Okay, I have an approximately 18-month-old u. ocellatus, named Vesta, which is kept in a fairly large enclosure. You can see photos and details of both the enclosure and the lizard at this address:

http://www.filecore.net/lizard
http://www.filecore.net/vestacam (user: kingsnake.com, pass: guest)

My questions are twofold. Firstly, I have a 120cm (48" Reptisun 10.0 (10% UVB) strip light along the top. When clamped directly against the roof, this light is 45cm (18" from the basking spot and 30cm (12" from the highest point on the scenery. At the moment I have it hanging lower, to within 35cm (20" of the basking spot and 18cm (7" from the highest point.

I have been trying to read about the exact UVB intake requirements of the uromastyx and the correct distance to place the light from any given point, including the basking spot, but as usual, everything I read on the internet is contradictory and chaotic. I'm after a "definitive" answer.

1) http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2008/11/19/zoo-med-reptisun-100-high-output-uvb-lamp-and-50-uvb-lamp-product-review-part-ii/ states that a brand new Reptisun 10 puts out 75 uW/cm2 at 6", 23 uW/cm2 at 12" and 10 uW/cm2 at 18". However, other sites, incluing this one, note that there is often a minimum distance, but are unclear on what that should be (and let's not even get into the debate about UV output dropping after the first six months). Finally, although I can get the bulb's uW/cm2 output values, I can't find the recommended input levels that the uromastyx is after.

2) http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?p=863524 has a user asking about similar for a bearded dragon, and is told that 13" from the floor and 6" from the basking spot are good distances, for the 36" version of the Reptisun 10. Is this a reasonable guideline?

3) http://www./forums/showthread.php?t=15469 seems to indicate that if there is a basking spot or other favourite point that allows the lizard to get within 10" of the light at least some of the time, that is okay. Is this correct advice?

4) http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/pogona/message/84261 advises that the lizard be able to get within about 40-50cm (16-20" of the Reptisun 10 to get the benefit from it, which seems to be a lot greater distance than the other sites tend to suggest. Is this also a good distance, or is the UVB output at the base of my terrarium going to be too low?

5) As an aside, I'm planning to raise the ground level by an inch or two with additional sand, as well as adding in more hides and climbing obstacles - after my uromastyx got used to her new home, I noticed that she really enjoys climbing and scrambling over things. This should make her average distance from the light a little less.

My other question deals with her behaviour. She seems to be eating a good handful of salad per day, and is currently about 23cm (9" in length (tip of nose to tip of tail, I believe that lengths should be taken to the base of the tail, in which case she is about 12cm or 5". However, she wakes up on average around 8am and goes to sleep around 4pm. Some days she has been up before her lights are on, and today she was awake more than an hour after the lights came on, but generally she's up and about for 8 hours a day and then back into her hidey-hole.

Is this normal behaviour, to sleep for 16 hours per day? As far as I can tell, she is perfectly healthy and eating well, and I'm measuring her temperatures closely. Before you ask, my temperatures are ~55-60'C (~120'F) at the basking spot, ~28'C (~84'F) in the coolest shelter furthest from the basking spot, and ambient air temperatures ranging from 35'C (95'F) at the hot end to 30'C (85'F) at the cool end.

Any and all advice is welcome!

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