How Much UVB is TOO Much ???

junglefries

Avid Member
During May - September I am able to keep my chams outside most of the time. I know there are different UVB needs. With Jackson's being different than the Veiled & Panther [two being similar]. What I'm wondering is how many ReptiSun 5.0's to use. I have two 48" T8 fixtures [5.0 (x2) & Daylight (x2)] on the 24x24x48 ReptiBreeze cages & 36" T5 HO [5.0 (x1) & Daylight (x1)] & regular T5 36" [5.0 (x1) & Daylight (x1)] on the 18x18x36 ReptiBreeze cages [covering 2 cages side by side]. I keep the Jax (T5) and the Blue Bar Panthers (T5 HO) [as they average 4 months old] in the 36" and the Veiled in 48". I'm worried about them not being able to regulate their D3 intake with too many 5.0's. [I had been keeping them all under 2 5.0's and 2 Daylight dome lamps per each cage, as of today] YES, there are dividers between each cage, so no one can each other, before you yell @ me. Thank you for any and all advice.
 
Are you asking about inside or outside? If they are outside full time like You mentioned I don't believe you even need any uvb lights. They will get enough from the Sun.
 
I recommend 50 watts of 5.0/6% for a 24x24x48 cage. That will put the min required zone (min your cham needs to live) at 24-30" from the top, and the sweet zone being 6"-18" away from the top. The cham will regulate its own uvb exposure just like it regulates its heat exposure. You just have to give it the gradient it needs.

Bad ideas are giving the cham the choice of full uvb or none (bad pertch/leaf placement ), no uv choice (short cage with no hide spots), or heat and uv, or no heat no uv (only metal halide bulbs with no normal basking bulb).

Other than that, the sun puts out 10x-20x the uv of any "good" bulb you can buy. Uv problems only occure when the bulb is bad and puting out unearthly amounts of low UVB and UVC like they did when the first CFL reptile bulbs came out.
 
Keep in mind. Chameleons come from a tropical place. They come from the out doors. They could only get too much sun if you don't provide them enough shade. The best thing to do is to give them lots of shade, and a place to sun bathe. As long as the shaded area of the cage isn't hot or too warm, they'll be ok. It might be good, if the cage is big enough.... to have a misting nozzle or RainDome running all day to provide a cool place in the cage in the shade, have a dry shade area and a sun part.
 
This is also a great video to watch too
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=AUu24MNO2Ho
I personally use 12% T5 HO output Arcadia on my panthers with advice from the man who actually develops the bulbs. By providing a des my planted enclosure they choose whether thy want to be in a uv area or not. By providing a photo gradient using a 12% is not a problem at all especially with the bulb above mesh.
 
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