Is the 10.0 reptisun ok for my cage?
- Thread starter joshbert
- Start date
PardalisGirl
Avid Member
Big Cage????
So are you saying your cage is 3 feet by 3 feet by 8 feet? That's a huge cage. You would definitely need two 10.0 tubes. I have two of those on all my 18 x 30 x 36 in cages. If yours is really that big you may consider putting one vertically as well or a mercury vapor light. What are you keeping in this cage. Adult cham or growing juvenile?
So are you saying your cage is 3 feet by 3 feet by 8 feet? That's a huge cage. You would definitely need two 10.0 tubes. I have two of those on all my 18 x 30 x 36 in cages. If yours is really that big you may consider putting one vertically as well or a mercury vapor light. What are you keeping in this cage. Adult cham or growing juvenile?
This is my cage.https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-free-range-cage-19486/ My panther is about 6 months old. I just moved him from his smaller cage.
PardalisGirl
Avid Member
Wow....
I remember you now! Great cage. You definitely need to switch your lighting. 5.0 lights only go down about 12" or so below the light tube. 10.0 lights penetrate 20" below the light. Even a 10.0 is not going to penetrate deep enough. The choice of a 10.0 light has nothing to do with having a desert reptile. It is a good choice for anyone who needs the UVB to penetrate to 20 inches. I've got two 10.0s on every adult cage I have. I use the 5.0 lights on smaller baby/juvies enclosures. The difference between a Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 is a matter of UVB depth not species.
You are going to use a mercury vapor type light on top like a 150 watt powersun. I use those on my big iguana cages. They provide the heat for basking as well. You may also have to provide UVB on the side somehow too. You can use the tube lights there. From your previous post on the cage you talked about having a six month old cham. Even after a month or two from then he is still really growing. He is going to be super active and going up and down that cage. He needs that UVB coverage somehow. That is a great cage but it is going to be a challenge to provide adequate UVB for a growing cham like that. I think some other people here have done some similar things and I would like to see how they met that challenge
I remember you now! Great cage. You definitely need to switch your lighting. 5.0 lights only go down about 12" or so below the light tube. 10.0 lights penetrate 20" below the light. Even a 10.0 is not going to penetrate deep enough. The choice of a 10.0 light has nothing to do with having a desert reptile. It is a good choice for anyone who needs the UVB to penetrate to 20 inches. I've got two 10.0s on every adult cage I have. I use the 5.0 lights on smaller baby/juvies enclosures. The difference between a Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 is a matter of UVB depth not species.
You are going to use a mercury vapor type light on top like a 150 watt powersun. I use those on my big iguana cages. They provide the heat for basking as well. You may also have to provide UVB on the side somehow too. You can use the tube lights there. From your previous post on the cage you talked about having a six month old cham. Even after a month or two from then he is still really growing. He is going to be super active and going up and down that cage. He needs that UVB coverage somehow. That is a great cage but it is going to be a challenge to provide adequate UVB for a growing cham like that. I think some other people here have done some similar things and I would like to see how they met that challenge
lrg83caleb
New Member
That is incredible! Keep me posted on this, I am curious to see how well everything goes.
ciafardo 4
New Member
I dont know much about mercury bulbs but i use all 10.0 on all of my chams and they never been happier
ciafardo 4
New Member
I remember you now! Great cage. You definitely need to switch your lighting. 5.0 lights only go down about 12" or so below the light tube. 10.0 lights penetrate 20" below the light. Even a 10.0 is not going to penetrate deep enough. The choice of a 10.0 light has nothing to do with having a desert reptile. It is a good choice for anyone who needs the UVB to penetrate to 20 inches. I've got two 10.0s on every adult cage I have. I use the 5.0 lights on smaller baby/juvies enclosures. The difference between a Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 is a matter of UVB depth not species.
You are going to use a mercury vapor type light on top like a 150 watt powersun. I use those on my big iguana cages. They provide the heat for basking as well. You may also have to provide UVB on the side somehow too. You can use the tube lights there. From your previous post on the cage you talked about having a six month old cham. Even after a month or two from then he is still really growing. He is going to be super active and going up and down that cage. He needs that UVB coverage somehow. That is a great cage but it is going to be a challenge to provide adequate UVB for a growing cham like that. I think some other people here have done some similar things and I would like to see how they met that challenge
thank you pardalis girl for giving correct reliable info unlike some that just bounce around this forum blurting out nonsense!!!!!
summoner12
Avid Member
SolarMeter.
I am not so sure of this.
5.0, 10.0, 100w powersun, 160w powersun... whatever the UV lamp. If you are using it in a special manner I would encourage you to purchase a special tool. You can speculate all day long about how far the UVB REALLY goes... But it is a good idea to take a measurement if setting up a cage such as the one in the link provided by Joshbert.
SolarMeter 6.2
I am not so sure of this.
5.0, 10.0, 100w powersun, 160w powersun... whatever the UV lamp. If you are using it in a special manner I would encourage you to purchase a special tool. You can speculate all day long about how far the UVB REALLY goes... But it is a good idea to take a measurement if setting up a cage such as the one in the link provided by Joshbert.
SolarMeter 6.2
summoner12
Avid Member
I took a meter reading of my two 36" Reptisun 10.0's. They are both over 5 months old, used 11.5 hours average per day. The reading is more than enough UV for a panther. This isn't the MOST scientific way of doing readins... but it gives you an idea of output.
in this pic Lenny can get closer to the lamp since it sits at an angle. to his vine.
