Zoo Med T8 ReptiSun® 10.0 UVB T8, 48 Inch, Reptile Habitat Lighting

Light came well packaged. The actual light was wrapped in bubble wrap and also came in a hard cardboard canvass tube. The tube was labeled “do not bend”. Works well and my turtles love it. Will buy again.

From the many bad experiences I have had ordering these bulbs, it's clear that there is something very wrong with the Zoo Med company. Including this purchase.This time, the box that the bulb comes in had clearly been opened before; it was bent up and torn and taped back together with scotch tape. The bulb itself was clearly old and used. The tips on the end were bent and the metal was bent up and a bit rusted. Needless to say, it did not fit in the hood and did not work.I was very upset. I figured that some unethical person sent back their old bulb when they received the new one, pretending that they were returning the new one. I felt angry with the company because they resold a returned item to me! But at first I thought it was a one-time mistake.However, in reading through the reviews on this product, I see that this is something that occurs frequently. Several other reviewers have received bulbs with the metal ends of the bulbs bent and broken. So they are selling used and broken products??Before this happened to me, I have already had several bad experiences with Zoo Med. As several other reviewers also mentioned, these long slim bulbs are often not packaged properly for shipping and arrive broken. This has happened to me several times as well over the years.. Sometimes I have had to send back more than one bulb before I finally received one that was not broken.Unfortunately I need this bulb to sit over the 70 gallon tank that houses my aquatic turtle, so I have to deal with these issues every time I order a new bulb. But receiving a dirty bent up old bulb this time was extremely frustrating.I sent it back and ordered a new one, and now the new one seems to be taking forever to get here. I keep checking the tracking but it has not moved in a few days.It's a good bulb and lasts a long time when I receive it. My turtle is very healthy and 21 years old. But what I have to deal with, with Zoo Med, is extremely frustrating. I wish there was another company with a bulb of the right size. I would even buy a new hood from a different company if I could find one the right size for the tank that is able to use good reptile bulbs. Does anyone know of one?

These are the only bulbs I use for my reptiles, they seem to last the longest and not flicker all the time like some of fluorescent bulbs due. My reptiles have all done great on these bulbs and I haven't had any trouble with them. Besides, if you get your reptile out to get sun 20 minutes once a week they get 10 times the amount of UV that any of these bulbs give out. But I still like to have lights over everybody and I've never had a problem with these. No eye problems in any of my reptiles (I have 38 reptiles, 20 are brand new baby panther chameleons). I have not had MBD issues with any of my reptiles and while I know Zoo med is kind of in competition with Exo terra (which is also a very good company) I am hesitant to change bulbs because these have worked so well for me for so long.

The prongs on one end of the bulb were slightly bent when I opened the box, but I was able to make this bulb perform correctly.

I have read conflicting information about fluorescent bulbs as a reliable UV source. We are advised to change such bulbs every 6 months, despite them still emitting visible light. TWICE now, I have failed to swap bulbs right at six months and a couple months later, our dragon has grown sluggish and "off". Once, upon replacing with the ZooMed fluoro, he perked back up. The second time, I replaced with a compact fluoro UV (supposedly a better source), and he did NOT rebound. At 8 months, I replaced the ZooMed fluoro and AGAIN, he regained energy and color. I HAVE to think that, despite what many say, that this fluorescent bulb IS an excellent source of UV for our water dragon, so long as we change for a new one every six months. I cannot recommend this one enough !