Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it necessary to have one of those UV meters to know what amt of UV your bulbs is putting out?
I do not have one but always replace my bulbs in 8 months so I dont know if buying a meter would be a waste other than knowing exact measurments.
Does anybody know where to buy one?

I wouldn't get one... One thing I've learned is that there are a LOT of things out there that you don't really need, and that suck up a lot of money. If you are interested in finding out how much uv a particular brand puts out then you can find a chart online. Also, if you are replacing the bulbs regularily then you don't have to worry about your uv output. I think the only time I would find a meter usefull would be if I had a huge breeding set up and wanted to stretch the life of my bulbs to save money. Then I would maybe use a meter to change the bulbs based on output of uv rather than time. Even then, you can probably find uv output:time on the internet somewhere. Also, it might be useful in something like a greenhouse, or a room set up, to see how much of the room has adequate uv.

I have been debating it, too b/c of Luna's calcium/D3 issues, but they are pricey.

Beautiful Dragons website has an entire project devoted to this and testing on several brands. They have lots of charts and test results.

One thing to keep in mind about ALL fluorescent bulbs (plant grow lights, reptile lights) they loose their output on either end first. I learned this when I got into growing plants indoors and it was the rule of thumb that if you have a 4' fluorescent you really only have 3' of quality light and plants should be concentrated toward the center (of course those requiring less light could be toward ends) but you can't do that with chameleons. Believe me, I have tried to train Luna to sit under the center but she just wont listen! Stubborn little thing!

But do keep it in mind when you set it up, try to have the middle of the bulb positioned over a preferred spot if possible. The 18" bulbs really only have about 12" of quality light.

lele

UVB Project

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Sounds good guys thanx. I have a 36 inch bulb and it stretches across the width of the cage perfetly with a benda vine about 8-10 inches bellow in that runs along the lenght of the bulb. There is plenty of room for him. You can see the pics under my last post of "massive cage".
I'll save my money, thank you again guys. Besides you would puke if you knew what I have invested in this set up, lol. Its a good thing I had made it myslef or it would have been 4x would it cost to make it.