Broken light =(

[kianna2118]

Hi I just had another question, sorry. My basking light has broke. Is it needed anytime soon for my cham? The temperature out here in Southern California is 70-78 degrees and in his cage is 78 degrees & 68% I have a digital thermometer. Thanks for every one good advice.

 

[Malicious]

You can use a household incadescent bulb. It's what 90% of us use anyway.

Fancy basking bulbs aren't needed, buy regular house bulbs and spend the extra cash on fancy feeders!

 

[kianna2118]

Hi again thanks that will save me money =) Any kind of watt for household bulb or is there a specific one i need to get ? The basking lights are pretty pricey. I broke two basking lights already =(

 

[Chameleonboy]

You can use a household incadescent bulb. It's what 90% of us use anyway.

Fancy basking bulbs aren't needed, buy regular house bulbs and spend the extra cash on fancy feeders!

Beat me to it!

-Clemonde

 

[Malicious]

I am in So.Cal aswell and I have my room air conditioned at 74 degrees all day and 70 degrees during the night. I use 25 watt soft white bulbs for a basking spot 6-8" away from the light. Start at 25 watts and see if you achieve the desired temperature. You can always go up if it's not enough.


How are you breaking bulbs so often?



-Jay

 

[kianna2118]

Lol they are attach to my cage and they just fall on to the ground which is tile. I broke one 2 months ago and I just got this one a month ago. Do you think a 60-70 watt household bulb wll be too much for him? Cause my basking light was 75 w please let me know thanks

 

[Malicious]

The wattage will need to be played with to achieve the correct temperature.

It's trial and error when finding the right bulb wattage.

A Exo-Terra 50 watt SunGlo halogen at 6" will burn a hole right through a chameleon, along with the branch he's sitting on. A 75 watt GE Soft White might be the right bulb, then again a 25 watt might be. There are too many variables with ambient room temps and humidity...etc. To be able to say" yes a 25 watt will work perfect for you".

If I told you I knew the exact wattage needed I'd be lying.


For starters lets find out what correct temps are needed, and what kind of chameleon along with its age are we dealing with?

-Jay

 

[kianna2118]

He is 9 months old graceful chameleon.

 

[Malicious]

I am not clear on the proper basking temps for that specific species. From the searching that I have done I am getting a basking temp variance of over 20 degrees. I'm sorry I can't help any further. I am almost certain someone here will have more experiance and advise with this species.


-Jay

 

[Pure]

Make a thread. Graceful basking temp.

Looking at their native locations I would have a guess that their basking temp is close to Veilds.

As for your bulb, I would really think your old bulb was too hot, unless it was far enough away. I have no way of knowing this. So I want to stress to you the importance of using a thermometer at the basking spot to read the temps there. I have a little portable digital one I use. I take it from basking spot to basking spot, reading temps.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Along with what others have already said about temps etc, I'll add from an old post of mine:

I prefer flood over spot lights. I've been pretty happy with the 60W Philips Halogena (halogen) flood lights:

http://www.lighting.philips.com/us_...g&parent=7593748565&id=us_en_products&lang=en.

Places like Home Depot carry them, sometimes in a low-cost three-pack.

With temp vs. wattage, it's all about distance. I suppose that you could even use a 400W bulb as a basking light so long as you placed it far enough away from the top. At the other end of the wattage curve, a 7W Christmas light might even work if you strapped it to his back .

I like the Halogen incandescent flood lights over regular floods for basking because they burn a little bit whiter. I don't have a spectral plot handy but that is what I'd expect to see in the graphs.

Whereabouts in SoCal are you located? Close enough for our SBCK monthly meeting ? It's this Saturday at Dr. Greek's office in Yorba Linda .

 

[kianna2118]

Hi i'm located in san bernardino area. Thank you everyone for all the advice. It will help alot.