Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is a powersun uv too hot for my 18"x18"x36" jackson chameleon set up. some people have told me it is okay but others say that 40 to 75 watts is all that is needed i just wanted to clear that up and is there any lower wattage mercury uv bulbs. I live in southern california if that helps.

Hi-

I have used and have all the major brands of MV bulbs(T-rex, Zoomed,Big Apple). All are 100w floods and all put off different amounts of light and heat. I have noticed that the Zoomed powersun puts off the least amount of heat and lest amount of light, but much better then any fluorescent bulb, the Big Apple puts off the most heat and most light, and the T-rex in the middle of the two. I have had problems with the T-rex and Big Apple bulbs burning to fast, I have not had one problem with the Zoomed bulbs.

Now I keep only panther and they like warmer temps. The Jackson like lower temps, so the Zoomed would be your best bet. You can adjust the basking temp by moving the MV bulb off the cage more. Hanging the light from the ceiling is your best bet. MV bulbs require a 10" dome with a porcelain socket. The MV bulbs will penetrate UVB light down to 6' so moving the light source away from the cage will be fine, unlike a fluorescent UVB bulbs that are only good up to 12". Hope this helps!
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John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers
1.2 Rhampholeon uluguruensis