Basking Question

[Stoneboys3]

Apollo has been leaning to the side quite a bit during the day. He finds a place thats nice and flat and then leans over almost laying down under the lamp. HE is only 5 months old. Does this sound like normal behavior? BTW he is about 16 inches away from a big ol hot 200W bulb

 

[zsazsa85]

That's normal. Some cham does that. Mine as well sometimes, just for the heat.

 

[Balizar]

Like the name ZSAZSA! As Zsa Zsa stated it is perfectly normal for a cham to do this while catching rays!

 

[fluxlizard]

With a bulb that wattage, you want to be careful he doesn't burn himself.
If there is a huge change from background temperature to basking temperature, without a gradual usable thermogradient, you are definately running a burn risk. Usable meaning lots of branches so that every couple of inches further and further from the bulb in a gradual way so there are many different basking temperatures available.

With that size bulb and the distance and his behavior- i've got to guess that your background temps are too cold in relation to your basking temp and/or you don't have enough layers of branches for a thermalgradient.

 

[Stoneboys3]

picture of enclosure

you can see here the lamp in question is 6 inches off the top and he keeps to about a foot below the top on a regular basis.

 

[MelissaB]

Is there a reason you're using such a high wattage bulb? Just curious. I usually do fine with a 60 watt household incandescent bulb for basking, and was wondering why you'd need a 200 watt bulb.

 

[fluxlizard]

Looks like your heat covers most of the top of the cage- that's not necessarily a bad thing. But wattage is really high- what kind of bulb is it, just an incandescant or some kind of UV heat bulb?

I don't think your fixture looks rated for 200 watts.

What are the other 2 smaller fixtures in the background?

What is the ambient room temperature?

 

[Stoneboys3]

it puts the temp at the screen top at 37 degrees Celsius or around 98 degrees Fahrenheit. that means most of the climbing branches and leaves will quickly dip from that top temp.

 

[Stoneboys3]

There is a 200w incandescent lamp that runs 8am to 4pm. During that time there is also a UVB bulb. At night a black night bulb. This is a classroom set at 70 degrees most of the day but the school lets the temp drop at night to save money. During the warmer months i will remove the night bulb

 

[Jaden]

There is a 200w incandescent lamp that runs 8am to 4pm. During that time there is also a UVB bulb. At night a black night bulb. This is a classroom set at 70 degrees most of the day but the school lets the temp drop at night to save money. During the warmer months i will remove the night bulb

You might want to remove the night bulb. The chameleon will not really go to sleep without complete darkness. If the cage drops below 50 degrees at night, then you can use a ceramic heat emitter. Also, he might still get burned from the bulb, 98 is very high at the top of the cage. What would happen if he started to climb the screen at the top of the cage? I hope that I helped,
Jaden

 

[Kath44]

He doesn't need the light at night. Black or otherwise. It interrupts their sleep.
Kath.

 

[fluxlizard]

Sounds OK, temps sound ok for day provided he can move through a gradient and looks like probably he can, behavior is normal to warm up.
Just watch for first signs of a burn- Personally, I'd be much more comfortable using 2 or 3 lower watt bulbs in your situation so the heat is spread a little more mildly.

For a panther, down to 50 at night is fine. Mine go that low no problem for many years now during the winter. If your classroom doesn't go that low, you can probably drop the use of the night bulb.

But this stuff is really not what you were asking.
The behavior is normal for warming up.

 

[symphonica]

You want a 10-degree or so drop in temps at night. If you're heating at night (only necessary for below 50), use a ceramic bulb that doesn't emit any light. They need complete darkness to enter a deep sleep cycle.

Also, are you sure you're getting accurate readings of your temp? What are you using for a thermometer? Only reason I'm asking is because I have a 15' x 10' free range for which I use 200w bulbs in a 10.5" dome. With the bulb 12" above the basking spot, my temp was still at close to 115-degrees.