FINCHforum

I have an indoor aviary that came with a florescent lights. the bulbs are 48". I would like to know what bulbs to get other then regular florescent. I see fish and reptile lights but no bird lights. what about plant lights? My birds do get some indirect lighting from out side but not much. Thx.

Hello,

Everything I've read seems to indicate that using a full-spectrum light (5500K) is the best way to go for indoor birds. I've also learned that vitamin D and calcium supplements are necessary because birds raised indoors lack the nutrients they would normally recieve from exposure to natural light.

There is a lot of good information on this and other important topics, in the Finch Information Center (link on the left navigation).

Good luck!

Jeanette

You need vitamin d?

Buy this. ..

Here's a very good link to nutrients and their sources
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrients_and_sources.php

And 2 great articles all about lighting:
https://mickaboo.org/confluence/downloa ... ummary.pdf
http://www.naturallighting.com/cart/sto ... sc_page=56

The birds need the UVA/UVB lighting to help them see their mates better and to use the Vitamin D3 that is important for egg laying and raising chicks. I use the Zoomed avian or reptile bulbs 5.0 for my flights and over the breeding cages. They are on timers, so they come on after sunrise and turn off before sunset to mimic dawn and dusk. The window allows the birds to transition from no indoor lighting (only from the window when the lights are off) to night and the sun wakes them up in the morning, then the lights simulate day time.

I bought all of my bulbs from the guys in the link below. Great customer service and fast shipping. Frankly my birds have better color than any birds that I have seen in person, and I attribute that in part to these bulbs.

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/fu ... 7AodGTUAOw

Jason in TX wrote: I bought all of my bulbs from the guys in the link below. Great customer service and fast shipping. Frankly my birds have better color than any birds that I have seen in person, and I attribute that in part to these bulbs.

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/fu ... 7AodGTUAOw

Which ones did you buy and are you still using them?

I have a full spectrum light that I had special ordered from a pet store. It was incredibly expensive! $40 for one light bulb. I can't imagine what a 48' tubular bulb would be. I was told to make sure its 'FULL' spectrum, not 'Broad'. Thats about the limit of my knowledge on lighting...lol

I also use the zoomed reptisun 5.0 bulb for lighting. It was pretty cheap at petco.