t emit UV rays and shouldn’t harm your scorpions.


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## Roblicious (Mar 18, 2011)

Yeah for some reason people think it emits UV rays despite the fact that the sheet says it doesnt and they think it lies for some reason cause they think Exo is just out to make money and dont care about anything else lol
/tangent

I dont use my canopy lamp that came with my enclosure anymore anyways I have 2 50w IR light shining down 24/7 in both my exo terra enclosures just for the sheer fact I cant put a 50w in the canopy one (max is 25w)

temp is around 80-85 in my emp and i am guessing 80 in my red claws.

I aim them away from my bed so they dont bother me as much lol


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