Ceramic emitters

javsto

javsto

New Member
I was just looking on another site concerning ceramic emitters to keep my cham warm at night now that we here on the east coast are closing in on winter. Does anyone else use these to warm up there cham(s) during the cold months of the year and if so what size or wattage emitter would you recommend that I use on my 18*18*36 cage for my vieled?
 
javsto said:
I was just looking on another site concerning ceramic emitters to keep my cham warm at night now that we here on the east coast are closing in on winter. Does anyone else use these to warm up there cham(s) during the cold months of the year and if so what size or wattage emitter would you recommend that I use on my 18*18*36 cage for my vieled?
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I used them for awhile, but I find it is easier to keep the whole chameleon room heated (to a minimum temp) with an oil-filled radiator. For such a small cage, you'll only want a low wat "bulb". A lot depends on the room temp and how close to the ceiling the cage is (heat rises).

Chameleons need NO heat emitting thing during the night. A night drop is healthy for all species
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eisentrauti - While a night time drop in temperature is good, a severe drop is not :) Did you ask what night winter temperature javsto is speaking of before making this proclamation?
 
as long as its not getting colder than 65f they will be fine, and if you do use heat, keep it cool at about 60f-65f for nightime temps..
 
sandrachameleon said:
eisentrauti - While a night time drop in temperature is good, a severe drop is not :) Did you ask what night winter temperature javsto is speaking of before making this proclamation?
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Based on the assumption that the cage is in the house - the night drop cant be that severe. Or say it this way: As long as you dont live in a barn, the night drop can't be so hard for the chameleon that it will get problems.
For pardalis 65°F are good, calyptratus and many others have no problem with temps round 60°F
 
eisentrauti - While a night time drop in temperature is good, a severe drop is not Did you ask what night winter temperature javsto is speaking of before making this proclamation?
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I'm backing up eisentrauti on this one.

If you live in a house and have a chameleon living in the house with you, you will probably not need supplemental heat at night for your chameleon. Unless you live in a house like I did in college where I woke to find frost on the inside of the window and bedding one morning (that was cold!). Which is possible I guess.

Severe all depends on the definition- mine is colder than 50.

Wild veileds survive mild night frosts.

For many years now I've been keeping my veileds and panthers (and all my other lizards) down to 50 at night during the winter months. Even new hatched babies do well with this night drop- I've got nearly month old baby veileds now and they experienced temps close to that in their first week and they are all thriving- zero mortality, zero problems. This is far from the first time I've done this also, and panthers too- for example my current panthers arrived so small they fit in little ketchup cups when they were shipped- they were unpacked directly into outdoor enclosures in the spring time and night temps were in the 50s at that time of year. Older veileds should be able to go lower- I just haven't tested it so I leave 50 as my safety mark.
 
One important thing to mention: As long as the chameleon has the option to warm up under a spot, the chances are very low that the temps can get too low. In autumn on clear days when the sun is shining intensely on the day it's getting really cold during the night, sometimes under 0°C. At least the following species have no problem with this:
merumontanus, fuelleborni, tempeli, werneri, hoehnelii, damaranum, pumilum, transvaalense, thamnobates and setaroi
 
i try to stay abouve 65 at night with my veiled and panther and 55 0r 60 with the montanes. in the winter i use a oil filled electric heater to help at night as i keep my house cold, ( gas fire place i turn off at night ) the heaters acctuall keep my whole house warm for the night, if 60ish is warm lol
 
eisentrauti said:
Based on the assumption that the cage is in the house - the night drop cant be that severe. Or say it this way: As long as you dont live in a barn, the night drop can't be so hard for the chameleon that it will get problems.
For pardalis 65°F are good, calyptratus and many others have no problem with temps round 60°F
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I live in NYC , and in the beginning of Fall the building will not turn on the heat if the outside temps are above 50*. I had a full week of LOW 50s before the heat was turned on.

Im am pretty sure the in appartment temps were in the mid 50's also(i had to sleep with a sweat suite and and downed blanket, and was still chilly) I had to get a emitter untill the heat was turned on. I just kept it some distance from his viv to have him right around 70*
 
eisentrauti said:
Based on the assumption that the cage is in the house - the night drop cant be that severe. Or say it this way: As long as you dont live in a barn, the night drop can't be so hard for the chameleon that it will get problems.
For pardalis 65°F are good, calyptratus and many others have no problem with temps round 60°F
Click to expand...

wrong.
Not everyone necessarily lives like you do.

I lived in canada in a very old house with no central heating and no insulation. The only heat came from wood burning (or coal burning, but I had no coal) fires. When I wasnt there and awake to stoke the fire, there was no heat. It was cold at night in winter. Close to freezing.
Being that cold nightly for months on end is Not so good for panther chameleons.

When I spent some time in South Africa, there was no central heating in the house there either. Usually it was warm, but in mid-winter it could get quite chill. Okay for the native chameleons perhaps not okay for all types.

I recognize that this is likely not typical for everyone.
My Point is that an absolute answer that they dont need heat at night, without qualifying with a statement of tolerated temperatures, isnt necesarrily helpful.
 
