Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I am new to the chameleon world and would like some advice on light heat combinations. Basically, is a seperate heat lamp and flourescent UVB bulb the way to go? Or is an all in one mercury vapor bulbs better? I like it that the Power Sun mercury bulb has a 6 foot range of effective UV light, but I worry that it will not supply the heat I may need. On the other hand, I have read that the flourescent UVB bulbs only have a range of about 10" to 12".

What do you guys think?

Welcome-

Well I use the all in one MV bulbs. I have zoomed, t-rex, and big apple bulbs. The only bulbs I have not had any problems with is the zoomed bulbs. On my website I talk about lighting combo's click on the pics below. Hope this helps!
-----
John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers
1.2 Rhampholeon uluguruensis

thanks....one question. I see 1.1, 1.2, 1.0, etc next to cham names....what does this mean?

Hi-

1.1 means one male (first number before the .) and one female (number after the .). So 1.0 means one male 0.1 means one female, 1.2 means one male and two females, 0.0.1 means one unknown sex (baby/juveniles). Hope this helps!
-----
John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers
1.2 Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Another thing to consider when choosing lighting is your species and it's temp range. Montane chams may not like the intense heat the combination heat/UVB bulbs can produce. You can dehydrate or burn chams this way. You will need to carefully monitor the resulting temps in the basking spot to avoid overheating. If you start with small babies or cooler climate species it will be safer to use the "classic" combination of a ReptiSun 5.0 fluorescent tube plus a regular incandescent basking bulb. This bulb can be any old ordinary house bulb. I haven't used the newer combination bulbs not because I'm old fashioned but because my chams are not big heat lovers. I also like to be able to move my lights around by season and the 2 lights in combination are a bit more adaptable even if there's more clutter on the cage top.