Best basking bulbs

[aholgate]

Now that winter is creeping in and temps are dropping I'm having a hard time keeping the temp up in my basking spots. This summer I moved all my cages down into my garage from upstairs where it stayed a little warmer because my collection is getting too big. The overall temp in the garage isn't too cold, it's just that my basking areas have seemed to drop. Does anyone have any recommended basking bulbs that radiate better heat? I don't like keeping the bulbs too close to the cage because of burns and whatnot, but need the temps to rise. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

I use PAR20 50-60 watt flood lights... much brighter and emit heat better imo. Just make sure not to put them too close, they can get hot! I think the ones I use are made by phillips

 

[djfishygillz]

Warning- I had one very bad winter using the garage method.

Temps just wouldn't stay high enough with the bulbs. Some times you just have to heat the entire room (garage) in order to keep the healthy/digesting/active.

If the ambient room temp doesn't get to at least 80 for about 10 hours a day I would highly recommend a heater for the garage. (expensive to heat I know)

If you don't keep those temps up high you risk parasites (normally weak with a healthy cham) becoming to much for the chameleon. URI infections and much more.

So I guess my advise if heat the entire garage, but if that isn't possible at all great heaters are the ceramic ones. They get nice and hot and don't emit light so they could run over night also.

Good luck!

 

[aholgate]

Warning- I had one very bad winter using the garage method.

Temps just wouldn't stay high enough with the bulbs. Some times you just have to heat the entire room (garage) in order to keep the healthy/digesting/active.

If the ambient room temp doesn't get to at least 80 for about 10 hours a day I would highly recommend a heater for the garage. (expensive to heat I know)

If you don't keep those temps up high you risk parasites (normally weak with a healthy cham) becoming to much for the chameleon. URI infections and much more.

So I guess my advise if heat the entire garage, but if that isn't possible at all great heaters are the ceramic ones. They get nice and hot and don't emit light so they could run over night also.

Good luck!

I have a heater that's hooked up to a temperature gauge so it kicks on whenever the temps drop down too low. I also use ceramic heaters at night if needed. So far it hasn't gotten too cold, but I am prepared for the cold when it comes. Thanks though!

 

[deadhd5]

I would 2nd djfishygills suggestion about an electric space heater for your garage instead of new basking bulbs.

I don't know if you quite need to achieve 80 degrees ambient (depending on species), but I would be concerned relying on lights to up the temp, both because of burn potential and temperature fluctuation. Even a cheap space heater will have a thermostat.

 

[aholgate]

I would 2nd djfishygills suggestion about an electric space heater for your garage instead of new basking bulbs.

I don't know if you quite need to achieve 80 degrees ambient (depending on species), but I would be concerned relying on lights to up the temp, both because of burn potential and temperature fluctuation. Even a cheap space heater will have a thermostat.

Yeah as I had said in the earlier post I have a space heater with a thermostat that's keeping the ambient temperature up so it doesn't get too cold. I wasn't looking to increase my temps just by replacing my basking bulbs, I just know that my basking areas have been dropping to the low 80s/high 70s so I need to raise them. I don't want to burn my chams which is why I was inquiring about some bulbs that would potentially radiate more heat than the household bulbs I use now.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Now that winter is creeping in and temps are dropping I'm having a hard time keeping the temp up in my basking spots. This summer I moved all my cages down into my garage from upstairs where it stayed a little warmer because my collection is getting too big. The overall temp in the garage isn't too cold, it's just that my basking areas have seemed to drop. Does anyone have any recommended basking bulbs that radiate better heat? I don't like keeping the bulbs too close to the cage because of burns and whatnot, but need the temps to rise. Any suggestions would be great.

Spot heat bulb, chameleons need visible light. My cham for 3 months never went to its basking spot, had a ceramic heat emitter. Not 5 minutes after I switched to an incandescent 25 watt bulb, he went over to the basking spot and stayed there for quite a while. Zoo med makes really good incandescent bulbs. I use the black night heat bulbs for at night, I use dimmers and tone the night bulb down to a gentle glow.