baby cham basking spot!!!

[pantherlover]

having trouble finding a good level to keep my basking light for my baby female panther. ill have it set at a good level so her basking spot is around 80, 82. every time i turn around shes crawling upsidedown on the top of the cage. im often having to move the light up & down in fear that she might burn her belly. how concerned should i be of this? does anybody have any ideas on how to deal with this situation. the top screen is only about 3 inches higher than her basking spot but when i take a temp reading, it seems to make a significant difference being 3 inched higher...

 

[draetish]

What wattage is your bulb? You may have to raise it off the screen. Can you post a pic of her cage?

 

[jeanjacket812]

It could have to do with the baskings spot you have provided for her, the spot should contain different levels closer to and farther away from the light. My baby girl doesn't go under the heat lamp like that but she does go under the UVB quite frequently.

 

[nhoj6465]

What I have done to my cage is raise the basking light so that it is off of the cage itself. If you do that you will probably have to get a higher wattage bulb. It has worked so far! Good luck

 

[pantherlover]

sorry i cant post a pic at the moment. im using a regular 60 watt bulb. i had a 40 watt bulb originally but i couldnt achive the 80 degree temp without keeping the basking light directly on the cage. i didnt wanna do that because she was climing along the top. there are various levels for her to soak in heat. i did this by stringing a jungle vine from side to side decending around a small ficus. screen enclosure is 2 ft high by 1ft x1ft wide. its sitting at about my head level on a dresser. im about 6ft tall. there is a piece of grapevine leaning on an angle as well. just to paint a better picture of the setup... i have it so her hottest basking spot is at about 79,80 this way when she climbs along the top its only bout 85. is that ok or is would that temp be harmful on her belly. i think shes just climbing on the cage cuz shes a baby & she likes to explore every thing she can. if i should be doing anything different. i have a larger cage for her when she gets bigger but right now the larger enclousure is too big for her to sufficently hunt.

 

[draetish]

That temp should be okay. The main thing to watch for is having the actual light fixture on the screen (it can be 150 degrees). Chams will touch the hot spot and get burned.

 

[draetish]

This is an excellent thread to read and good tip on placing the basking bulb.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/reminder-about-uvb-light-heat-d3-37702/

 

[pantherlover]

thanks very much everybody for your help. i will def check the thread.

 

[CHAMKINGZ]

I would prefer a 60 watt bulb.

 

[Chamster]

i have a question about ceramic bulbs....are they any good? everyone keeps telling me they're the best but I'm not sure why....does anyone have any comments?

 

[ryno202]

i have a question about ceramic bulbs....are they any good? everyone keeps telling me they're the best but I'm not sure why....does anyone have any comments?

ceramic heat emitter?
they are only mainly used at night if the room/cage gets too cold with the lights out. the ceramic bulbs dont emit light. chams need the light to know where to go for basking.

 

[NOP]

I have a baby veiled maybe 3 months old and he spends most of his time directly under the UVB light at the top of the back of the cage he doesn't climb on the ceiling but i keep my 50watt suspended 2 inch of the cage......but he hardly ever even goes to the branches that it really reaches he just spends his time chillin under the uvb...