Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you guys think the side effects of placing a UVB bulb at the side of the cage?i know placing this way will enable to reptile to get more UVB, but does the side effects, if there is any, offset its advantages?

One thing i thought of was...Could a chameleon go blind from staring at the light that would normally be above ist head? Has anybody here ever regularly placed their UVB source at the side and has anyone ever had their chameleon goen blind?

Anson..if you read this, you said u had a blind ambanja. How did that happen?

Actually, years ago the standard method of lighting for chams was to put the heat spot/UV at an angle rather than straight overhead. I don't think you need to worry too much about this. UV lights are much weaker than full sunlight, and chams often bask in morning and late afternoon when the light is at an angle anyway.

If you put the uv to one side the plants would only grow towards the uv light....I think

You're right, I would say if you want to have one on the side THAT much, have two lights, one on top and one on the side. You could also rotate from top to side with the light, that would make the plants grow somewhat upright. If it is always at the side, the plants grow strangely and it's hard to get water dripping efficiently off the leaves when theyre sideways. I would stick to putting it on the top, most other people do it and they do fine.

my setup is in front of the window, and my UVB is on the wall-on the side of the plants. So they grow one direction to the UVB on one side, and the other side of the plants grow toward the window. My basking light is above them, so they grow toward that too...lol..

To keep plants growing evenly you can always put a less expensive light of almost any type on the other side of the cage. Plants don't care as much if it is UV. In tall cages I do this to keep the plants from getting bare and twiggy in the lower part of the cage. I either use a "used" ReptiSun or regular house light bulbs.

At the time he had been injured in a fight with other juvenile chams. We also thought he may have some organ damage.
We are actually not sure if the way he acts and looks may be caused by organ damage as we are not positive he is blind.
He does not react to food and water till I put them on his lips.
He does not react to other chameleons and does not seem to be able to see his surroundings. If anything it was caused by organ/kidney damage.