Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
I have two veiled chameleons and they almost always spend part of the day outside with us. How many hours of direct unfiltered sunlight do the need to get so they no longer need a ubv bulb while they are inside?
Direct unfiltered sunlight vs UBV bulb
- Thread starter Brodybreaux25
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Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I have been doing direct unfiltered sunlight only with my male panther Ryker due to eye sensitivity to artificial lights. He goes outside and I sit with him at least an hour, often a bit longer. I am making an outdoor cage that is friendly for his partial blindness at the moment so I can safely leave him outdoors and not worry about it. I do 1 hour of sunlight a day and then no uvb at all for the rest of the day. He does fine and has shown improvements in many ways that I won't go into here because this is your thread.
As far as how long they can safely go without UVB if they have no sunlight at all and have no artificial uvb that day (because ambient temps and weather do not always play in our favor) if you do 2-3 hours a day at peak sun hours for your part of the world. And then are forced to go 2-3 days without uvb in any form, in my opinion and probably many older keepers who had to rely on natural sunlight only, this should be safe.
As far as how long they can safely go without UVB if they have no sunlight at all and have no artificial uvb that day (because ambient temps and weather do not always play in our favor) if you do 2-3 hours a day at peak sun hours for your part of the world. And then are forced to go 2-3 days without uvb in any form, in my opinion and probably many older keepers who had to rely on natural sunlight only, this should be safe.
bobcochran
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree with Andee. I don't use any UV bulbs only natural sunlight. In the winter, sometimes my chams only get out once or twice a week for a couple of hours per day and I've haven't experienced any mbd or other negative side affects. Admittedly, I live in central Ca.
I believe 1 hour of unfiltered sunlight is better than 8 hours of a uvb bulb.
I believe 1 hour of unfiltered sunlight is better than 8 hours of a uvb bulb.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I live in Central CA too, so we get pretty awesome weather regularly. This last winter season was odd (even for the more normal winter seasons when we don't have a drought plaguing us). It was like the skies opened up and decided to dump buckets of ice cold water on us daily >.< it was hard finding a good day to take them out sometimes. Hope was easier since she is a montane and deals with lower ambient temps better. Ryker I would take him out some days and he'd be like "nuh uh too cold".
Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
I live in south eastern Louisiana so we have plenty of days full of sun, 80% to 100% humidity, and temperatures between 85 and 95°. We first got our chams 2 to 3 months ago and I've already been through two UVB bulbs so needless to say I'm not impressed. Now I think I'll try using the direct sunlight way with the bulbs as a back up. I figured the real sunlight was the better way to go based on my recent reading but I definitely appreciate the validation, I've been using the hell out of this site!
