colour under different lights

rango87

New Member
my baby panther cham goes dark brown under his basking light but goes a almost blackish colour under his uv light?
is this normal?
 
although ive only had him 11days i didnt think it was stress as his uv is at the front of the viv and his sat there loving it right at the front.surely if it was stress related he would go very dark everywhere.which hes not.
thanks for the reply.
 
although ive only had him 11days i didnt think it was stress as his uv is at the front of the viv and his sat there loving it right at the front.surely if it was stress related he would go very dark everywhere.which hes not.
thanks for the reply.

Can you let us know what you are using for UV and how far away from it he usually is?

If you can posy a pic of your set up... that would be great!

Cheers
Todd
 
R U sure it's not just the different kinds of light playing color tricks on you?

If you have incandescent bulb for basking, it will give a yellow or orange tint
to everything.

They do turn a dark color when basking and they need to increase body heat.

They also get dark lines and stripes when they are p'ed off and stressed.
 
My girl looks dark green under her uvb and you can't see her pretty blue or oranges there either! Going dark under the basking light is fine, they go dark to absorb heat. If he's always brown though you may want to check that things are warm enough for him :)
 
no hes not always dark.only when basking.the warmth is fine too his basking it between 80-82
i have a t5 24w arcaida 12% uv tube in a canopy.
my camera is not working at the mo.
going by the highest branch under the uv id say he was rougly 8 inches away from the uv tube.
 
12% uvb

I know you're not having issues with this but I would like to share what happened to me just in case. I had a 12% arcadia t5 on my girl for around 8 months. During this time she developed edema to which I changed supps, gutload, went to the vets for fluid tests and all turned up blank. This was not during her egg gestation either.

I had emailed Dr Ivan Alfonso and the only thing he saw in my husbandry was the high uvb but said that this is not ususally attributed to edema problems but moreso eye issues.

Anyway I changed it out for a 6% about 2 months ago and now the edema is completely gone! I don't know how but my theory is it's because the arcadia t5's are +D3.
 
ive been told to get a 12% as it is high up and going through mesh.the bulb is 4 inches away from the mesh and not laying on top like many others i see.
.im glad shes ok now.:)
 
Hi, ive read that 6% if its being placed inside the viv will be fine.If its being put outside(on top of a reptibreeze for example)use 12%,as a large portion of the uv struggles to pass through the mesh.alot of uv light gets blocked by the mesh.ive also read uvb cant travel too far from its source.mesh vivs will cut out between 30%-40% of light & uv.also i have a 4ft high viv.the tube i have has 12% uvb and 30% uva.
 
If you are talking an arcadia 12% t5 HO, then dont get a 12% without a meter.

6% you are safe with it being above or below the screen and with or without a reflector. Without a meter that 12% might not dip low enough a even 3ft for the cham to regulate its uv.

Generally you want the uv to drop to below minimum half way down the cage. With my 6% t5 ho with reflector, on top of the screen, i hit minimum at 2ft which is perfect for me. Now if i double the output with a 12% the cham would have to be crawling on the plant pots of my 4ft cage to get away and be in the shade.


12% are meant for full sun beardies and iggies that are in staying 2ft away from the bulb and have 4x the built in sun screen as a chameleon.

Having said that a 12% is fine if you have a meter and can tune it. The screen top with a reflector only filters out about 25% of the light, not 40-50% like you would think.
 
Oh no I'm not suggesting that you will have problems, just an FYI :) I have a reflected canopy that sits on top of the reptibreeze so I think for me it was too much.
 
the reptibreeze im using is the xl.the branch is 12 inches away from the bulb.he also has a lot of hiding/covered places so he an get away from the light too.i have a large ficus and umbrella plant in there.hes not fully exposed to it all the time and can get away from it when he likes.
 
Just remember its not the maximum you have to worry about. At 12% will put out many times less uv than taking him out on a sunny day. You just have to worry about the minimum so that he can regulate the uv himself.

Moving the top branches away from the light is not the problem/solution, just make sure he has plenty of branches out of the light at least 3ft away.
 
he does its 4ft tall.heres my viv does it look ok to you?

20130305_181201.jpg

20130305_181214.jpg
 
Id give him more play area around the tops of the plant pots. Many just move the right side ivy down and move the bambo contraption down to around the tops of the plant pots. Also make sure those live plants are covered with large rocks so the cham and food can get to the dirt. The last thing you want is a cham that got a tongue full of dirt, or a sea of baby crickets because a feeder layed eggs in the dirt.
 
im already going to put large stones in the pots.i put the ivy plant there just today as he likes to come out to the front of it and sit there.so i wont be moving that.but i will put some more bamboo around the pots.
 
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