My first Cham

[Silkyslim]

My lighting is going 12.5 hours during the summer and as winter approches I plan on cutting it back to around 10.5-9 then going forward until it peaks in summer again.

The goal is to get as close to the natural sunlight as possible, even though your cage read 86 you will need to leave a regular bulb on because your ReptiSun 5.0 only provides a certain portion of the light spectrum. It is really important to the overall health and well being of your cham to replicate the full light spectrum as close as you can. I have heard of other owners using a bulb as low as 34 watts in the basking lamp fixture who had situations similar to yours.

 

[Elizadolots]

Move the bulb further away from the cage to lower the temperature, or use a lower watt bulb (some people use a 25 watt bulb). As Silkyslim says, the incandescent bulb provides a different part of the light your chameleon needs, so you should have both.

I wanted to emphasize how much easier life will be if you follow P&A's recommendation about drainage. Putting the cage above a tub that you can empty makes life sweet. If the water doesn't seem to go to the holes, put something heavy (a rock, a small plant) near the holes, that will pull the PVC bottom down.