I Love the Night Lights

[Andrew1283]

My plant fixture is the 24” Fluval Plant LED which is 32 watts.

https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Spectrum-Fluval-Bluetooth-Freshwater/dp/B07BBWSPRC

It has a nice night light feature that goes on from 8-10 PM. The iPhone camera makes the enclosure seem much much brighter than it is, but I can still see where he’s sleeping and snapped a pic. This sweet buddy opened his eye to see what was going on. Need some WD40 on that latch!

 

[elizaann2]

He is the coolest piebald. You need to share more photos of him.

 

[Andrew1283]

He is the coolest piebald. You need to share more photos of him.

Thanks! He’s a mess, like someone built a cham from spare chameleon parts in a junk drawer. More like a preschooler drew him with a box of crayons. Pink legs, white eyes, orange head, blue chin and belly, brown and green body. What the heck is going on here? But he’s a sweet baby and a brat.

 

[Orangejuiceman]

Blue light rays are on the high vibrating scale and will keep your Cham up at night.

 

[Andrew1283]

Blue light rays are on the high vibrating scale and will keep your Cham up at night.

Can you send me any credible scientific or medical research on that?

The night light is on from 8-10 PM. It’s not on all night. In the AM the lights turn on very dim to start and then slowly brighten for a sunrise effect.

 

[JacksJill]

"Chameleons have a photoreceptive scale (parietal eye) on their head that senses light so even the blue and red bulbs disrupt sleep." This is taken from the care section here. You can look up information on the parietal eye to learn more detailed information on how it works. We have seen this repeatedly here, people who use any lights at night will ask us why their chameleon is sleeping during the day and after a husbandry review it will come down to them using some kind of lights at night. Chameleons need 12 hours of full dark for sleeping or they begin to show effects and decline. If it continues too long it affects their health and some will stop eating and die. By all means use your lights to snap pics but I would not recommend them beyond that.

 

[Andrew1283]

Blue light rays are on the high vibrating scale and will keep your Cham up at night.

OK so I found three articles related to moonlight and blue light.

WARNING! THIS IS VERY COOL INFO.

#1 is a video which details how moonlight is actually 4000K (yellow) but our eyes perceive it to be bluish due to our low light photoreceptors.

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/why-color-grade-moonlight-blue/

#2 is an article from the CDC warning about the negative effect of blue light on circadian rhythms during, “the sensitive period”. The article also states red light has no effect during this critical period and yellow has little effect.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/emres/longhourstraining/color.html#:~:text=Blue light has the strongest,including boosting alertness and mood.

#3 - Moonlight is about .1 lux (full moon) during summer. See the article below from Oxford regarding the lux rating of moonlight.

https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/58/1/1.31/2938119

Conclusion - If one is to use moonlight in an enclosure, it’s best to use a 4000 kelvin light temperature at .1 lux to mimic nature. The lux of a single led light could very well exceed the .1 lux measurement. If we can’t achieve .1 lux at 4,000K in a chameleon enclosure, it may be better to go with no night light at all.

 

[Andrew1283]

"Chameleons have a photoreceptive scale (parietal eye) on their head that senses light so even the blue and red bulbs disrupt sleep." This is taken from the care section here. You can look up information on the parietal eye to learn more detailed information on how it works. We have seen this repeatedly here, people who use any lights at night will ask us why their chameleon is sleeping during the day and after a husbandry review it will come down to them using some kind of lights at night. Chameleons need 12 hours of full dark for sleeping or they begin to show effects and decline. If it continues too long it affects their health and some will stop eating and die. By all means use your lights to snap pics but I would not recommend them beyond that.

You beat me to it! Please see my other post researching light temperature and lux of moonlight.

 

[CCT Reptiles]

Blue light is harmful to chameleon eyes if recommend getting rid of the blue light

 

[kinyonga]

You might like to look at these threads…
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/red-light-blue-light-which-color-is-wrong-or-right.188070/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/colored-lights.180370/page-4

 

[Andrew1283]

You might like to look at these threads…
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/red-light-blue-light-which-color-is-wrong-or-right.188070/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/colored-lights.180370/page-4

Very cool and thank you for sharing!

Usually around 7PM he’s making his way to the front middle branch to settle in. By 8 the lights are out except the night light which stays on until 10 PM. I will try no night lights tonight and see if his sleep spot or behavior has changed.

This is why I love the forums. A judgement free zone of free flowing and evolving information . It’s all about the chams, not the keepers

 

[elizaann2]

Thanks! He’s a mess, like someone built a cham from spare chameleon parts in a junk drawer. More like a preschooler drew him with a box of crayons. Pink legs, white eyes, orange head, blue chin and belly, brown and green body. What the heck is going on here? But he’s a sweet baby and a brat.

I love it!