Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im looking into getting a veiled. Have a few questions? I basically get most of the "watering" and feeding, ect. I just need to know about lighting. What's the best way to light the cage? Im guessing I need a day time UV light. How long per day should it be on and what's a good choice bulb for this. Also, a day and night time heating lamp? What's a good choice for these and what wattage? The cage is a smaller screen cage, 16x16x30. need some help on the bulbs and how long each should be used in a 24 hour period. Im guessing a timer? So one turns off the others turn on? Please shed some light on this situation, no pun intended.

Use Reptisun 5.0 bulbs. They are expensive, but they are the best.
Use as many as you can. The more the better. Just think about how bright sunlight is. You wan to try to get close to that. For a warmer species like a veiled, also provide a basking spot that gets up to around 95 degrees or so.

Provide 12-14 hours of daylight. There needs to be a temperature drop
at night, so don't have the cage be as warm at night as it is during the day. It needs to be around 10-15 degrees cooler at night.

Hope that helps.

ok, so if i had a 5.0 reptisun 15" bulb and a single basking light for day, and a night time heating bulb just at night?? so 3 bulbs, 2 on during the day and 1 at night?!? let me know

Well, you want to get s many 15" UV strip lights up there as will fit.
I have a 24" x 24" x 48" cage, and I have 5 UV strip lights on the top.
One strip light really isn't very bright. And as for the basking light, use a UV incandescent bulb. Zoo Med makes good ones.

The idea is to get as close to bright sunlight as possible. One strip light is not very bright at all. I know they're expensive, but your pet will be much healthier if he has enough bright UV light. The light is critical for his bio functions. I would say a minimum of three 15" lights and one good UV basking bulb is probably enough. And be sure to replace all the UV bulbs after six months. They become ineffective.

5 tube lights sounds like a lot! If you get a Mercury Vapor bulb, you will get much more UV and it will cost less than 5 tubes and it will last longer, plus since you have a veiled, the heat is a big plus! I use the exoterra 8.0 bulbs when I use the tubes, and I am currently using the zoo med powersun uv Mercury vapor bulb for my chams (the tubes are for my basilisk and my monitor). The zoo med reptisun 5.0s are also very good, but the exoterras apear (atleast to me) to give off more uv and are A LOT cheaper. There have beeen a lot of threads about Mercury vapors recently that you can look up too. Good Luck!

Yeah, I've thought about trying the MV bulbs, but things sure do heat up fast when you use them. The Reptisun tubes produce almost no heat, which I like. But they are indeed expensive.

Where do you purchase your MV bulbs? Know of any good online vendors?

A few things: 1)Do NOT use a light a night. They NEED the temp drop and darkness. They can handle night time drops into the low 60s or even 50s without a problem if they're healthy and used to it. 2)There IS such a thing as over-doing UVB exposure. Gary Ferguson recently published a paper (Zoo Biology 21:525–537, 2002) demonstrating a deleterious effect of excess UVB on pardalis reproduction. I use the MV bulbs (they're not nearly as hot as the "heat bulbs" sold at pet shops or even as regular old halogen bulbs) but I've taken to covering 3/4 of the cage top with clear plexiglass to block the UVB from every where expect a small basking spot.

The MV bulbs sound good but they're tricky. The manufacturers recommend that they be at least 12-24" from the basking site but at that distance they don't typically provide much heat.

And finally: the original poster mentioned a 16"x16"x30" cage for a veiled. That's kind of small for an adult veiled.
Ed

So whats better? 1 persons telling me more light, ones saying less. I want to do this the right way the first time. Im getting him some time next week. Also, this is for a veiled, ive heard they are a in need of a lil higher temp then some others. Also no heat source at all at night? not even a low watt bulb? even those night time bulbs? As for the 16x16x30, thats about all i have to offer right now. any other info on the subject?
thanks for all your help so far
patrick

1)Absolutely no night time heat source!!!!
2)Bright light is good but you do not need more than 2 Reptisun 5.0 UVB lights. If you want to add one or two other flurescents for increased light, that's OK. But 1 Reptisun, one regular fluorescent, and one basking light is all you really need.
3)The basking light could be anywhere from a 25 watt to a 75 watt depending on how close to the basking spot it is and the ambient room temp. What you need to do is to get a good electronic thermometer from Radio Shack or Home Depot and measure the temps. The basking site should be about 90F and the other parts of the cage should be in the mid 70s during the day and drop lower at night. I have a friend who leaves his chams outdoors through early October with night time temps in the 40s!!!
4)You also need to measure the screen temp above the basking spot. Too hot and you get thermal burns. Adjust the dustance & wattage of the light to get the right combination. If anyone says "use a liught of this or that wattage" they're giving bad advice. You need to measure the temps and adjust accordingly!
5)You need to get a larger cage. 18"x18"x36" is considered the minimal size for an adult veiled. 24"x24"x48" is preferred. Among other things, the larger cage allows the cham to self select areas in which he';s most comfortablke, moving from cool to hot to dry to humid. A small cage doesn't allow him to do that. And, of course, the cage needs to be heavily planted. See some of the cages at http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/members-setups.html
Ed

how would 30´´ x 16.5´´ x 48´´ hold up? i really can not go any deeper then that! im am hard pressed for room.
thanks
patrick