Suitable UVB for veiled chameleon
- Thread starter Erwin
- Start date
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
You are going to get many varying opinions. Some people use the 10.0's with success, but most use the 5.0's and I would say Reptisun is the most popular brand. They are said to last longer. There are people that use the Arcadia's also. Any of them will work ok, even the Reptiglo.
bradley
New Member
Arcadia last a full year so they are most likely the best. Their T5 HO bulbs are the very bet you can get.
You can no longer use the 5.0 for rainforest animals and 10.0 for desert animals. You need to look at the size of the cage, it's decoration and if anything is blocking the uv such as screen. With veiled a they are not rainforest animals. Thy come from scrubby areas which receives a lot more uv than people think. The mesh in the way of the bulb combines with a heavily planted tall enclosure means no 5.0 is ever going to give a uv level near what they would get in the wild. In my opinion a 10.0 T8 is the minimum I would use on beliefs or panthers. T5 bulbs give off a lot more uv so a 6% could be used. I still personally use the 12%. You canno give too much uv in a correctly setup cage whcih provides the correct photo gradient and is planted well as any chameleon cage should be. Remember to use a reflector on an uv bulb you use.
Take a look here:
The D3 bulb is the equivalent on a 5.0 and the D3+ is equivalent to a 10.0
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/guide-yemen-chameleon.jpg
This is without mesh so with mesh in the way I would move up to the next cage height.
You can no longer use the 5.0 for rainforest animals and 10.0 for desert animals. You need to look at the size of the cage, it's decoration and if anything is blocking the uv such as screen. With veiled a they are not rainforest animals. Thy come from scrubby areas which receives a lot more uv than people think. The mesh in the way of the bulb combines with a heavily planted tall enclosure means no 5.0 is ever going to give a uv level near what they would get in the wild. In my opinion a 10.0 T8 is the minimum I would use on beliefs or panthers. T5 bulbs give off a lot more uv so a 6% could be used. I still personally use the 12%. You canno give too much uv in a correctly setup cage whcih provides the correct photo gradient and is planted well as any chameleon cage should be. Remember to use a reflector on an uv bulb you use.
Take a look here:
The D3 bulb is the equivalent on a 5.0 and the D3+ is equivalent to a 10.0
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/guide-yemen-chameleon.jpg
This is without mesh so with mesh in the way I would move up to the next cage height.
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
what do you mean you can no longer use the 5.0's on rainforest animals? So you are saying that all of us who use the 5.0's on our Panther chameleons are wrong? I am confused... The majority of us all put our bulbs on the screens. We are raising healthy chameleons this way.
deadhd5
Avid Member
Either 5-6% or 10-12% can be used effectively but d3 supplementation should be adjusted accordingly.
I believe chams spend most of their time in the shade from observing their behavior and from what I have read(very little time basking). My UV meter under a 5-6% bulb set on top of the mesh (especially the T5HO) is in the same ballpark as indirect sunlight (shade) on a sunny day.
I believe chams spend most of their time in the shade from observing their behavior and from what I have read(very little time basking). My UV meter under a 5-6% bulb set on top of the mesh (especially the T5HO) is in the same ballpark as indirect sunlight (shade) on a sunny day.
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
If you have a 4ft tall tank get the 10.0 normal or the 5.0/6% T5 HO. They will penetrate the cage to about 3ft and 6" from the bulb will be full sun.
Dont get the 10.0/12% T5 HO unless you have a meter. Without a meter you might not have a good enough shade zone for the cham to goto.
Chams and other lizards will self regulate there UV just like they do their heat, but you need to provide both a hot can cool zone.
Uv bulbs are still 10-20x less powerful than the sun at noon. The only problem is when the cage is setup wrong and they cant get to and away from the light.
All these UV will harm my lizard stories came from the first gen CFL bulbs that put out unearthly amounts of low band uvb and uvc. Its what like 10x more than the sun. These bulbs were taken off the market and reformulated over 5 years ago. And all "tube" bulbs have always been safe.
Dont get the 10.0/12% T5 HO unless you have a meter. Without a meter you might not have a good enough shade zone for the cham to goto.
Chams and other lizards will self regulate there UV just like they do their heat, but you need to provide both a hot can cool zone.
Uv bulbs are still 10-20x less powerful than the sun at noon. The only problem is when the cage is setup wrong and they cant get to and away from the light.
All these UV will harm my lizard stories came from the first gen CFL bulbs that put out unearthly amounts of low band uvb and uvc. Its what like 10x more than the sun. These bulbs were taken off the market and reformulated over 5 years ago. And all "tube" bulbs have always been safe.
bradley
New Member
What I mean is we can no longer make the assumption that because an animal is deemed a rainforest animal to use a 5.0 bulb. If the cage is a setup that allows the chameleon to get all the uv it needs with a 5.0 bulb then it's fine to be used.
People automatically think that all chameleons in any cage setup need a 5.0 bulb but there is no point using a 5.0 in a big massive setup that is 6 feet tall as I will not give the penetration and what the chameleon needs.
I still don't trust the compact bulbs as recent stories onus problems are still occurring. I can't see the point of using them either because of their little coverage.
Last edited:
rkgardner2003
Member
When I moved my panther up to a larger enclosure 40in x 36in I had put in a 10.0, but then I read on a breeder's website to never use 10.0 on a chameleon so I switched back to 5.0. Starting to get confused again...
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