Is this the correct wattage bulb?

I have a 25 watt exo terra daytime heat bulb. I have a perch that is 4 inches away from the bulb, and many other perches at other levels in the terrarium so he can escape from that 4 inch perch. This is for a Mt Meru Jackson chameleon. Will it get to hot for him? Does he know to escape from the perch that is 4 inches away from the heating source and go to a cooler perch? Or will he burn himself?


EDIT: I'm moving the bulb to an area in the cage here there is a perch 14 inches away, and a perch 8 inches away. This should help right?

No he could burn himself. 25 is very low watt, so more than likely not, but for whatever reason they will sit under the bulb and can get a thermal burn if they stay under it too long. I am glad you moved it down. As long as the temp is where you want it to be you should be fine.

Most of us use regular incan bulbs for heat basking.
Using a 60W bulb, in a reflective dome fixture, I get almost 90F at 10'' below.

You want your basking branch a good distance from the bulb, or your cham will get a surface burn.

Chams regulate their temps by their internal temp.
So, if the bulb is too close, they will get a skin burn way before their internal temp is high enough for their metabolism.

Use a digital thermometer with a probe to determine what wattage bulb, and what distance you need.
It takes a bit of experimenting.

Ok, I jut lowered the wattage of the basking bulb to 15 watt. Now the perch I said was 4 inches away from the bulb, is now at a constant 86.7 F degrees. This should be just fine as long as I keep the chameleon properly hydrated correct? Its a 2 month old Mt Meru Jackson, its a baby so they burn up and dehydrate faster than an adult correct?

Someone at LLL Reptile recommend me having the basking spot for a Mt Meru at 90 F degrees as long as I have a misting system going off most of the day and or a dripper. Is this correct?

Just pm the user carl c and get the correct info. No sense in guessing with a great species like mt meru. I know the the regular jacksons xan don't like any temps above 89°f, so I am leary. For the Mt Meru, I simply don't know their specifics, if they differ.

That seems too high. Definitely PM CarlC. Jax bask at about 85 max, so I would expect mt merus to be too hot at 90

I typically bask mine at between 78-81, 90 is way too hot for a meru. Also the lower the night time temp the better, if you can get it down to the low to mid 60's at night they will do much better.
You may want to fill out the how to ask for help form because I believe that you may have Benn given some bad information. Mt. Merus are a little more sensitive to their husbandry and suplimentation. If you fill that out we can make sure you're on the right track.

Please continue to ask questions too.

All great information so far! Below is what works for me with similar species.

With inside caging I use 20w under cabinet lighting. Sorry but I do not measure the temps under the lights. The basking spots range from 5" to around 8" under the lights. With the room ambient temp around 72f - 75f I suspect the basking temp ranges from 80f to 85f. My animals only bask for short periods. Gravid females bask the longest.

What seems to be most important with montane species is providing a night drop in temperature and increase in humidity. The greater the drop you can provide the better. A 10 degree drop would be a good starting point. I strive for a 20 degree drop.

Montane species are a real challenge. Getting the animals to live isn't so much of an issue. Getting them to thrive is the challenge!

Carl

Its hard to provide a night time drop in my house, because I keep it at 75 F at night. I could use a humidifier at night time to try to drop the temperature, would that work? Also, what percentage do I need to keep the humidity at night? Wont he get some sort of infection or stress him out if he falls asleep right under the humidity tube and get all that fog on him while he sleeps without moving?



I moved the basking bulb to the front of the cage where there are 2 lower perches. Its now at 83 F and 85 F.

Lathis said:

That seems too high. Definitely PM CarlC. Jax bask at about 85 max, so I would expect mt merus to be too hot at 90

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I kept my meru at about 82F.
Even then, he would only bask a short time, and did most of his hanging out in cooler spots of the cage.