Well Thursday last week I got my first two Mega-Ray mercury vapor bulbs from reptileuv.com, and I am so happy to have finally got the best UV bulbs out there for my turtles during the winter months. For awhile I was like "Omg they're SO expensive!" and I was skeptical about buying such expensive bulbs.. but I know these will last me a long time so I decided, hey, if I can spend $800 on a snake, I might as well get the best bulbs. I plan to get a couple more of different types, a low UV one for my chameleon and a couple of the same ones I got for my turtles, for my box turtle and softshell.
And I must say they certainly are happy to have it! My male turtles most of the time are too busy swimming around wanting food when I'm around, though I do catch them basking when I'm not in the room... but my females love to bask under it no matter what.
The males are seperated from the females and have their own ponds for the winter... it saves my biggest female from getting chewed up on the back of her neck from the males trying to mate with her, so this gives her time to heal.
The light is nice in that it isn't a bland yellow color like the old ZooMed bulbs were... these are more white like daylight, but not quite.. and they illuminate the ponds better for daytime activity.
When I hooked up the new bulbs, it didn't take long for the turtles to get up on the basking area and enjoy it! Two of my female painted turtles bask under it practically all day, they love it. Sooooo.... I totally recommend these bulbs for your UV/heat-needing critters... it's worth it.
Okay enough jabber, here they are.
You can tell they're happy 