If these lamps were over an enclosed cage made of screen, the reading would be quite a bit lower. Since you aren't using a cage, you could get a pretty decent amount of UVB to your cham. This can be done if you use aluminum to reflect the lamps light. Shiny coatings will not reflect UVB, it needs to be a polished metal surface.
Here is a link about UVB and screen... It isn't much use in the free range application but you should consider it if you use something like it to cover the lamp in order to keep your cham from climbing on the lamps
There have been updates to the Powersun lamps. My info is based on reading from the UV Guide website. They have been testing the lamps that are visually different than those sold prior to January. Since they are outputting so much more light I would not recommend using them unless you buy a meter or barrow a meter from someone. You don't want to cook the chameleon with UVB. Sure you could get the temp right with the Powersun, but at what level is the UVB at that distance?
Here is the link.
in this pic Lenny can get closer to the lamp since it sits at an angle. to his vine.
If these lamps were over an enclosed cage made of screen, the reading would be quite a bit lower. Since you aren't using a cage, you could get a pretty decent amount of UVB to your cham. This can be done if you use aluminum to reflect the lamps light. Shiny coatings will not reflect UVB, it needs to be a polished metal surface.
Here is a link about UVB and screen... It isn't much use in the free range application but you should consider it if you use something like it to cover the lamp in order to keep your cham from climbing on the lamps
There have been updates to the Powersun lamps. My info is based on reading from the UV Guide website. They have been testing the lamps that are visually different than those sold prior to January. Since they are outputting so much more light I would not recommend using them unless you buy a meter or barrow a meter from someone. You don't want to cook the chameleon with UVB. Sure you could get the temp right with the Powersun, but at what level is the UVB at that distance?
Here is the link.
PardalisGirl
Avid Member
I agree about meter....
I totally agree about using a meter to measure UVB in your situation. Your application is so big that you really can't get by without it. Once your cham moves into his new palace you are going to have to see where he actually does spend his time and take new measurements.
Powersun 160 watt lamps are powerful. Way too much for normal cham cages. They are only suitable for what I would call "zoo applications". That is very large enclosures. Yours is not an enclosure but you get the idea. My two iguanas are in a huge enclosure and I use two of those lamps for them.
Your free roaming area is so big that I just don't think two Reptisuns are going to provide enough UVB for a growing cham who is going to like to roam. I think the Powersun is going to be necessary for health, but you are are going to have to do some real work measuring UVB at different points to make sure it's placement is not too close. You are also going to have to protect that boy from access to any heat source.
Keep us all updated. This is a totally cool project you have going on
I totally agree about using a meter to measure UVB in your situation. Your application is so big that you really can't get by without it. Once your cham moves into his new palace you are going to have to see where he actually does spend his time and take new measurements.
Powersun 160 watt lamps are powerful. Way too much for normal cham cages. They are only suitable for what I would call "zoo applications". That is very large enclosures. Yours is not an enclosure but you get the idea. My two iguanas are in a huge enclosure and I use two of those lamps for them.
Your free roaming area is so big that I just don't think two Reptisuns are going to provide enough UVB for a growing cham who is going to like to roam. I think the Powersun is going to be necessary for health, but you are are going to have to do some real work measuring UVB at different points to make sure it's placement is not too close. You are also going to have to protect that boy from access to any heat source.
Keep us all updated. This is a totally cool project you have going on
Dave Weldon
Avid Member
Howdy Joshbert,
One way to approach the layout of UVB and basking heat/lighting is to tune the basking spot for no more than the maximum level of UVB that you choose to expose your chameleon to and to do the same for the basking light and the maxiumum basking temp that you plan to use. This makes the assumption that he will come to the basking area to charge his body heat up to operating temp and at the same time get UVB exposure. Whatever UVB gradient that you end-up with starting from the upper limit at the basking spot and decreasing downward into the plant area is likely to be satisfactory so long as the UVB level at the basking area is set towards the upper limit for a panther to begin with. In the last discussion with Dr. Ferguson (wrote the Panther book), he suggested revising his maximum level for day-long artifical UVB exposure which was ~15uw/cm, now to ~50uW/cm2 as the maximum limit. So if you set-up your UVB source(s), aimed downward from the top, to provide ~30-50uW/cm2 at the basking spot then whatever numbers you get throughout the UVB gradient will be ok.
What part of the world are you located?
One way to approach the layout of UVB and basking heat/lighting is to tune the basking spot for no more than the maximum level of UVB that you choose to expose your chameleon to and to do the same for the basking light and the maxiumum basking temp that you plan to use. This makes the assumption that he will come to the basking area to charge his body heat up to operating temp and at the same time get UVB exposure. Whatever UVB gradient that you end-up with starting from the upper limit at the basking spot and decreasing downward into the plant area is likely to be satisfactory so long as the UVB level at the basking area is set towards the upper limit for a panther to begin with. In the last discussion with Dr. Ferguson (wrote the Panther book), he suggested revising his maximum level for day-long artifical UVB exposure which was ~15uw/cm, now to ~50uW/cm2 as the maximum limit. So if you set-up your UVB source(s), aimed downward from the top, to provide ~30-50uW/cm2 at the basking spot then whatever numbers you get throughout the UVB gradient will be ok.
What part of the world are you located?
