Leg spasms...

[Jace]

I use Rep-Cal Ultrafine powder with Vitamin D3 for all my amphibians and geckos. However, I "free feed" them within their set-up, so they may not be getting as much calcium as they need. I will double check everything and remove them from the tank to feed for the next bit just to ensure they are getting enough....

[Kurt]

Are they getting UVB?

[Jace]

No....I wasn't aware they needed UVB. The setup is near a window that is opened every day for one of my plants, though. The canopy light is on for 8 hours a day at least, but it is just a standard bulb. Something tells me I might want to invest in a proper bulb....?

[Paul Rust]

No....I wasn't aware they needed UVB. The setup is near a window that is opened every day for one of my plants, though. The canopy light is on for 8 hours a day at least, but it is just a standard bulb. Something tells me I might want to invest in a proper bulb....?

They are getting some UVB from the canopy lights. There is research that suggests frogs need more UVB than earlier thought. However, the 3 consecutive papers on this research published in Environmental Science and Technology, a journal of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society, determined that UVB is the cause of frog malformations. In the study it was determined that with an incremental increase in UVB there was a corresponding decrease in egg development and tadpole survival and an increase in the presence of malformations. These adverse effects were appearing at 63.5% of the intensity of UVB in natural sunlight! Until something convinces me otherwise and a dosage is determined I am not going to use a UVB bulb with my frogs.

[Jace]

Okay....so then I shouldn't change the bulb? Wow, this can be confusing stuff. Right now, I am going to take them out, give them a bunch of calcium dusted crickets in a separate feeding bin, do a full change on their water, freshen up their moss and go from there. Still just the one frog (out of 7) with a leg spasm, so other than doing the above, I guess I will just have to wait and see.

[Paul Rust]

I would not use a bulb designed specifically to produce UVB radiation until more conclusive evidence is found. Of course if you have a glass or acrylic top and the lights are shooting throught it this whole converstion is mute because the UVB is being filtered out anyway.

[Jace]

Yes, actually, the canopy is all plastic and then the bulb cover is placed on top....I specifically got that type of cover so that even if the toads climbed up, they would not get burned by an exposed bulb.