Bird Lights

[Gerard]

Can anyone please advise regarding the use of UV lights for birds? For the last month or so it has been very wet & cold down south so the FIDs haven't been outside for their usual dose of sunshine. They both get D3 supplement which is a standard ingredient of their pellets (pellets are 75% of their diet, 25% vegies, sprouts, etc) so I don't know if it is even necessary???

If it is considered advisable, the product being considered is an Arcadia Compact Bird Lamp. Basic research has yielded inconsistent information regarding their usage including:
1) Suggested times of usage anywhere from 20 minutes per day to all day from 1 hour after dawn until 1 hour before dusk.
2) Some articles suggest that both D3 supplement and UV lighting be used while others suggest one or the other to prevent calcification.

I understand birds can view a greater amount of the light spectrum than we can and therefore this is supposed to affect their breeding and feeding behaviour. How factual is it, or is it still a relatively poorly understood subject? Both birds eat well and have put on good condition since being on a pellet-based diet.

Any advice welcome.

[avinet]

Save your money - UV lights for birds are a big con!! One of the main problems is that they emit quite low levels of UV light, especially compared to sunlight. Given the inverse square law for the intensity of light, (double the distance and you only get a quarter of the light, triple the distance and you get a ninth of the light) the bird needs to be very close to the light source to gain benefit - basically within 20 cm. And if the bird is that close then there is a risk or damage to the eye - cataract formation.

When we had our pet shop I refused to sell the special bird lights - my principles were that if I wasn't prepared to use something myself then I wouldn't recommend it to others - probably why we ended up going broke .

If birds are on decent pellets, as yours are Gerard, then they will get sufficient D3. If they are not on pellets then a calcium supplement containing D3 can be given - Vetafarm's Calcivet is the best.

Turning to bird vision, they do see much further into the UV than us - well into the UVA spectrum. They have an additional type of detector in their eyes which we lack. As far as I know this ability to see into the UV does not make any difference to breeding behaviour, but is does bring out appearance differences that may help recognition between individuals. A photo below shows the appearance of a lutino (pure yellow visually to us) when seen with a UV lamp. I hope to write an article on this for my local club magazine later this year.

Light is an important part of the breeding cycle for birds, and changes in the length of daylight has been shown as one of the triggers to start breeding behaviour. I remember reading somewhere that changes in the length of daylight as little as 10 minutes are detected by parrots. However daylight in general rather than UV light is the factor.

cheers,

Mike

[Gerard]

Thanks Mike, I suspected all it might do is cause the carpet and curtains to fade as well as causing any plastics within the vicinity to become brittle.

As for your principle...there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. When selling, I always apply a very similar principle which is, "If you can't do it honestly and ethically, then don't do it at all". Unfortunately, the pet trade can be very cyclic depending upon which pets are all the rage at a given point of time. You managed to turn a hobby and a passion into a business for a while, which is something that most of us only ever get to dream about doing. It is better to have tried and failed, than to have died wondering.

As for Mike's Pet Shop...it's spirit still lives. We know...we all get to experience just a little bit of its awesome customer service every day on this very forum! ;D

[anzac]

[quote author=gerard board=general thread=11218 post=89805 time=1339278113

As for Mike's Pet Shop...it's spirit still lives. We know...we all get to experience just a little bit of its awesome customer service every day on this very forum! ;D
[/quote]

Here, here ;D

[meandem]

Jun 11, 2012 12:19:15 GMT 10 anzac said:

[quote author=gerard board=general thread=11218 post=89805 time=1339278113

As for Mike's Pet Shop...it's spirit still lives. We know...we all get to experience just a little bit of its awesome customer service every day on this very forum! ;D

Here, here ;D[/quote]

[glow=red,2,300]I'LL SECOND THAT![/glow]