Basking temp location

[Shrews01]

This may have been asked before, but I could not find it. If a basking temp of say 90 is trying to be achieved.
With an IR thermometer should I be reading that 90 degrees at the perch or where my chameleons back would be?

 

[Beman]

90 is a bit high for most species... But if your looking for say a temp of 85... Then the reading at the branch should be sitting somewhere in the area of 82 then where they rise up it will be warmer. Of course bulb type used makes a difference as well this would be with a regular incandescent household bulb. Bulbs that are focused heat bulbs produce much hotter temps the closer you get to the bulb which is why typically we do not use them with chams.

I recommend using a temp gauge with probe at the branch this will give you a very accurate temp reading. rather than a temp gun that is going to measure surface temp.