Just got my Cham

[podenbeck]

I just got my male juvenile Sambava yesterday. He is eating and drinking. I have not come up with a name yet. But he has been exporing his enclosure with the upmost curiosity. I added some more cover on his horizontal branch to give some more places to hide from the powersun bulb as suggested. Thank you every one so much for your suggestions and imput. I found this site and others very informative. Because of all of you I have a happy cham. Pics will be added soon!

Patrick

 

[podenbeck]

Pics of Matisse

So I decided to name him Matisse after the post-impressionist painter. I did not want to agitate him anymore than what I already had- thats why the pic is out of focus.

 

[Jordan]

The set-up looks even better then the last pictures I saw. He looks good as well. How old is he? He looks big.

 

[podenbeck]

Matisse is about 5 months and is just over 5 inches snout to vent. Just starting to show his reds especially when feeding.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Patrick,

Generally, it looks like you have a nice setup. The PowerSun MV lamp produces both heat and UVB. The tricky part is to get the proper balance of basking temps while not over/under-doing the UVB and visa-versa. As you can see from the graphs and charts at: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/mercvapourfloods.htm#zoomedpowersun there are a few things to consider when using a PowerSun MV flood lamp. Distance is a major variable. PowerSun lamp-to-lamp characteristics seem to be a potential concern too. Now is the time that a Solarmeter 6.2 comes in handy ( http://www.beardeddragons.biz/solarmeter_6.2.htm has a pretty reasonable price for the 6.2 unit). I think the general consensus is that you are looking for 5-15uW/cm2 of properly spectral-banded UVB. The graphs seem to show that you could get that from a burned-in PowerSun at a distance of somewhere between 12" and 24" depending on the luck of the pick of a PowerSun lamp (due to the variability of manufacturing.) Now that you've picked a distance for UVB, what are the basking temps at that distance? You are probably looking for something around 85-90F or so... Are you able to get that combination of heat and UVB? If not then look into adding a basking lamp. Your critter will usually decide that it has had enough of basking or UVB or both. He may not be able to choose one or the other when he wants to when using a combined heat and UVB source. Just thought I'd give you something to ponder on a Sunday morning!

 

[podenbeck]

Yeah I was concerned about overduing the UV especially with a little guy with the powersun. I checked out that site before I got the cham- there is vital info on there if you are going to use the powersun bulb. The basking spot is right at 13 inches I had it lower but could not reach temp. The bulb is intense 1 inch is the difference between 5 degrees. It was a balancing act at first that is for sure. But I have it dialed in now the fake leafy vine was the key. A UV meter may be a worthy investment. Do you use powersun bulbs?

 

[Dave Weldon]

...Do you use powersun bulbs?

Howdy,
So far, I've relied on the 18" Reptisun 5.0 fluorescent tubes for the past couple of years for my three critters. I add 4-8 hours of outdoor, unfiltered (but with plenty of shade available) sunshine on the weekends when weather permits. The 5-15uW/cm2 number comes from Ferguson's panther book where he found health issues when the artificial uW's were significantly above those levels. UVB can be a tricky thing to work out. That's why many of us settled on the Reptisun 5.0 tubes and their history of success with chameleons. A PowerSun can be an effective UVB source if you really know the numbers for your lamp.