FINSHED! and i want to make sure every this is safe!

[kelly261]

So i bought 100gallon mesh reptrium with a wipping fig and corn plant inside..
I have
-20w 5.0 uvb repti Glo tropical terrarium lamp 24 inches.
-50w infrared ( as her basking light) in a 5.5 dome
-and i have another 13w 0.5 repti glo in a 5.5 dome (i did this because it looks so dark inside her tank and it looked like the wipping fig wasn't getting alot of light)

I did have a 60w day light sun glo as her basking lamp when she was in her smaller tank.. but the guy at the pet store said this would be better bcuz at night our room can get sum what chilly. ( we live in western cananda)

The pics make the set up look bright but its not really lol
please let me know if this is a good set up.. the only thing im really unsure about is the infrared light... haven;t read of to many people using them....

the 3rd pic is a pic of her basking spot

thanks!!!

 

[bucky]

You only need one baskign spot. You shouldnt get any reptile bulbs,because they usually have UV, the only UV they need is from the UV tube you have in there. If its chilly, then get a 70w bulb. So get rid of the infra red light. Other than that, I think it looks good.

 

[beenpanced]

you can use a regular house bulb for the basking light as long as you manage the temps with a digital thermometer.

 

[kelly261]

You only need one baskign spot. You shouldnt get any reptile bulbs,because they usually have UV, the only UV they need is from the UV tube you have in there. If its chilly, then get a 70w bulb. So get rid of the infra red light. Other than that, I think it looks good.

I do only have one basking spot which is the infra ... I USE to have teh 60w in her other cage

the other light isnt a basking spot its a 13w uvb light.
get rid of teh infra and use the 60w?

 

[casidonacid]

hey make sure u put those lights on something they may melt thru also they dnt get as much uvb, uva, due to that material

 

[wuffielover]

Infrared bulbs do NOT put out UV, as far as I know they are perfectly safe to use as heat lights. A lot of people buy them for their lizards because they emit light in a spectrum that reptiles cannot see in, therefore you can leave them on at night without disturbing your pet's sleep cycle. You should be fine leaving the infrared light as a basking spot. I would, however, get rid of the coil fluorescent bulb; they put out a high amount of low-spectrum UVB which makes them 'stronger' than sunlight and can potentially harm your cham.

 

[Justin Carl]

Kelly,

I would like to suggest a few things.
Th reptariums have a very dark, thick mesh, that can absorb some of the UVB light.
The reccomended light for chameleons is the Zoomed Reptisun brand.
Most people with the reptariums use the Zoomed Reptisun 10.0 linear flourecent.
This ensures that more UVB light will pass through the dark mesh.
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttubes.htm

Like others have already suggested, you only need one basking bulb.
Try to keep her basking temp around 85 degrees.

A night light is not needed unless your night time temperatures drop below 50 degrees.
It is reccomended that you give the chameleon a night time temperature drop.
This allows for proper sleep.
Also, chameleons don't recognize red(infrared) light as a heat source, so ditch the red bulb.

Throw that reptiglo 5.0 compact flourecent in the garbage.
These have been known to kill chameleons.
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/compactlamps.htm

You are right about the weeping fig.
They do need a little more light then say a shefflera.
It's going to be difficult to keep it alive inside a Reptarium.
You might want to reconsider you plant choice.

I hope this helps.

Justin

 

[pennington]

Im in very much the same situation but I'm using a large glass terrarium.

But the light and heat have got me vexed. I have two tubes, one 2.0 and one 5.0 reptiglo from Exo-terra. Their documents on UV stated these two bulbs for chameleons.

I then need to heat the little guy, day and night. So I bought a day/night dimmer so I can control the temperatures. But what creates the temperature?

Currently I have a 150w infrared bulb (exo-terra again) plugged into the dimmer. now this should provide a place to bask and keep the environment warm. Shouldn't it?

The infrared isn't visible light for reptiles so should keep the chameleon warm through the night but not disturb his sleep cycle. Or would it?