TheLivingLegend
New Member
Which uvb tester do you guys recommmend? I would like something that is very accurate without spending a billion dollars. Thank you for your replies. 
Help! UVB Tester
- Thread starter TheLivingLegend
- Start date
Which uvb tester do you guys recommmend? I would like something that is very accurate without spending a billion dollars. Thank you for your replies.
Solarmeter 6.2 if you are using Flo. UV B bulbs.
Solarmeter 6.5 if you are using Merc Vapor bulbs.
Those are your choices. period.
Nothing else is quite right for what we are doing.
They still are kinda' expensive. 180.00 - 220.00
Cheers!
Yes, it sure can.
BUT... because the UV band that is produced by MV bulbs is more concentrated in the more "reactive" end of the range down by 300 nm...
A Solarmeter 6.2 seems to give an rather low reading off MV bulbs that is not a true reflection of how strong it is.
A solarmeter 6.5 with the UV index scale is now considered by the experts as the meter to use when dealing with MV bulbs.
Last edited:
TheLivingLegend
New Member
Solarmeter 6.2 if you are using Flo. UV B bulbs.
Solarmeter 6.5 if you are using Merc Vapor bulbs.
Those are your choices. period.
Nothing else is quite right for what we are doing.
They still are kinda' expensive. 180.00 - 220.00
Cheers!
Awesome! Thank you very much for the info
UV readings and creating UV Gradients in the cage.
This may be of some help:
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/lighting-guide/
and this:
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
There are as many opinions on what is a good, safe UV reading for the animals as their are keepers.
So a concise answer is going to be hard to find.
Plus, one must take into consideration the size of the cage.
Bigger IS better. There is no such thing as too big a cage.
IF the animal is in a large cage, it offers more opportunity to create areas of shade.
And a large UV gradient can be created so they have choices as how much UV they want to soak up...
You could have basking areas of 100 uw/cm2 or more in a good size cage.
NOTE: "Areas" is the key word here.
(Mid day sun outside is 250 - 300, even higher at higher altitudes in the tropics. BUT DO NOT USE THAT READING OR GO BY THAT FOR A CAGED ANIMAL.
There are reasons for NOT basing indoor readings off that.
I just tentatively bring it up so you know what they are being exposed to when you plunk them outside.)
Other areas* of the cage can be as low as 0 - 10 - 40 or so.
(*areas of the cage where the animal frequents.... not down flat on the bottom of the cage or anything like that.... where they would not COMFORTABLY go*.
Areas they would not / could not go to escape high UV levels do not count .. use common sense )
IF the animal is in a smaller cage and / or a cage with very little shade from the UV lighting then one must be very careful,
because you would be forcing the animal to "bake" in high UV if the numbers were too high.
This is because they would not have the freedom of choice to be able to roam OUT of the higher UV areas in smaller cages or cages with no shading from the UV bulb.
For that you would want to keep levels lower.
Many experienced cham owners recommend 30 - 45... and that makes sense.
Now, I am the first to admit I am not a Cham expert by any means --
and the amount of sun exposure they would seek in Nature varies from species to species.
(and the age of the animal)
So if anyone wants to chime in with 6.2 readings that have worked well for them, then by all means feel free!
It is everyone's responsibility to Watch and Understand their own animal & fine tune the cage UV levels for their particular species (and age) of Cham.
I do suggest to anyone who will listen that incorporating some shade from a UV light source into any set-up is a good thing to do.
Shade can be provided by clumps of live or artificial foliage, a piece of cardboard or heat proof "something-er-rather" on the top of the cage shading a corner from the light.
Remember, many of the species of Chams commonly kept live in foliage in the wild.
And like most foliage dwelling reptiles, the larger adults may wander out in the open to bask.
But usually the little ones, (always on the lookout for predators 'cause everything wants to eat them), will stay more in the foliage and go from shaft of sunlight to shaft of sunlight streaming down between the leaves to bask.
And, as the sun passes over the sky, these shaft of sun basking spots are constantly changing through the leaves.
The shyer adults and little ones are not baking for long periods of time in one place in strong UV sunlight.
This is a handy link:
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/lighting-guide/
Cheers,
Todd
PS.
In any reptile I personally keep, or have kept... I always set try and set them up with at least 2 basking spots.
One with low low UV, and one with higher levels of UV.
I have come to actually swear by the 2 basking spot method
Because, here again, it allows the animals to choose warmth with low UV or warmth with higher UV.
This may be of some help:
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/lighting-guide/
and this:
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
There are as many opinions on what is a good, safe UV reading for the animals as their are keepers.
So a concise answer is going to be hard to find.
Plus, one must take into consideration the size of the cage.
Bigger IS better. There is no such thing as too big a cage.
IF the animal is in a large cage, it offers more opportunity to create areas of shade.
And a large UV gradient can be created so they have choices as how much UV they want to soak up...
You could have basking areas of 100 uw/cm2 or more in a good size cage.
NOTE: "Areas" is the key word here.
(Mid day sun outside is 250 - 300, even higher at higher altitudes in the tropics. BUT DO NOT USE THAT READING OR GO BY THAT FOR A CAGED ANIMAL.
There are reasons for NOT basing indoor readings off that.
I just tentatively bring it up so you know what they are being exposed to when you plunk them outside.)
Other areas* of the cage can be as low as 0 - 10 - 40 or so.
(*areas of the cage where the animal frequents.... not down flat on the bottom of the cage or anything like that.... where they would not COMFORTABLY go*.
Areas they would not / could not go to escape high UV levels do not count
.. use common sense )IF the animal is in a smaller cage and / or a cage with very little shade from the UV lighting then one must be very careful,
because you would be forcing the animal to "bake" in high UV if the numbers were too high.
This is because they would not have the freedom of choice to be able to roam OUT of the higher UV areas in smaller cages or cages with no shading from the UV bulb.
For that you would want to keep levels lower.
Many experienced cham owners recommend 30 - 45... and that makes sense.
Now, I am the first to admit I am not a Cham expert by any means --
and the amount of sun exposure they would seek in Nature varies from species to species.
(and the age of the animal)
So if anyone wants to chime in with 6.2 readings that have worked well for them, then by all means feel free!
It is everyone's responsibility to Watch and Understand their own animal & fine tune the cage UV levels for their particular species (and age) of Cham.
I do suggest to anyone who will listen that incorporating some shade from a UV light source into any set-up is a good thing to do.
Shade can be provided by clumps of live or artificial foliage, a piece of cardboard or heat proof "something-er-rather" on the top of the cage shading a corner from the light.
Remember, many of the species of Chams commonly kept live in foliage in the wild.
And like most foliage dwelling reptiles, the larger adults may wander out in the open to bask.
But usually the little ones, (always on the lookout for predators 'cause everything wants to eat them), will stay more in the foliage and go from shaft of sunlight to shaft of sunlight streaming down between the leaves to bask.
And, as the sun passes over the sky, these shaft of sun basking spots are constantly changing through the leaves.
The shyer adults and little ones are not baking for long periods of time in one place in strong UV sunlight.
This is a handy link:
http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/lighting-guide/
Cheers,
Todd
PS.
In any reptile I personally keep, or have kept... I always set try and set them up with at least 2 basking spots.
One with low low UV, and one with higher levels of UV.
I have come to actually swear by the 2 basking spot method
Because, here again, it allows the animals to choose warmth with low UV or warmth with higher UV.
