FINCHforum

Hello! I have a canary and have bought a EZPetLight LED light for his cage. It is the type of light that is made to sit on top of the cage. I have seen a few reports of birds developing eye damage from staring into their lights, but I read it on the internet; so I don't know whether this is actually possible! What does everyone think? Do you mount your lights right on top of the cage?
BTW, my canary's cage is 18" tall, so that is the max distance he could be from his light.

ericabelle

The brightest EZ light I saw was only 1700 lumens, so it should be fine directly on top of the cage. If you are concerned, you could move the light away from the bird and observe the bird for a few days to see if its behavior seems more normal. It's UV-B that poses the greatest risk for cataracts, but that light doesn't have any, so it should be fine. I use a 4500 lumen LED on top of a 4.5' tall cage, and they are perfectly happy sitting near the top.

"Full spectrum" doesn't mean much, and that EZ light doesn't say anything about UV-A from what I saw (if it did, the LED light would probably need replacement every 2 years or so than every 10+ years since UV LEDs don't last as long), so it appears this light is just an extremely overpriced normal LED. If you have to purchase another LED, then a 1000-2000 lumen, 5000K one for human/building use should work just as well.

we cannot keep our drapes open when we are gone from the house because people see straight in our windows from our porch. we need to get artificial lighting for our 5 zebra finches. would you please recommend a particular light. thank you

maryt, can you let us know what the cage dimensions are?

There are lots of lamps available, and sizes of fixtures. You just want to get one that fits your cage.

I use 1-2 watts of LED light per 1 square foot of cage. But, it depends on your cage size. Width, depth, height.

Also, I think it helps if the lamp is somewhat off-center, so your birds can either get into more light or less light.

our cage with 5 finches is
Measures 37 1/2" Long, 18" Wide and 40 1/4" High

thank you

maryt

Something like this would probably work nicely, although you may need a lighter-weight one if you don't have a sturdy cage or a good place to mount a light. But look for 5000K color temperature. LEDs are more efficient than florescents, last longer, and don't get hot, so I much prefer them.

In my opinion, a 2' long LED lamp with one bulb would be better--not so bright. And Icearstorm is right, 5000K color temperature.