Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering what everyone does about their lights for the chams. Since I assume everyone is using timers (but you know what happens when one assumes!), all the lights turn on at once, but does everyone wait until natural daylight starts coming in so the cham is awake, or just let the lights wake'em up?

I've found that my veiled is usually up before the lights even turn on (8am - 8pm) .....even if there is very low light in the room...he seems to be up

I think he also is awake for a while when the lights turn off...but sometimes I can see when he is really tired, like around 7pm some days he will lay his head down and curl up even though he still has an hour of light left

Awesome creatures.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11 months

I never expected an answer so late! Mine is usually awake a little before the lights come on, but not always, so I thought maybe it startled him when these lights just pop on. I have mines lights come on around 6 a.m., so I can mist him before I go to bed. Within the hour there will be natural sunlight, so I figured it should all be ok, but if anyone sees any potential problem with this, feel free to tell me!

And thanks for the quick response!

Luna gave me cues as to her bedtime. She was here in my office and if I noticed she was going to her sleep branch and getting comfy I'd turn off the lights manually. If she continued with the same behavior I readjusted the lights (yes, I use timers ). Since I would often work late I would cover her cage once her lights were out and then took them (cover) off when I was done for the night so she could wake to the natural light coming in the window, and then her lights would come on. In the wild the sun doesn't suddenly turn on (lol!!) so mimicking nature is best. I did have her strip light go on first and then about 15 minutes later her basking light would come on. There were a few times where I messed up on the timers (we have frequent power outages and I would sometimes forget to reset!) and she would be in her dark cage, under her basking lights, body turned and flattened trying to take up the heat that wasn't there! Poor Lu-lu-be

I do the same with Darwin (he is covered all night b/c he is in the bedroom and his lights wake ME up in the morning! I think it's nicer to do the gradual wake up. Gee, writing about Luna makes me sad
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I often wondered about this and sometimes during winter when the lights would come on before "real" daylight I would stagger them. The basking light (which was more focused) would be set to come on about a half hour before the UV, as usually the cham would not be sleeping right on the basking perch. Also, when a cham is really asleep their eyes roll down under the lids and they are not aware of lights for a while. It takes some time for them to respond and I doubt it startles them.

I guess I never thought about (or knew) about them not being bothered by the light once they are in deep sleep. We always think of keeping it dark for them. Anything and everything wakes me up so I just assume the rest of the world - all species - are the same! haha Thanks for enlightening me - pun intended
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Lights at night will bother them, I think it is just that they don't startle awake like a bird might. It takes a little while. But, once awake, they won't be able to sleep well if there is any light.