T8 5.0 vs. T5 5.0

[Amun]

Thanks everyone for your quick responses!

I think I may have to change something. Simba has been going through A LOT in the past 9 months and the vet and I are both trying to determine what the underlying cause(s) are. (Ive posted on this)...Hence the reason why is has a "rehab" house right now, physically he is very weak and lethargic, seems painful (closed eyes/inactivity) and he was extremely dehydrated due to off the chart sodium and chloride levels (the only thing I can attribute this to is bad water, I've switched to bottled spring & distilled water)...

He is now mostly hydrated and he is getting water on his own now, but his eyes stay mostly closed most of the time. Im wondering if this is partially due to high uvb? He opens his eyes fully for about an hour or so, but never for very long. I've been associating this with pain, but now I'm thinking he is overexposed and I should switch back to the 5.0, especially because I have noticed edema in the past 2 days (which I attributed to sub q fluids) mainly around his neck "gullet". I don't want to keep changing things on him, but I definitely do not want him painful or uncomfortable

what bulb do u have?

 

[Little Man Simba]

what bulb do u have?

Currently t5ho 10.0 (the bulb is hanging 13.5" away from him)

Recently switched from the 5.0 when I hung it up as I thought it would be too weak with the distance and the screen

 

[Plop]

If I were to get the t5 5.0 22inch light, which fixture would I need? Will any 2ft t5 fixture work?

 

[SteveH]

If I were to get the t5 5.0 22inch light, which fixture would I need? Will any 2ft t5 fixture work?

Yes, with different levels of success. Lighting is something that you don't want to buy the cheapest. I highly recommend Arcadia's ProT5 fixture that I use on most of my enclosures.

 

[DeremensisBlue]

I’m sorry if i came across as rude or defensive, i love to learn and do the best I can by expanding my knowledge, and this has been extremely helpful. I want to truly understand instead of follow

You know, you can check out the Chameleon Academy Podcast and review multiple episodes where the rating of UVI 3 was proposed, tested, and confirmed to work. There will be discussion as to how it was tested as well as the limitations of what the testing actually means. You don’t have to “follow” anyone. It is all there and you can trace the history from where it started as an idea and how it was developed. You can use the search term UVB and find the podcast episodes. You can also read the website pages and make your own decision as to how you want to approach your husbandry.
As you start your research, remember that a main key is how much dietary D3 you want to include in your husbandry. The mission for determining the proper UVI basking level needed to be done with no dietary D3. But that will be well reviewed in the episodes. The traditional Kammerflage method includes Repashy Calcium Plus which has a respectable level of dietary D3 and reduces the need for exposure to UVB. Their method is well proven and, as far as we know, your chameleon could live a long healthy life as is. The push for finding the UVI that would allow us to have a supplementation schedule without dietary D3 was to push us closer to a more natural husbandry method because, at least with our present understanding, the chameleon’s natural diet has minimal dietary D3.
The big thing that separates what we did in the chameleon community to arrive at UVI 3 being an effective UVB level at basking and the rest of the measurements and extrapolations bouncing around out there is that we did tests on actual chameleons in actual breeding groups over generations. To be sure, there is so much more work to be done. But before new numbers can be confirmed as truly effective they will have to go through the same tests we went through to reach our conclusions. But, once again, you don’t have to follow. Every step is presented and you can literally follow the history of how it grew in confidence over the years as more breeders worked with the information and built upon it. Here are some names to look into
Pete Hawkins (Veiled)
Bill Strand (Veiled)
Jonathan Hill (Panther)
Michael Nash (Carpet)

UVI 3 is not a magic bullet that everyone should blindly accept as the end of the subject. It is merely a significant step forward and what we know right now. I look forward to more individuals testing other levels as I suspect that lower levels or lower doses (level x time) will be effective. Presently, our tests have been revolving around successful calcification of eggs in females that have not been provided dietary D3. Though Michael has been testing neonate growth with different levels.