UVB 10.0 or 5.0?

ChamEden

New Member
My chameleon- MALE Veiled Chameleon. About 3.5 months old.
Handling- Only twice so far. Once when I got him, and once a week later.
Feeding- Staple is crickets, and roaches. I will be introducing silk worms and small hornworms within the next 2 weeks. Gutloaded with bug burger, apples, and kale.
Supplements- exoterra calcium without d3 everyday. reptical calcium with d3 2x monthly, reptical herptivite 2x monthly (usually i use the herptivite and d3 at the same time).
Watering- automatic mister (sprays 60 seconds every 2 hours), with a little dripper system.
Fecals- definitely regular looking, today the fecals were a little more watery than normal, but still looked fine.

Cage Info:
Cage type- DIY cage (24in deep, 48 in wide, 72 in tall). I cut off the cage about a third of the way because Galileo is still young. So it is acutally more like 24x48x48. Mesh screen, but the top is aluminum.
Lighting- 5.0 32 in tube by reptisun i believe. the basking light is an intense basking spot 75 watt.
Temps-81 in basking, 73 to 78 everywhere else in the cage.
Humidity- 50 to 60 in upper region. about 50 in the lower.
Plants- 3 live pothos. (yes, they are both repotted and resoiled..)
Placement- next to my desk by the window. Pretty low traffic throughout the day.
location- chicago, illinois

problem- I noticed my cham climbing around on the top of his cage lately. It seems as if he tries to get closer to the UVB light? Which brings my question, Should I get a 10.0 tube instead? it is a larger cage, and Im wondering if his behavior indicates he is not getting enough UVB? ive always used 5.0s, I know that in normal conditions the 10.0 is too much, but this is my first DIY cage and Im wondering if the aluminum screen on top soaks up UVB waves that would otherwise go in the cage. Thank you for your help.
 
10.0 is fine as long as you have plenty of cover/shade for him. A cage that tall, I'd definitely go for 10.0.
 
Nice. I thought so I just wanted to make sure that hes getting enough lol HIs cage is like a forest he loves it. He always explores, although he still is a bit shy. I hope I can work on that a little some how.
 
Can you post a picture of your cage, I would love to see your set up. I'm new and all ways love to see photos so I can get new ideas.
 
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