Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am about to start building a cage for my liitle veiled...it is going to be 6' tall, my ceilings are only 7' tall in the upstairs bedroom where he will be. do i need to worry about the heat from say a mercury vapor? how about a basking light or a heat lamp? when you put them into a reflector the base will only be about 6 inches from the ceiling. how much space do i need above the cage?

Luna's cage is in a "closet" of sorts and had less than a foot of space from cage to top. I had a 60w basking (regular household bulb), reptisun 5.0. -both sitting on the screen. Her basking spot was about 6" below the screen and had no problem and there was no fear of her coming in contact with the bulb. HOWEVER, I just got a MVB (100w PowerSun) and removed the top of the "closet" so I could hang it from the ceiling. The bulb itslef is about 1' above her actual basking spot - as recommneded by manufacturer. I would NOT put a MVB on the cage or w/i 1' of space b/t top of cage and ceiling UNLESS the highest your cham can go is a good foot below the MVB. I am not an expert(!) so I only say this due to all the info I gathered before placing my MVB. I only got around to it last night b/c I had to re-do the cage/"closet" set-up. IHope this helps.

lele

>>I am about to start building a cage for my liitle veiled...it is going to be 6' tall, my ceilings are only 7' tall in the upstairs bedroom where he will be. do i need to worry about the heat from say a mercury vapor? how about a basking light or a heat lamp? when you put them into a reflector the base will only be about 6 inches from the ceiling. how much space do i need above the cage?
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

You could hang the MV light fixture from a plant hanger hook in the ceiling so it angles and shines in from the cage side instead. It really doesn't have to be sitting on top of the cage as long as you create a good basking area. This way you'll create more space between the bulb and your ceiling. Use an expansion drywall anchor. The hole you make can be easily patched in future if needed.

is it ok to NOT be vertical w/ the MV? i thought that i read this can cause an early failure

Only problem with that is that some MV bulbs are not "supposed" to be kept at an angle. The ballast is so small and delicate for the size and power of the bulb, that they may be more prone to failure when kept at an angle--I guess it stresses the ballast or something.

This comes from manufacturer info, and I don't think they ALL have such warnings. It could potentially be a reason for the high failure rates with some bulbs.

On a related note, be very careful when placing bulbs in cramped areas, especially when the chameleon is able to climb upside down on the screen.

When I placed my veild into the new cage, I used a smaller 100W bulb, instead of the 120 he had before. I didn't have anything to clamp it on, so I rested on the screen.

His nearest basking branch was not too close, so I left it there. Well, wouldn't you know, I come home, and he's got a burn the size of a silver dollar on his side and leg.

He had never climbed upside down in the old cage, and I hadn't seen him do it in the new one, so it never occurred to me. They tend to do more when we're not around, and they tend to do pretty much nothing when we're there. He apparantlly did some exploring, and ended up exploring the area beneth the reflector, and got himself burned.

Strange thing is , this veild has burned himself before, when he was young--I couldn't figure out how he did it, and I'm stillnot too sure. It appears that he like to get at the hottest part, and stay there a bit too long.

The dangerous part about the upside down hanging, is that they tend to get away a bit slower than normal, exposing them to more heat.

I got a burned veild, female deremensis molested by a veild, and female veild molested by a deremensis. I think God is trying to test my patience...again.

I got a new digital camera for christmas, I guess I need to start taking and posting some nice pics of things.

Thanks for the correction. I have not used MV bulbs and did not realize they were that fussy. Now I know!