Overwhelmed With Lighting

[cdavisrunner]

Hey Everyone,

I'm a little overwhelmed with all of the lighting options out there. My cham isn't experiencing any health problems or anything like that. I currently heave him under a Reptile UVB 100, 26 watt, CFL from Exo Terra (mostly for the UVB), and a Power Sun Mercury Vapor UV 100 watt bulb from Zoo Med (mostly for heat). I also have a Infrared Basking Spot 50 watt bulb from Exo Terra that I use to use at night when it was colder out. The lights are in a Zoo Med Combo Deep Dome Lamp Fixture. The cage is a Reptibreeze XL (24in. x24in. x 48in.).

My question is, is there a better way to provide light for my chameleon? I'm considering switching to a long florescent light in a hood. Maybe a ceramic heater.

Thanks for the advice!

Chris

 

[pigglett79]

Lighting options are really going to depend on your cage, how tall and how heavily planted it is. But let me give you my experience. I have invested a ton of dough in to lighting and can provide my feed back. I started with the reptisun 5.0 typical tube light, a traditional house bulb basking light and a 6500k plant light from home depot. That set up was ok,but nothing special.

I then got the dual fixture T5 HO fixture from light your reptiles with an arcadia 6% and arcadia plant pros to replace the reptisun 5.0 and 6500k plant light, was definitely better.

Then I upgraded their basking lights to the exo terra sun rays. These are crazy expensive and I have to say while I love the light spectrum, you cant get the basking temp above a montane range. I cant get basking temps over 84. So for my jackson this is fine, but it was a waste of money for the panthers. I have since switched their basking lights back to regular incandescent bulbs.

But.......for one cage I bought the T5 HO quad fixture from light your reptiles. It has 2 6% arcadia bulbs and 2 plant bulbs along with blue LED lights. I LOVE THIS SET UP. The fixture has two bulbs per outlet so you can do a sun rise and sunset setting by having the bulbs turn on and off in stages. And then you can have the blue LEDs go on for like 30 mins for a moon light effect before total darkness. (I use 3 timers for this set up)

After all the money I have sunk in to lighting, my favorite option is the quad fixture with the blue LEDs and the incandescent basking light.

 

[chascarpenter1]

What type and wattage incandescent bulb are you using?

 

[pigglett79]

I change wattage for the basking light depending on the season and the temperature in the house. During winter I might use a 100 watt and in summer a 75 watt. For my jackson I use a lower wattage to try to stay around 83 degrees.