Best Uvb Source For Veiled Chams??

[Scotty]

Hi all,

I need some advice please!

I was wondering what is the best suitable source of UVB for my veiled cham (3 months old).

I currently have 2x5% UVB flouro tubes and a seperate basking lamp, but was considering purchasing a mercury vapour lamp as well, as now I have moved my guy into a 24x24x48" enclosure and the flouro light does not penetrate down to the bottom.

Do veileds need this much UVB? I am concerned too much may have adverse effects, ie sunburn etc? I have read alot of conflicting evidence on the pros & cons of mercury vapour lighting, but I am sure people here will have their own experiences to share...please!!!

Remeber veiled chams...other species DO have other lighting requirements, but this thread is totally for the veled chameleon.

Thanks in advance...

Cheers
Scott.

 

[Will Hayward]

I would not recommend MV for anything less than a near full grown chameleon

 

[Matthew]

You cant go wrong with the reptisun 5.0. they are the best source of uvb and uva.all so you dont want a light that reaches all the way to the bottom you want to give them a gradiant they will regulate the amount of uv they need. just make sure you have branches or vines that go well into the affective range of the bulb. another thing is the mercury vapour lights get really hot and that makes it much more difficult to offer a temperture gradiant that is needed for a chameleon to self regulate its body temp.

 

[Scotty]

My minds made up, i'll stick to the flouro's for now. I thought MV would be too full-on for a small cham!
Mathew thanks heaps for the reply, I should have explained the reason for my concern with no light reaching the bottom of the enclosure. It was more for the benefit of the smaller plants than the chameleon, as he will no doubt be spending most of his time around the top of the enclosure, cruising the vines.
As a matter of interest, does anyone use MV for veileds and what has been your observations with comparisons to other lighting techniques?

 

[Matthew]

Your plants should be fine with the fluorescent lights. as you will fine most people use these lights and have grate success with them. i would worry more about the light requirments for your veiled and finding plants that will grow well with thoughs requirements and are safe.

 

[Tygerr]

Mathew thanks heaps for the reply, I should have explained the reason for my concern with no light reaching the bottom of the enclosure. It was more for the benefit of the smaller plants than the chameleon

In addition to your UVB and heat bulbs, you could use regular household flourescents if you want to provide additional lighting for the plants. Regular flourescent lights don't intefere with the heat gradient significantly, nor will they affect the UVB gradient, and they also provide light in the spectrum that plants need (you can also use specific plant growing lights, but they usually cost a lot extra, and aren't really necessary unless you're growing difficult plants). The regular household flourscents come in warm white (more reddish) and cool white (more blueish) varieties, which influence plant growth in different ways (more red supposedly makes plants grow faster, but more wiry; more blue makes them grow slower but more robustly). I like to mix them up.

 

[Scotty]

Your plants should be fine with the fluorescent lights. as you will fine most people use these lights and have grate success with them. i would worry more about the light requirments for your veiled and finding plants that will grow well with thoughs requirements and are safe.

The thread was with the welfare of the cham as a priority of course!!! It was related to the UVB requirements of the veiled chameleon and was a MV better or a necessity over a 5% flouro, sorry if I did not explain myself a tad better.
Plants in the enclosure are secondary, although also important. I have a ficus benjamina, umbrella and a hibiscus, the latter 2 are smaller and are quite shaded from the ficus, hence the other question will I need more light reaching the bottom of the enclosure to keep the plants alive as the flouro's do not penetrate that deep and the specs on these lights say they are only good for 12" from the source...
Check this link as I research this site for requirements for most of my other species of herps. http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ very interesting...
Cheers
Scott.

 

[Scotty]

In addition to your UVB and heat bulbs, you could use regular household flourescents if you want to provide additional lighting for the plants. Regular flourescent lights don't intefere with the heat gradient significantly, nor will they affect the UVB gradient, and they also provide light in the spectrum that plants need (you can also use specific plant growing lights, but they usually cost a lot extra, and aren't really necessary unless you're growing difficult plants). The regular household flourscents come in warm white (more reddish) and cool white (more blueish) varieties, which influence plant growth in different ways (more red supposedly makes plants grow faster, but more wiry; more blue makes them grow slower but more robustly). I like to mix them up.

Interesting, i'll give that a try thanks, although I may have to mount the fitting further down the enclosure...
Cheers Tygerr...

 

[Will Hayward]

Why not raise up the plants?

 

[Scotty]

Why not raise up the plants?

Well I actually did for the ficus, but i'm all for aesthetics and I didn't like to have all three plants jacked up to make them higher. I managed to cover the raised base of the ficus with some fake exo terra ficus but I didn't have enough for 2 more ie hibiscus and umbrella... I know very anal but these were the biggest plants I could find... lol

 

[Scotty]

Well here is the enclosure in question, just took a pic, it's alot easier to comment on when there's a visual.
Will or anyone please comment and give me some constructive critisicm please, as I am new to THIS species and still learning!
Thanks guys...

 

[Cherron]

I think the enclosure looks good If you wanted you could add yet another plant in the front to fill in the right side but for the most part it is looking good. Some people add a flourescent plant light to help their plants grow (the hibiscus are especially hard to keep indoors) and as long as you have a 5.0 bulb that spans the length of the top of the cage your chameleon should have no problem getting the amount of UVB that he needs as long as you have plenty of varying heights of perches (and you definitely do). Good job!

 

[Scotty]

Thanks Cherron. It's my first crack at a full size enclosure, hopefully with all the input from the learned people here and more experience with chams, I can only improve...
Cheers
Scott.

 

[karma74]

wow that enclose is great! may i offer some constructive critisism? cover the edge of the plant pot with something like fake foliage. My friend's veiled chameleon fell and hit his head on the edge of the plant pot and ..died.

 

[Will Hayward]

If a veiled is consistently falling, no padding will save them. There would have been another problem.