Basking bulb

The basking bulb I have now for my young female veiled chameleon is the blue one from the zoo kit I bought at a petsmart or petco. Now being on here I see that I need a new one, and I saw people saying to get: a regular incandescent bulb. Is there a certain amount of watts I need?
 
The basking bulb I have now for my young female veiled chameleon is the blue one from the zoo kit I bought at a petsmart or petco. Now being on here I see that I need a new one, and I saw people saying to get: a regular incandescent bulb. Is there a certain amount of watts I need?
You can wait until the blue one burns out to replace it. They were just saying that there is no need to pay for an expensive blue bulb when this one goes out. Start with a 60W bulb, only you can figure out which one is right for you. Play with the different wattages until you find the one that keeps your viv in the right temp range.
 
You can wait until the blue one burns out to replace it. They were just saying that there is no need to pay for an expensive blue bulb when this one goes out. Start with a 60W bulb, only you can figure out which one is right for you. Play with the different wattages until you find the one that keeps your viv in the right temp range.
Amazing, thank you!
 
Dollar General is a good place to find incandescent bulbs (everyone is switching to LED so they're not as available as they used to be). The have a "50 watt equivalent" bulb that puts out 43 watts. And a "75 watt equivalent" which I think is 63 watts. They come in packs of 2 for just a few bucks.
 
Dollar General is a good place to find incandescent bulbs (everyone is switching to LED so they're not as available as they used to be). The have a "50 watt equivalent" bulb that puts out 43 watts. And a "75 watt equivalent" which I think is 63 watts. They come in packs of 2 for just a few bucks.


Well switch to LED then :p. Get a boat load of LED light for the plants and an Arcadia Deep Heat projector for the Temps :). Get with the Future, Today :p.

Home Depot, Halogen Floods are still not LED, and like 50ws is probably enough the halogens are HOT.

They can sense and reflect infrared light too btw pretty cool. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2388120?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents :).

They cannot reflect ambient air temp. So they can better self regulate basking, as they would in the wild, if provided Infared heat instead of waste heat from a light.

The point of basking, is infrared heat. The sun heats things with Infared rays, which heat the air by heating surfaces and reflections.

Normal bulbs still provide some Infared (not much), but alot of the heat they exhibit is waste from making light.

When a Cham is making themselves dark, they are trying to absorb Infared, while going light or green, they are trying to lessen the infrared they are receiving.


Another fun fact, in case anyone is actually reading my crazy talk. Plants also appreciate Infared light. It gives them Cues it's time to wake up and start photosynthesis.


However OP or any other noob that reads this. They still need bright lights. If you want to do a Quad T5HO and a deep heat that's fine. Or a some JD spots and a Deep Heat, also fine. Chameleons still need light to know to bask, not just infrared (although cued from both) so you need a brightly lit Viv, to use a Deep Heat.

However if you have that, IMO and Arcadia's and quite a few experts I have spoken with about it, Deep Heat is King.

With a reliable stat, if absolutely needed (like your house gets really cold some nights) it can double as night heat.
 
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I have an arcadia deep heat projector over my leopard gecko tank. I don't have a thermostat but I do have a dimming fixture I'm able to regulate the temp pretty well with (it varies some with the room temp). I've thought of trying one with a chameleon at some point. Right now I have a 43 watt incandescent for my Jacksons and a 35 watt halogen for my veiled.
 
I have an arcadia deep heat projector over my leopard gecko tank. I don't have a thermostat but I do have a dimming fixture I'm able to regulate the temp pretty well with (it varies some with the room temp). I've thought of trying one with a chameleon at some point. Right now I have a 43 watt incandescent for my Jacksons and a 35 watt halogen for my veiled.


Well the thermostat really only needed if you want night heat. If used as only daytime basking, if would be fine without a stat. A dimmer may be helpful though.

However you should only try it with super bright lighting.
 
Someone mentioned dollar store had good basking lights. Are any of these ones I could purchase?
 

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Well switch to LED then :p. Get a boat load of LED light for the plants and an Arcadia Deep Heat projector for the Temps :). Get with the Future, Today :p.

Home Depot, Halogen Floods are still not LED, and like 50ws is probably enough the halogens are HOT.

They can sense and reflect infrared light too btw pretty cool. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2388120?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents :).

They cannot reflect ambient air temp. So they can better self regulate basking, as they would in the wild, if provided Infared heat instead of waste heat from a light.

The point of basking, is infrared heat. The sun heats things with Infared rays, which heat the air by heating surfaces and reflections.

Normal bulbs still provide some Infared (not much), but alot of the heat they exhibit is waste from making light.

When a Cham is making themselves dark, they are trying to absorb Infared, while going light or green, they are trying to lessen the infrared they are receiving.


Another fun fact, in case anyone is actually reading my crazy talk. Plants also appreciate Infared light. It gives them Cues it's time to wake up and start photosynthesis.


However OP or any other noob that reads this. They still need bright lights. If you want to do a Quad T5HO and a deep heat that's fine. Or a some JD spots and a Deep Heat, also fine. Chameleons still need light to know to bask, not just infrared (although cued from both) so you need a brightly lit Viv, to use a Deep Heat.

However if you have that, IMO and Arcadia's and quite a few experts I have spoken with about it, Deep Heat is King.

With a reliable stat, if absolutely needed (like your house gets really cold some nights) it can double as night heat.
You Love Lights..... You’re the incarnation of a Moth lol
 
That’s Uncle Sneaks homie lol, till he gets hungry.
 

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