basking area

[flashjord101]

so it's pretty warm in my CA apartment. about 80 degrees. The the 75 w zoo med basking light is bringing that area up to about 100. I simply turned it off and left on the reptisun. Should I consider a way to kick up that area 5 degrees or so? or just keep it off.

Your thoughts are appreciated.
thanks!
J

 

[carol5208]

well how old is your chamelon and what kind are we talking about here???

 

[flashjord101]

He's an 8 mth old Ambilobe Panther Cham

 

[xanthoman]

the purpose of a basking light isnt just to provide heat, imo, its main purpose is to provide uva, which helps stimulate appetite and helps combat depression.
what this means is that uva is part of the formula that helps keep your cham alert, vibrant, and active, so it helps with things like food boredom and hunger strikes, imo it can also help otherwise healthy cham from falling into day time sleep patterns.

we all need our own little space, and i dont think chams are any different.
chams have very little stimulus in a caged environment.
imo, providing a dialed in uva basking spot, offers a territorial comfort zone, a little area where he can feel like he belongs, and is in charge, where he can say, ya, this is me, this is my house.

even though your temps are sufficient, i would still offer uva basking, personally, in that situation, i would use a clear 15 watt incandescent house bulb (like a clear fridge bulb) in one of those small tight reflectors, since those bulbs dont generate gobs of heat, you could probably even fashion one out of tinfoil. throw in some extra holes.

there are ways to reduce both your average ambient cage temps and uva basking temps. a more lushly planted cage with more frequent, shorter term mistings will reduce your average ambient cage temps slightly, as will increased air circulation. this doesnt mean pointing a fan on your cage, but in times of excess heat, i think its appropriate to use a fan in the room. the two of those combined should make for a noticeable drop in your cage temps by at least a degree or two depending. again, not pointing at the cage, but you can also rig a small computer fan that blows only across or up towards your uva reflector (without blowing into your cage) a couple of summers ago when a warmer than usual summer was stressing a gravid xanth, i bought a 1-1/2" usb fan for $8 from office depot. i cut the plug and rigged it to a old cell phone charger of the appropriate voltage. you can also get tiny 1-1/2"-2" computer fans of of the web for $5

chams in the wild have many different microclimate zones they can retreat to for many different reasons, to get warmer, to cool down, to feel safe or stealth , to hunt for food , the least we can do is offer them 2

it may not seem like an important issue, but only a part of cham keeping is made up of supercritical issues, the rest of it is just how all of the smaller issues add up to create the whole picture. jmo

 

[flyty808]

the purpose of a basking light isnt just to provide heat, imo, its main purpose is to provide uva, which helps stimulate appetite and helps combat depression.
what this means is that uva is part of the formula that helps keep your cham alert, vibrant, and active, so it helps with things like food boredom and hunger strikes, imo it can also help otherwise healthy cham from falling into day time sleep patterns.

we all need our own little space, and i dont think chams are any different.
chams have very little stimulus in a caged environment.
imo, providing a dialed in uva basking spot, offers a territorial comfort zone, a little area where he can feel like he belongs, and is in charge, where he can say, ya, this is me, this is my house.

even though your temps are sufficient, i would still offer uva basking, personally, in that situation, i would use a clear 15 watt incandescent house bulb (like a clear fridge bulb) in one of those small tight reflectors, since those bulbs dont generate gobs of heat, you could probably even fashion one out of tinfoil. throw in some extra holes.

there are ways to reduce both your average ambient cage temps and uva basking temps. a more lushly planted cage with more frequent, shorter term mistings will reduce your average ambient cage temps slightly, as will increased air circulation. this doesnt mean pointing a fan on your cage, but in times of excess heat, i think its appropriate to use a fan in the room. the two of those combined should make for a noticeable drop in your cage temps by at least a degree or two depending. again, not pointing at the cage, but you can also rig a small computer fan that blows only across or up towards your uva reflector (without blowing into your cage) a couple of summers ago when a warmer than usual summer was stressing a gravid xanth, i bought a 1-1/2" usb fan for $8 from office depot. i cut the plug and rigged it to a old cell phone charger of the appropriate voltage. you can also get tiny 1-1/2"-2" computer fans of of the web for $5

chams in the wild have many different microclimate zones they can retreat to for many different reasons, to get warmer, to cool down, to feel safe or stealth , to hunt for food , the least we can do is offer them 2

it may not seem like an important issue, but only a part of cham keeping is made up of supercritical issues, the rest of it is just how all of the smaller issues add up to create the whole picture. jmo

i agree with xanto man he knows his chams. but i know to help your cham you should take the oppertunity of the socal sun and take him out side a few times a week to help get natural uva and uvb and all the other goodies the sun provides. but you should ask around if you do so cause i think with a few hours a week of sun light you may have to change your supplementation a lil bit.