temperatures

[mczoo]

I recently aquired a veiled chameleon 4 month male ( i know i should have started with one not progressed to one) Currently he is in the same room as my jacksons and montium. ambient temp 70-74. night drops to 66-68. I am keeping a heater on his side of the room to increase the ambient to 78-80 and give him a basking 90-95 with a light. I was wondering how long per day does he need the 80 degrees. should it be for the whole photo period or just 8 hours or what?

Thanks

Sean

 

[mika]

Did the previous owner keep him in an ambient temp of 78-80F?

 

[mczoo]

Thats the idea i got. i believe this was because he was a baby that he needed to be kept warmer. Here in cleveland the ambient temps outside have been in the low 70's so i do not know how he did this. he is a long term local breeder of veileds and panthers.

perhaps i could just use a bigger bulb to create a larger gradient from 72-90?

Sean

 

[Justin Carl]

Sean,

What you have going on is fine.
I keep some veileds at work and it dips down to 68 every night.
70-74 degree ambient temps is also very nice for them.
It gives them a chance to get away from the heat.
When they do need to warm up the spend more time under the UVB bulb aswell, which ,to me, is comforting.
They do a lot of early morning basking.
Sometimes even as late as 11 o'clock.
Just because they are veileds that doesnt mean you to bake them.
The heater sounds like electricity that doesnt need to be wasted.

 

[mika]

I don't think I understand..

So you got him from a local breeder & the breeder keeps the ambient temps at around 78-80F?

What's the size of the enclosure he's in?

 

[mczoo]

Thanks Justin

upon thought i think i was confused (end of a long day). i am going to call the breeder tomorrow. i have his number. i will leave the heater off. my ambient could only be 76 because that is what i set the heater at for 6 hours .

At 4 months old is 90 degrees a good basking temp? or should it be lower?

Sean

 

[mika]

I think 90F is good.

Wow it's colder over where you are. My temps in the living room say 86F.. No wonder I'm sweating

 

[dodolah]

Thanks Justin

upon thought i think i was confused (end of a long day). i am going to call the breeder tomorrow. i have his number. i will leave the heater off. my ambient could only be 76 because that is what i set the heater at for 6 hours .

At 4 months old is 90 degrees a good basking temp? or should it be lower?

Sean

90 F is good. i usually kept mine at 87 F because he'll gape whenever it's higher than that.

 

[Justin Carl]

Sean,

I'm really low tech here.
I just try to keep it around 80-85 degrees basking.
I dont use the digital thermometers or the ones with probes.
My only concern is if they can get their body temperature up for digestion.
I just acquired another female veiled the same age as yours.
I havent had a chance to get a good accurate body basking temp, but I think she is around 85.
Keep it simple

 

[Brad Ramsey]

85 would be the absolute hottest basking I would be comfortable with for a veiled that age.
Please read the article on thermoregulation here:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[AFH]

Veileds are more tolerant of varying temps. He would probably do fine the way you've got it, but he will need a higher basking temp than the jacksons.

 

[mczoo]

boy i think i need to think more before i post. what i was doing and what i posted make no sense.

I Re-read your blog Brad (thanks) and adjusted my basking goal to 85 at least for now.

my ambient temperature in my basement varies between 68-74 depending on outside weather. if i leave the basking spot at 85 will i need extra heat to keep the ambient above 70 or is it not really an issue?

(that should have been my original question)

thanks,

Sean

 

[AFH]

I don't think it would be an issue as long as there is a warm enough basking spot. It's supposed to cool down into the upper sixties at night anyway.