My house easily gets below 50 in the winter. I don't have the heat on at night in my house since I can bundle up with blankets and it saves some money. It was easily down to 40 this last year indoors. I use a space heater in the Cham room to keep their room temp around 60. It's easier to heat the small room than put a new lamp over all the cages. But if I didn't heat the room I would definitely have ceramic emitters over all my cages.
 
ceramic heat emitters

Ok so just to throw a wrench into your logic about indoor temps. I live in an old drafty mobile home and in the winter the other rooms get down into the low 50's on the coldest of nights. So again, and maybe we can get an answer, If I were to use ceramic heat emitters, what should I use? Or are night time heat lights better and if so what wattage? I know your all going to say it would be easier to keep the entire place warmer, that is not the case. I'm glad that one of the seniors questioned the other user about whether they had asked about night time temps at least. In addition to her question I have to add that we all do not live in regular new homes.
 
It's just like using basking lights - you have to see which bulb get the temperature ranges you want. I'd start with a lower wattage bulb an measure how it works and of its not warm enough then take it back and get the next size up. It doesn't need to be as warm as basking temps. I'd say aim for 70s because if they don't sleep directly under it then the radiating heat will still help. If you use them to get the minimum temp (60 or so) then they will still e too cold unless theyre directly under it, which usually isn't the case.
 
Ok so just to throw a wrench into your logic about indoor temps. I live in an old drafty mobile home and in the winter the other rooms get down into the low 50's on the coldest of nights. So again, and maybe we can get an answer, If I were to use ceramic heat emitters, what should I use? Or are night time heat lights better and if so what wattage? I know your all going to say it would be easier to keep the entire place warmer, that is not the case. I'm glad that one of the seniors questioned the other user about whether they had asked about night time temps at least. In addition to her question I have to add that we all do not live in regular new homes.
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First- let me just restate- I let my chams drop down to about 50 all the time with no ill effects and have done so for many years (17 or so). This includes even baby chameleons. If it only drops into the low 50s in your home, personally I wouldn't worry about night heat. I probably would try to do something about the drafts though (foil or styrophome sheet insulation is fairly inexpensive and takes very little space and can be used to line the walls of a room, plastic window kits are sold to cover windows to eliminate drafts also). Of course I realize you are not me, and may want to warm things up a bit for your own peace of mind and that's fine.

If you want to use ceramic heat emitters- what exactly is your question about what you would need? I guess you are asking about wattage? You would probably need to experiment somewhat with your situation to determine the size wattage you would need to keep your temps up above 50. The problem as I see it with this idea is that your chameleon may not choose to fall asleep near the night heat source if day temps are warmer than night temps. And if that is the case, and then night temps drop, he probably isn't going to move in his sleep to a safe position. The other problem is if your home has drafts of 40 something degree air moving through the warm spot under the heat emitter where the chameleon is sleeping, that isn't going to be great for him. And then finally, if you have a number of enclosures, it may be cheaper to put a portable heater of some sort on a thermostat than it would be for you to put out 10 60 watt on all night ceramic heat emitters.

Here is what I do in my lizard building where there is no central heat source. I insulated the building really well so unless temps dip into the teens at night outside, no extra heat is necessary- temps remain above 50 during the night. When temps dip down into the teens outdoors, I plug a single 250 watt infrared heat spotlight in and hang it a couple of feet above the concrete floor in the center of the building, so that it heats the concrete. This is enough to warm the entire lizard building (42'x30') and keep it above 50 on the coldest nights. This is the kind of light sold at farm stores to keep baby animals warm on winter nights.

A smaller room (which is probably most rooms in a house) say in a trailer could probably be kept warm with far less- maybe a 150 watt infrared spot light hung in the middle of the room might do the trick (not over a cage- the idea is to warm the room, not provide a basking spot). Maybe even a 100 watt blacklight bulb hung in the middle of the room might do the trick. Maybe a small electric heater turned all the way down on low would do the trick as well.

In the end - there is no one size fits all answer when determining what you will need, unless you can locate someone on here with similar conditions (drafty mobile home, ambient temps just below 50 or whatever). Otherwise, my advice is just to experiment- but personally I feel it is better to keep your ambient night temps controlled, than it is to provide hot spots and count on the lizard being where it needs to be and avoid the risk of breathing cold air from drafts or worse- cold air breezes moving over a warm basking lizard that is sleeping, shocking it's system mildly. If it were me and I was set on using heat spots at night, I'd probably wrap my cages in plastic to keep the drafts out and the heat in... But I would much rather raise the ambient temperature in my room and eliminate sources of drafts. I realize that in some modern homes with the cavernous open floorplans around the living and dining areas, maybe that would be impossible without heating the whole home...
 
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emitters

Thanks for seriously addressing the question. I really do appreciate it. I used space heaters last winter, and while they worked great, it was costly. I've moved my fellas into a area that is a little better and was just interested in whether those ceramic heat emitters might be a better alternative than the radiating heater I had been using. Is the heat that is put out by the ceramic emitters equivalent to the same heat put out by a bulb it the same wattage is used? Or would the emitter put out more heat at the same wattage? I.E., does a 50wattt bulb put out the same heat as say a 50watt ceramic emitter. The answer will give me a starting point.

And again, thanks for the answers. I really do appreciate you seniors helping answer questions.
 
What I did was get the 100 watt ceramic emitter and use the zoo med fixture that has the dimmer switch on it and dialed it down to the right temp. Seemed to work fine.
 
Rich P said:
What I did was get the 100 watt ceramic emitter and use the zoo med fixture that has the dimmer switch on it and dialed it down to the right temp. Seemed to work fine.
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good idea!
I've seen temp probe set-ups that do a similar thing, turning the lamp on and off as needed to maintain a certain temp at the probe site, which would be located in the cage near where chameleon sleeps
 
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