Lighting - How Much is Too Much?

So I was sitting here drinking my coffee and looking at the youpor..... errrmmm Chameleon Forums, and I got to thinking about lighting for the chams. Right now my Veiled has one strip UVB and one spotlight for heat. The room he's in can be rather dark if it's cloudy or the light for the room are off, it looks a bit dreary really. Being as they are from bright sunny tropical locales, I wonder if it would be to their psychological benefit to have a little better lighting setup. I was thinking maybe a bank of 4 flouros with maybe 2 UVB's staggered in there for max distribution with 2 other quality 12K or so high quality tubes might do a good job of providing a good amount of lighting without being overly bright. I think the plant life would benefit tremendously as well. I would avoid 6700K lamps because the higher the color temp the more blue and the lighting looks a little more blue and soft which I think would be easier on the cham's eyes. Throw in a spot light and bam you're golden.

Maybe something like this except normal flouros instead of T5's or any kind of super bright reef tank lighting:


The only issues I'm thinking might come up are the irritation of the cham's eyes. I had a nasty run in with some sort of eye problems when he was very young and almost lost him, I would rather like to avoid a similar scenario. Apart from that it might boost their sense of well being to have some good lighting? Any thoughts?

my best guess would be that its ok but i would only put one 5.0 within the group. im sure the sun puts out more light then those bulbs so i wouldnt think they would hurt thier eyes, also remember that those bulbs do put out alittle heat so as long as it doesnt get too hot either. thats my opinion.
ps. remember that the 5.0 bulbs are abit more beefy also, so make sure it will fit side by side with those others, most likely will though.

I absolutely agree about the psychological benefit or well being that a properly light cage must provide. The euros have that part covered pretty good. Seems that double ended metal halide in a projector style lamp is the way to go. For some reason they appear very readily available over there as full kits (ballast/lamp/bulb) on ebay and from lighting distributors for reasonable prices. Over here, different story though, I've called many electrical supply places around and you must buy every piece seperate and it can end up costing alot.(it's usually the actual lamps that cost the most) Or you can go with aquaria MH equipment which is just as pricey.

So the cheapeast alternative is this kind of project(except you would choose a better suited bulb)
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/39586-70-diy-70w-hqi-metal-halide.html


and the result of using one of those on cham cages:
http://forum.tanalahy.com/mon-terra-t8708.html

on that forum they typically will use either one 150w placed up higher where there's no burn threat, one 70w placed accordingly to double as a basking spot, or some will use a dual 70w setup which assures the light is well spread out and the whole cage is well light

Howdy,

I'm with you on supplying more overall lighting for the psychological well-being of chameleons. As Electric said, the Europeans seem to have better access and experience with externally ballasted Metal Halide lighting. I've been watching for what Bob MacCargar at www.reptileUV.com will be releasing shortly. I had assumed that it was aimed at overall lighting but it has actually been created to make not only great overall spectal lighting but it has been designed to produce (reptile) healthy levels of UVB too. Bob worries mostly about critters like Iguanas that benefit from higher levels of UVB than chameleons but his new light may still be the ticket. We'll know more when the testing and the results are complete as to whether it will meet our chameleon's needs. The http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ site is doing the analysis and it shouldn't be much longer for the results. Bob is aiming at announcing the product(s) at the Los Angeles ARAV meeting in mid-October.

What should i replace it with?

Hi i was looking through this forum and wondered if anyone could help me...I have what was sold to me as a Senegal Chameleon...although I can find almost no info on this species...maybe a different name...but, I was wondering what to replace his uvb bulb with. He has been around for a little over a year in a 65 gallon mesh open air tank next to a window with a 100 watt heat bulb and a desert 7% uvb 20 watt coil bulb. He has been doing great but I thought maybe before I bought the same bulb if someone had another suggestion or if this was the best bulb to use. I would like to stick to the coils if its best but I can use a tube if needed. I just didnt know if more % or wattage or too much too little...thanks

Hello, I switched from a reptiglow 5.0 strip with a basking deep dome light to a 400 watt exter. ballist light fixture with a full spectrum " grow bulb" and his colors and over all activity increased 5 fold.