Chameleon laying in odd position under UV bulb?

I agree that with THAT particular UV bulb, you essentially have NO UV.
Get a T5 HO strip florescent ASAP.
Thank you all for your help, you've all been amazing! So does this mean i will need a new hood as well to fit the linear bulb in? Sorry for the silly questions. Want to get this right
 
Thank you all for your help, you've all been amazing! So does this mean i will need a new hood as well to fit the linear bulb in? Sorry for the silly questions. Want to get this right
yes the linear bulb will be longer than a compact so you should get the t5ho linear fixture
 
You want something like this. Long one - uvb. Dome light - heat lamp
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Most T5 HO lights are sold with both the fixture and the tube.
You just buy it, take it out of the box, plug it in and place it about 12" from the branch that your cham likes the best.
 
Most T5 HO lights are sold with both the fixture and the tube.
You just buy it, take it out of the box, plug it in and place it about 12" from the branch that your cham likes the best.
Right, so that's the UV sorted, what about her heat bulb? Sorry for all the questions. Want to make sure I'm getting this right. I really appreciate everyone's help
 
Your Heat Lamp is just fine in the fixture its in. You could even replace that coil bulb with a second low wattage heat bulb. Honestly better than the domes most folks are using much more spread of light, and a more even heating of the entire top area.

No offense meant to anyone, but people tend to get stuck into a pattern of black and white. As we see with screen cages a lot (surprisingly not in this post, yet :) but thats been changing slowly). Something is recommended as it works, the "Dome" or the "Screen Cage" and suddenly everything else is the devil, and that gets rehashed and repeated from there on forever.

The Exoterra fixture you have those bulbs in, reflects heat, it reflects light, put basking lights in it and your fine :), it wastes a little more heat then "Dome" shape, but in your case especially that is okay.

Huge disclaimer, this isnt the case for everything. That Coil bulb is garbage, for the same reason I would use your hood over that "Dome". Its a very small Beam of UV light, with a high concetration of UVA, and pinpoint UVB, so its worthless outside of its circle, and is dangerous when you look at it, or when the animal does, it can cause "Snowblind" or "Welder Flash Burn" when looked at directly especially for prolonged periods. In your case its also a 2% so even more worthless, but thats why the CFLs are bad.
 
Your Heat Lamp is just fine in the fixture its in. You could even replace that coil bulb with a second low wattage heat bulb. Honestly better than the domes most folks are using much more spread of light, and a more even heating of the entire top area.

No offense meant to anyone, but people tend to get stuck into a pattern of black and white. As we see with screen cages a lot (surprisingly not in this post, yet :) but thats been changing slowly). Something is recommended as it works, the "Dome" or the "Screen Cage" and suddenly everything else is the devil, and that gets rehashed and repeated from there on forever.

The Exoterra fixture you have those bulbs in, reflects heat, it reflects light, put basking lights in it and your fine :), it wastes a little more heat and the "Dome" shape, but in your case especially that is okay.

Huge disclaimer, this isnt the case for everything. That Coil bulb is garbage, for the same reason I would use your hood over that "Dome". Its a very small Beam of UV light, with a high concetration of UVA, and pinpoint UVB, so its worthless outside of its circle, and is dangerous when you look at it, or when the animal does, it can cause "Snowblind" or "Welder Flash Burn" when looked at directly especially for prolonged periods.
Right okay, what if she gets too hot? I'm not sure Elliots Chameleons can hack too much heat? Also if I get the UV linear fixture it will cover the whole of the top of the cage with both the Exo Terra compact and the UV fixture if that makes sense?
 
Right okay, what if she gets too hot? I'm not sure Elliots Chameleons can hack too much heat? Also if I get the UV linear fixture it will cover the whole of the top of the cage with both the Exo Terra compact and the UV fixture if that makes sense?


Use lower wattage bulbs, you can pretty low watt bulbs :). Just experiment with the wattage's until you find something fitting. Start low off the bat. Like 20w bulbs, and measure measure measure.

You could honestly likely just throw that exoterra away and get a 2 T5 fixture or even a 4, one with a 5% and 6500k maybe dont do single reflectors these guys dont need as much UV as a panther or Vielied I dont think. That might be enough to replace the basking light altogether. A quad T5 I am fairly sure is enough, there was a Carpet breeder long ago here that used 6 T5s to get 82-85 degree basking temps in his glass vivs, so 4 will likely do you just fine.

From what I can drum up, they want basking at about 23/24ish, dont go over 25c.

I would If it were me, take out all the fake plants.
Take out that background.
Foam and Cocofiber background on the back and sides.
Go fully bioactive. With alot more plants.

This chameleon wants at least 70% humidity AT ALL TIMES. Thats going to be touch to pull off while still having good ventilation. The coco walls and LOTS of live plants, will assist coupled with frequent misting.

So all those Panther/Vielied care sheets you been reading about 50% humidity, and let it dry out between mistings, forget all of it. This guys are from Bonafide Straight up Pure Rainforest, 70% humidity ALWAYS, AT LEAST.

Sadly Trace is no longer among us, and thats the only person I know of to keep these.
 
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