any suggestions for my enclosure

[haydenm14]

--I have a monsoon automatic mister, dripper, and a spray bottle for humidity(humidity currently gets to 55% at max)
--i have a uvb 5.0 bulb with 2 100w heat bulbs to get up to 85 degrees at basking.
--the top and half of each short side that is not visible is screen.
--the enclosure is 36in wide, 29in tall, and 14in deep
--the bottom is currently reptile carpet but i will be taking it out soon
--i will replace the carpet with a pot filled with:
-2 inches of hydroballs
-3 inches of coconut fiber
- real umbrella tree

any suggestions will be helpful thanks

 

[Alexander1]

Hi there, what kind of chameleon are you housing in that tank? The glass enclosure you have should be holding humidity a lot better than a screen cage,what do you use to measure the humidity? That enclosure may not have enough air flow for your Cham but it all depends on what you have, please post more details about the Cham you have or plan to purchase

 

[haydenm14]

Hi there, what kind of chameleon are you housing in that tank? The glass enclosure you have should be holding humidity a lot better than a screen cage,what do you use to measure the humidity? That enclosure may not have enough air flow for your Cham but it all depends on what you have, please post more details about the Cham you have or plan to purchase

i plan to get a panther. and my hygrometer shouldn't be bad. I just got it and its a exo terra one. also what i was thinking of doing if i didn't have enough air flow is to get a fan in my room to circulate air more.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Also, it doesn't look like you have a drainage system, and you definitely don't want water to pool at the bottom there. The humidity is going to be raised exponentially just by having a glass cage, which will probably give the water a better chance to pool, and stay pooled. I may be wrong, I might have missed something. Maybe you would just put paper towels at the bottom and change them out daily/every other day at most.

 

[nightanole]

Thats a pretty bad lighting system. While i 5.0 is fine since the cage is less than 3ft tall, however its only going across one 14" section of the tank. So 2/3 of the tank is getting no uv at all?

And you have tested the basking areas directly under the 100 watt bulbs only get to 85F? I find that hard to believe.

Finally, you are running at least 200 watts of bulbs for 14 hours a day. That is 1000kwh of electricity per year. At 10-20 cents per kwh, that could be 200 bucks or more per year. You might want to look into something like a 35 watt halogen flood and some under tank heat tape.

 

[haydenm14]

Thats a pretty bad lighting system. While i 5.0 is fine since the cage is less than 3ft tall, however its only going across one 14" section of the tank. So 2/3 of the tank is getting no uv at all?

And you have tested the basking areas directly under the 100 watt bulbs only get to 85F? I find that hard to believe.

Finally, you are running at least 200 watts of bulbs for 14 hours a day. That is 1000kwh of electricity per year. At 10-20 cents per kwh, that could be 200 bucks or more per year. You might want to look into something like a 35 watt halogen flood and some under tank heat tape.

my thermometers are brand new so i hope they are not broken. and do u think i should put the uvb in the middle to give it more coverage?

 

[haydenm14]

Also, it doesn't look like you have a drainage system, and you definitely don't want water to pool at the bottom there. The humidity is going to be raised exponentially just by having a glass cage, which will probably give the water a better chance to pool, and stay pooled. I may be wrong, I might have missed something. Maybe you would just put paper towels at the bottom and change them out daily/every other day at most.

i have done a test for about 6 hours of the day and all the water didnt pool up at the bottom. i will remove the carpet and do a test run sometime soon

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Oh, well then if the water doesn't pool you should be good. It is a pain to install a drainage system only to find out you don't even need it I just put the paper towels down so that I can just throw them out when my chameleon soils them. You might not even need the towels because the foliage and branches are so thick (in a good way)

 

[nightanole]

my thermometers are brand new so i hope they are not broken. and do u think i should put the uvb in the middle to give it more coverage?

I think you need at least a 2 foot long bulb to go across your 3 foot long cage.

As far as your double basking light 100 watt each setup, its the first one i have seen on the forum. Im guessing they are just standard 100 watt bulbs, and not directional flood? That would explain why they dont put out much heat.

I run these 50 watters from around 1 foot away, and its plently enough to take my 75f air temps to 90f basking temps. I even got a slight thermal burn on one setup because of the the lizards got creative.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BYZ2YE

 

[haydenm14]

I think you need at least a 2 foot long bulb to go across your 3 foot long cage.

As far as your double basking light 100 watt each setup, its the first one i have seen on the forum. Im guessing they are just standard 100 watt bulbs, and not directional flood? That would explain why they dont put out much heat.

