A few juvenille panther ?'s

[dco1990]

Hello all,

I haven't posted here in a while. A few years ago i had the wonderful experience of getting a WC Carpet chameleon and you folks were very helpful. I no longer have the Carpet, but my fiance and I are scheduled to have our new ambilobe male delivered on Wed (2/26) . I've been working on the setup the last few days and am happy to say its about 95% done imo. I just had a coulpe remaining questions :

I bought this light fixture http://www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-4x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Digi-Timer-Fixture-p/52323.htm, and it comes with 4 6500 k plant lights. I also bought an Arcadia T5HO 6% bulb from Todd at LYR.

My questions are :

* As of now, with no official "basking bulb" hooked up, the "basking spot" in my enclosure is about 82 degrees, just from the heat of the T5 lights (live in FL). Being that's right around the desired temp i've read for this age (3-5 months), would it be ok to omit the "basking bulb" until my little guy matures? (I have the light fixture, would just need to get the proper incandescant bulb)

* The fixture came with 4 6500k lights in it... I was just wondering how many you all recommmend using at once? I was thinking of having the Arcadia and just one 6500 k light at a time... is that what you would recommend?


If it helps, my current setup is appox 16x16x30, with the lights mentioned above. I have a scheffelera and a pothos, along with multiple fake vines and bushes. The ambient temps i've read so far have been 75-80 degrees, with the basking area 81-82 degrees.


Thanks!

 

[MelissaB]

I have the same fixture, and have really liked it so far. I have to have a basking light , because it's not as warm up north. I have my lights set to go like this: basking light on, then 20 minutes later front two bulbs on, 20 minutes after that back two bulbs come on. Around bedtime it goes like this: basking light off, then front two bulbs, then back two bulbs. It's probably not necessary, but I like that it's a more gradual change, instead of instant all on or instant all off. My cages are 18x18x36 and 24x24x48, and I use the fixture on each, and use all 4 bulbs at a time. My cages have a lot of foliage and hiding spots, if they decide they want some shade. I don't use the blue LEDs, because I'm not sure if they'd like the blue light or not.

 

[dco1990]

Melissa,

Thanks for your response! I too do not plan on using the blue LED's. I like how you decided to program your lights. So are all 4 lights needed simultaneously for the plants or will 1-2 with the Arcadia still be beneficial?