Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any advice on providing lighting for tegus? I am building an enclosure for our new Arg. Red and would like to know which lighting offers the most benefit - and how close (low) do the lights need to be in order for them to be effective. My enclosure is 7.5 feet wide by 3 feet high and I am thinking of a double 48 inch flourescent fixture attached at the ceiling. Any comments or suggestions? Thanks. map

It depends on what other lights you are providing besides the 48" flourescent. Is it going to be a UVB flourescent? If it is, it needs to be much closer than 3' to be effective. I believe if I'm not mistaken, that the flourescent bulbs are only good at about 12"? (this just came from reading other posts and care sheets). With a high ceiling like that, you'd have to either mount fixtures lower, or raise the area in the cage closer. My cage is 2' high, and I use a 120 watt halogen flood and a 160 watt UVA/UVB bulb from Big Apple herps and my basking spot is about 5"-6" off the bottom of the cage which puts the temps about 120-125 degrees. (I used the Powersun bulbs, but they would always go out after about 6 months of use, so it was time for a change. I just got tired of having to always ship back bulbs that were supposed to last for 2 years)

>>Does anyone have any advice on providing lighting for tegus? I am building an enclosure for our new Arg. Red and would like to know which lighting offers the most benefit - and how close (low) do the lights need to be in order for them to be effective. My enclosure is 7.5 feet wide by 3 feet high and I am thinking of a double 48 inch flourescent fixture attached at the ceiling. Any comments or suggestions? Thanks. map