Warning re: Flourescent light tubes

[L in Ontario]

Do not, I repeat do NOT leave these around the birdroom (or anywhere else) if they're not being used. PUT THEM AWAY properly... unlike me.

I had my husband switch a tube a couple of months ago from "daylight" to regular hoping to get a better average of male / female babies and it WORKED!!

However he did not put the tube away that he took out of the fixture, he just leaned it up against the wall near the doorway. I was vacuuming this morning and knocked it ever so gently but enough to make it fall over onto the vacuum cleaner. B O O M - it exploded! I've heard of this happening but had never seen it happen before. There were shards of glass over 20 feet away! The tube was standing against the wall about 5' from the birdcages! So far all the birds seem okay but I did have to replace the paper in several cages as there were pieces of glass in there.

BEWARE - and put all flourescent light tubes safely away.

[dfcauley]

goodness Liz... sound like we both had a day today....

I am glad everything is okay with your babies.!

[williep]

Glad to hear everyone is OK Liz. The tubes can be very dangerous, we used to purposefully explode them against walls when we were younger (and stupid) they pieces of glass are razor sharp and become shrapnel when the tube is broken!! So you gave some good advise.

[BillD]

Liz.. I don't want to alarm you, but I've read that fluroescent tubes contain Mercury and it gets everywhere when they explode. May just be the compact ones. I'm not sure..

http://www.p2pays.org/mercury/lights.asp

I did the same as Williep in my youth. Well... did a lot of other stupid things when I was young too..

Those little shards of glass get everywhere. Just be careful.