I run these 50 watters from around 1 foot away, and its plently enough to take my 75f air temps to 90f basking temps. I even got a slight thermal burn on one setup because of the the lizards got creative.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BYZ2YE

I have the bulbs from eco terra that r the basking bulb with 75% more intensity. Now that everyone mentions it I’m worried I’m getting bad readings on my thermometers. How big is your setup?

 

[nightanole]

I have the bulbs from eco terra that r the basking bulb with 75% more intensity. Now that everyone mentions it I’m worried I’m getting bad readings on my thermometers. How big is your setup?

View media item 45179
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/can-a-heat-lamps-cage-burn-a-chameleon.157926/#post-1353438

 

[haydenm14]

View media item 45179
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/can-a-heat-lamps-cage-burn-a-chameleon.157926/#post-1353438

how warm do u keep ur house and what region of the us do u live in or what country?

 

[nightanole]

how warm do u keep ur house and what region of the us do u live in or what country?

Ohio(Browns have won 1 game in 2 years). room temps are 68-75f during the day.

 

[haydenm14]

Ohio(Browns have won 1 game in 2 years). room temps are 68-75f during the day.

. Haha I lived there until I was 10 now I’m in northern Kentucky area. But my house is about the same temp. Now I’m worried either my thermometer readings are wrong or my bulbs are faulty even though I got all of them in the last week

 

[nightanole]

. Haha I lived there until I was 10 now I’m in northern Kentucky area. But my house is about the same temp. Now I’m worried either my thermometer readings are wrong or my bulbs are faulty even though I got all of them in the last week

I used an elcheapo thermal gun from harbor freight. I guess you can always wing it with the cham. To hot (but not enough to burn) and they will get bright spots on their skin. Way to hot (sun burn for humans) and their skin will stay white/bright for several hours after basking. Its down hill after that.

 

[haydenm14]

so do you think i should just go with it and see what happens then? i guess also if its too hot i would see the cham not go as high as much

I used an elcheapo thermal gun from harbor freight. I guess you can always wing it with the cham. To hot (but not enough to burn) and they will get bright spots on their skin. Way to hot (sun burn for humans) and their skin will stay white/bright for several hours after basking. Its down hill after that.

 

[nightanole]

so do you think i should just go with it and see what happens then? i guess also if its too hot i would see the cham not go as high as much

Sorry, if it gets too hot, the cham will burn, some times very badly. They can not sense burns like you and I, they will sit there and cook if its a 2nd with blisters etc. Your other (and our) problem is just because your temps say 85F, doesnt mean that after 30min of basking it doesnt warm up to 95F+, or if the cham happens to absorb more heat that your thermal probe.

Some people do need 100 watts to get to 85-90F. Like i said, my halogen floods get to 85-90F from a foot a way, it some one was using a flood with a much wider beam, they might need 100 watts to heat and area double the side of my basking spot.

You might want to invest in a lamp dimmer and start on low. Or raise them up another 6-12" as a start.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

You could also try putting your hand underneath the bulb at about the place your chameleon basks, and then if you have to pull your hand away after a few minutes, it is probably too hot for your chameleon. Keep your hand in that place as long as you can withstand it. This isn't always accurate, but it is one way you can test to see what the chameleon is feeling. it is different for everybody, though.

 

[haydenm14]

Sorry, if it gets too hot, the cham will burn, some times very badly. They can not sense burns like you and I, they will sit there and cook if its a 2nd with blisters etc. Your other (and our) problem is just because your temps say 85F, doesnt mean that after 30min of basking it doesnt warm up to 95F+, or if the cham happens to absorb more heat that your thermal probe.

Some people do need 100 watts to get to 85-90F. Like i said, my halogen floods get to 85-90F from a foot a way, it some one was using a flood with a much wider beam, they might need 100 watts to heat and area double the side of my basking spot.

You might want to invest in a lamp dimmer and start on low. Or raise them up another 6-12" as a start.

. Where can I get this light dimmer you are talking about?

 

[haydenm14]

You could also try putting your hand underneath the bulb at about the place your chameleon basks, and then if you have to pull your hand away after a few minutes, it is probably too hot for your chameleon. Keep your hand in that place as long as you can withstand it. This isn't always accurate, but it is one way you can test to see what the chameleon is feeling. it is different for everybody, though.

. As much as this is something I would try I won’t because my hands don’t burn easy since I’ve messed them up so much. Thanks for the suggestion though