Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Which is the best lighting? I am using a zoomed daylight bulb, but know that i need a better source of UV/UVB . I use a reptisun 5.0 for my tortoise. Is that good enough for a cham? Do those bulbs fit any fixture (like a fish tank hood) or do i need to by one of the slimline fixtures and replace the bulb? (that is what i did for my tortoise) i just want to keep the cost as low as possible. Any help is much appreciated.

like anything with reptiles, you can buy one with a pic of a lizard on the box, or one from lowes... Any flourescent fixture will accept any flourescent tube (of proper wattage) just as any clamp-light will accept any bulb that will fit, so why buy a $30 one from a pet-store when they're $5 at lowes or home-depot?

Am I missing something here? The bulbs at Lowes or other places like that dont produce the same (or any?) amount of UVA/B then the repti-suns. A large amount of people seem to use the repti-sun 5.0 bulbs as do I. I also use the powersun bulbs from zoo-med since they work well with a tall cage (uva/b goes farther then the rept-suns and it lights up the cage better - adds more heat too). Maybe I am mis-understanding the thread.

-roo

am I missing something as well? i thought me was talking abuot fixtures, rather than the bulb itself

Well if its fixtures, then it really doesnt matter where you get them. I am pretty sure the original post was talking about bulbs - who knows.

I guess I would prefer buying fixtures at Lowes or someplace else like a pet store just so I can look at how they are built -some of the ones I got online are cheapo and not made very well.

-roo

he made refference to bulbs AND fixyures, i made specific refference to fixtures

For smaller enclosures, a reptisun 5.0 would work great. For larger setups such as a 4X2X2 foot cage, I'd go with a powersun. It provides both UVA and UVB.

Vincent

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Farrah & Vincent
Email: Screameleons@yahoo.com
Phone: (571) 437-0642
Website: http://www.Screameleons.com

i think my cage is 2'x2'x4'. Which light would be better? Reptisun 5.0 or the power sun? Does the power sun produce much heat? can it rest on the screen or does it have to be slightly elevated to avoid possible burns?

I use both, but def. get a powersun at the very least. It needs to be 12 inches away from the cham - so directly on top wont work in many cases. I have the 100w and it does produce good heat, but not enough for the main basking area. My cham will hang out under it every so often. I have a repti-sun 5.0 towards the back of the cage while the powersun is towards the front right. My cage is 4x2x2, and the powersun really helps with lighting up the cage. The UV rays travel further then the reptisun - so if the cham hangs out farther then 12-18 inches (?) under a repti-sun, the UV exposure is so not good enough.

-roo

roo-

your setup sounds just like mine so i couldnt agree with you more, i have a 100 watt powersun hanging straight down from the ceiling about 6 inches from the top of my 2x2x4 screen enclosure with a 12" reptisun in the back mid-section of the cage. also i felt the powersun wasnt enough for basking so i have a zoomed halogen 150watt as well for more sufficent basking temps..

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"Master Shake" CARE & SETUP INFORMATION
4 Month Old Ambanja Panther Chameleon < Male >

Ocala Florida

--24 x 24 x 48 -- All screen Enclosure
--Pesticide-Free 3' Potted Ficus Tree.
--RepCal with D-3 3 Times a Week
--Mineral Once a Week
--16" UVB 5.0 Bulb (Waiting on a 10.0)
--Zoo-Med PowerSun Mercury Vapor UV-A/B 100watt
--Mr. Moisture Stystem - 3 Times a Day with Distilled Water
--Digital Timer On Lights 6:00AM - 7:30PM
--Digital Thermometer/Humidity Indicator
--55%-65% Humidity
--81*-89* Room Temp.
--95* Basking Temp.
--Eating 3/4" Crickets and Large Houseflys
--Gets to go out in his outdoor enclosure often to enjoy some Florida sun =)

XxKRYMZxX @aol.com - Im always willing to chat about Chameleons

Mr. Pokey,

I think I have seen your setup - does it have a lone ficus in the middle? I mounted the basking light on the side. My whole cage is setup on a steel rack with caster wheels so I can move it. I built a drainage system under it too. Even the power strip is mounted to the side of the cage within a small tupper ware container so nothing gets wet. So basically there is just one pwer chord coming from the whole thing. I have a web cham on it right now that can pan/tilt to different parts of the cage. Email me if u want take a look - I can give you the address and a login.

roocat71@yahoo.com

-roo

id love to see that XxKRYMZxX@aol.com, yeah the pix you seen is mine with "the lone ficus in the middle" but i have 2 ficus in there now and probably going to get a 3rd this weekend since i have a little space to spare.. im curious about your drainage sytem... do you have the same cage as me?

