Temperature

[Harry The Cham]

My veiled chameleon has a 75 wat bulb on the top screen of his cage right on top he sometimes crawls on the top of it with his bulb right there he doesn’t seem to care but should I not directly put the bulb on the cage could this burn him one day?

 

[Carlton]

See if you can measure the temperature right under the bulb....at the screen. Easiest way to do this is with a non-contact temp gun. You may be surprised how hot the screen is getting, and he shouldn't spend much time exposing himself to it that closely. You can raise the bulb farther off the top of the cage. If the bulb is in a reflector dome, raising the whole fixture higher off the screen will allow heat to dissipate and keep the cage top cooler.

 

[Harry The Cham]

See if you can measure the temperature right under the bulb....at the screen. Easiest way to do this is with a non-contact temp gun. You may be surprised how hot the screen is getting, and he shouldn't spend much time exposing himself to it that closely. You can raise the bulb farther off the top of the cage. If the bulb is in a reflector dome, raising the whole fixture higher off the screen will allow heat to dissipate and keep the cage top cooler.

I’ve put my hand under it and it seems fine do you think it would still be fine for him?

 

[Carlton]

I’ve put my hand under it and it seems fine do you think it would still be fine for him?

Using your hand to sense how warm it is is biased, because YOUR body temp is 98.6F....much warmer than your cham should ever get. If your hand feels even slightly warm under the light, its too hot for him...his body temp should be a lot lower.

 

[Wildwilson]

I was using a 75 watt and was testing it on top of the cage with a temp gun. After 2 hours of sitting there the screen was 110 degrees F. What you could do is purchase a dome from wal mart that is connected to a clamp. Get a square dowell or piece of wood and clamp your light dome onto it and then tape that to the edge of the cage. I did that and my basking spot is exactly 85 F. And where its located the screen doesnt get hotter than 91. If you want a pic yo get a better idea ill show you

 

[Carlton]

I was using a 75 watt and was testing it on top of the cage with a temp gun. After 2 hours of sitting there the screen was 110 degrees F. What you could do is purchase a dome from wal mart that is connected to a clamp. Get a square dowell or piece of wood and clamp your light dome onto it and then tape that to the edge of the cage. I did that and my basking spot is exactly 85 F. And where its located the screen doesnt get hotter than 91. If you want a pic yo get a better idea ill show you

I get a couple of pieces of firebrick (ask the hardware store if they have any broken ones) or tiles and rest the bottom rim of the fixture on them. This can create a small air space between the screen and the bulb to let heat escape.

 

[Remkon]

I used to hang the lamp from the ceiling with a hook and a chain, perfect if you want to adjust height later on...
Sadly hook came lose and the lamp was standing on the mesh and my panther now has a small burn on his head... it was only a 50Watt lamp...

 

[Molly1443]

I got one of my boys from someone who was not mesuring temps in the cage and he got severly burned. Never leave your cham under a lamp unless you are certain the temps are right.
My Eddie is fine now, but I really wonder how he got through this. I want everyone to see so no other cham is hurt.
Ps. The thermometers with a probe are the best for mesuring the basking spot.

 

[Remkon]

I got one of my boys from someone who was not mesuring temps in the cage and he got severly burned. Never leave your cham under a lamp unless you are certain the temps are right.
My Eddie is fine now, but I really wonder how he got through this. I want everyone to see so no other cham is hurt.
Ps. The thermometers with a probe are the best for mesuring the basking spot.

Poor guy sure got burned bad, hopefully he recovers a bit after few times shedding...

Imo the IR thermometers are better for measuring basking spot temperature as they measure the surface temperature, not the air temperature.
You do have to keep in mind when measuring temps that there will be a cham in between the lamp and the basking spot so you should place something under there for a while to compensate for the missing chameleon)

I feel lamps on the mesh are always a risk as the mesh will eventually heat up and if your cham can climb there odds are he will at some point... My new enclosures are going to be roofless, no mesh in between cham and lamp, the lamp will hang from the shed ceiling and I will make sure the baskingspots are placed far enough from the animal so they can't reach the lamp and get burned...