Full Spectrum Light Bulb

[HeyItsRaymond]

Will these work for Finches? They are about half of what the typical full spectrum bulbs run at the pets stores.

http://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-Light-AL ... B0018OS06S

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[Smurf]

The 5,500 K colour temp should be fine, the CRI is a bit low at only 91 but it's difficult to find reasonably priced CFL bulbs with a higher CRI

http://www.alzodigital.com/full_spectrum_lighting.htm


The're certainly better than standard warm light bulbs

[Sally]

It is so difficult to find reasonably priced bulbs with the correct Kelvin rating plus a high CRI. I agree with Smurf, the CRI is a bit low, but this should work much better than plain 'sunshine' type bulbs, and the price is much better than avian specialty bulbs. Stay away from any bulbs that have a Kelvin of higher than 5700, many of the bulbs I've found that have a good CRI (95-98) then have a Kelvin of 6500, which is good for reptiles, not birds. JMO

[HeyItsRaymond]

I honestly have no idea what all those numbers mean.

I read this article and was thinking on getting the Reptiglo 5.0 he mentions. I already have the Reptile 2.0 and it was recommended that you use both to provide the right balance of light. I've also increased the shaded areas for them to escape the light if they want.

They have nests and also a canopy provided by a few plants I'm placed in the cage.

Here is the article: https://lebeaupinson.wordpress.com/2013 ... ge-lights/

[Sally]

I have used the Repti-glo 2.0 in the past. At first, I was thrilled with the results, as my Strawberry males molted into their nuptial plumage with more red and more intensity than in the past. It took me a long time (I am not the most observant person) to realize that my males were not molting back into their eclipse plumage. Not only that, but their plumage was looking pretty poor, really ratty actually. I finally decided it was the Repti-glo bulbs that were doing it. After all, they are manufactured to meet the needs of reptiles, not birds. The CRI of 98 is perfect, but the Kelvin rating of 6700 is way too high. They might be OK to bring birds into breeding condition, but I personally would not leave them on the cage for very long. This is just my experience, not that of others maybe, but my question is that if these bulbs are so good for birds, why isn't Hagen promoting them as avian bulbs?

[HeyItsRaymond]

Sally

Do you have a bulb you can recommend?

[Sally]

HeyItsRaymond I don't. I use the inexpensive 'daylight' fluorescent tubes from Lowe's or Home Depot, but these are not true full-spectrum bulbs. I have way too many different cage setups and different lamp fixtures, and I am having a hard time finding the best bulbs for my fixtures. I've finally realized that what I should be doing is finding the bulb, then finding a fixture to match the bulb.

I like to have a light on each cage, and many of my cages are stacked. There is just room to slide a very thin fixture between cages, which really limits me to what bulbs I can use there.