2x2x4 aluminum fram and screen mid-main dor and lower cleaning door with pvc board at the bottom? today i was thinking about how i could make a drainage system for it but came short on ideas, id love to know how yours works. if you wanna chat AIM my handle is XxKRYMZxX.
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"Master Shake" CARE & SETUP INFORMATION
4 Month Old Ambanja Panther Chameleon < Male >

Ocala Florida

--24 x 24 x 48 -- All screen Enclosure
--Pesticide-Free 3' Potted Ficus Tree.
--RepCal with D-3 3 Times a Week
--Mineral Once a Week
--16" UVB 5.0 Bulb (Waiting on a 10.0)
--Zoo-Med PowerSun Mercury Vapor UV-A/B 100watt
--Mr. Moisture Stystem - 3 Times a Day with Distilled Water
--Digital Timer On Lights 6:00AM - 7:30PM
--Digital Thermometer/Humidity Indicator
--55%-65% Humidity
--81*-89* Room Temp.
--95* Basking Temp.
--Eating 3/4" Crickets and Large Houseflys
--Gets to go out in his outdoor enclosure often to enjoy some Florida sun =)

XxKRYMZxX @aol.com - Im always willing to chat about Chameleons

Yeah, you needed more in that cage. I think plants offer cover, but chams really like to climb across vines, limbs, etc. I do have the same cage as you. For the drainage, I used a hole saw and cut out a hole (120mm) out of the middle of the pvc plastic bottom. I siliconed some screen on the under side of that. I afixed a funnel with extra tubing that goes into a 5 gallon bucket. The tricky part to explain is that I biuld a frame out of 2x2s and stapled a heavy plastic liner into it. There is a hole right in the middle of the line for the tubing from the funnel. Tough to explain - works great. I tested it by pouring 2 gallons of water into it. I can send you some pics if you like. I also see you got your cham from Kammerflage - thats where i got my veiled.

-roo

You might want to try using shower drains as well. then you can ru pvc pipe off of the drain to where you want the water to drain. I keep my chameleons outside so drainage is not a problem for them but I use large pools (ornamental ponds ) for my monitors and large boids so I know how difficult coming up with unconventional drainage systems is. Just a differnt take on it I do like the funnel thing though.

This picture was before i cleaned up my room so sorry for the messy picture. My drainage works the same as roo's, but i just let it drip into a buckets. Works good and its easy to dump out with easy access to the buckets. The weight from the plants makes the pvc dip a little but i heated it up and bent it a little more so the water goes to the center where the hole is. Hope this gives u more of an idea.

here it is..
.
.
.

-----
"Master Shake" CARE & SETUP INFORMATION
4 Month Old Ambanja Panther Chameleon < Male >

Ocala Florida

--24 x 24 x 48 -- All screen Enclosure
--Pesticide-Free 3' Potted Ficus Tree.
--RepCal with D-3 3 Times a Week
--Mineral Once a Week
--16" UVB 5.0 Bulb (Waiting on a 10.0)
--Zoo-Med PowerSun Mercury Vapor UV-A/B 100watt
--Mr. Moisture Stystem - 3 Times a Day with Distilled Water
--Digital Timer On Lights 6:00AM - 7:30PM
--Digital Thermometer/Humidity Indicator
--55%-65% Humidity
--81*-89* Room Temp.
--95* Basking Temp.
--Eating 3/4" Crickets and Large Houseflys
--Gets to go out in his outdoor enclosure often to enjoy some Florida sun =)

XxKRYMZxX @aol.com - Im always willing to chat about Chameleons

My cage is a little different. I have small door at the bottom, and the rest of the door goes all the way up to the top. My reptisun is also on the top of the cage - all the way to the back. My misting system would get it wet if i had it mounted in the back like yours. I also have 4 bend a branches along with some real dried vines I found at the craft store. I hardly ever see my cham in the ficus - he prefers to climb on the vines. Right now i have a 3 foot ficus on a 10 inch stand along with a 2 foot dwarf umbrella. I also have 2 large fake vines in the front corners of the cage which give the cham a bit more privacy since he is one grumpy mo-fo.

-roo

Well -Screameleons- is right, if you want the best go with the powersun thats what i use, i bought mine online for $40 shipping. if price is more important get a 8.0 reptisun, but in time you will notice your plants wount do as well niether will your cham compared to the powersun, the reptisun only emits uvb for 10 inches. when the powersun projects at 3.5 feet. everyone is gonna have a different opinion on this but all in all if you dont wanna spend to much your gonna either have to get 36 or 48 inch flourecent bulb going verticale alang your 4 foot tall enclosure or just get a powersun.

Just one other comment about these lights. If you keep montane chams the Powersuns can provide TOO much heat. ReptiSuns are safer for species who avoid heat and full sun such as quads, fischeri, montium, deremensis. ReptiSuns are less apt to explode if you get water spray on the bulb too. With all the fogging and spraying I do for montane species I just don't want to risk shattering a rather expensive bulb all over my cage.