Would anyone here use...

[Opheodrys]

Would anyone here use a cover for their UV tubes? Very odd question !
They can be very harmful if one breaks in the viv or if a snake crawls over one.

[Fixx]

What sort of cover?

[DeanThorpe]

If a tube breaks i would think no cover [unless solid..not letting light through] would stop the dangerous parts which i think are the gasses from escaping.

if a snake crawls over a tube, then your talking high uv output on the surface.. however they would have to be in contact a whiole t be harmed.. do you use UV tubes with your snakes? most people dont.

What sort of cover were you thinking about?

[Fixx]

Originally Posted by DeanThorpe

If a tube breaks i would think no cover [unless solid..not letting light through] would stop the dangerous parts which i think are the gasses from escaping.

The gases and the phospor coating to be exact Dean, from what I can gather as the tube lights up (and MVB's as well) it heats up the phosphor coating which contains mercury (in tubes and MVB) which causes it to vaporise and emit light at the UVB wavelengths required.

If a uvb tube or bulb breakes you should pick up as much of the glass as possible, wear gloves, the smaller bits and a lot of the phosphor can be collected on sticky tape, a very good way of removing glass shards, and then the viv should be wiped out not vacuumed as the phosphor will make it through the filter and be discharged into the air. Any debris should be taken to a recycling centre or tip and placed in the approriate container for hazardous waste, some centres like ours have special bins for lights containing mercury.

The animal should then be washed/showered from head to tail, and I literally mean head TO tail, this will wash any debris away from the eyes, mouth and nostrils.

Originally Posted by DeanThorpe

if a snake crawls over a tube, then your talking high uv output on the surface.. however they would have to be in contact a whiole t be harmed.. do you use UV tubes with your snakes? most people dont.

There's a file on the Yahoo UVB meter owners group concerning this, I'll see if I can copy it here.

[DeanThorpe]

cool, yeh look forward to seeing it.
I know tubes give off strong readings for the 1st inch or so and snakes bellies prolly are quite bad for letting it in and from thebelly would be kind UN NATURAL.
Look forward to seeing it ye.

[Fangio]

I've used flourescent tubes (UVA) for snakes for the last 12 years with no covers with no problems.

I use "clip over pipe clips" from Polyplumb to hold them in. These are obtainable from B&Q and are meant for holding pipes. They have a clip on the bottom which holds the tubes in nice so the snakes can't bring them down and smash them.

[Opheodrys]

See, my dad has his own company which make strong plastic tube covers. He's always asking if they could be used in reptile tanks.
They very strong so if you bump them with, say, a log then it won't break. Also, if it does smash by itself, all of the dangerous stuff inside the bulb will be safely kept inside the plastic cover. (They sometimes have films inside with different colours like red, blue, purple or green and UV filter one too)

You could say I'm doing market research!