lighting and heat

D

dannii

New Member
hey all ,new to here and just wondered if you can help me i have just brought a 100w basking light for my yemen as just found out the one we got her with is a normal bulb however i have replaced it with a exo terro sun glo 50 watt atm i here they need uvb lighting and a uv light as well but i am getting so confused i about what ones to get is it a 10.0 or a 5.0 sorry im all new to this you prob get asked all the time :S
 
Welcome to the forums and congrats on your veiled! I keep veileds along with panthers and a Parsonii. They are all an absolute pleasure to work with. You will need a UVB light for sure, the one recommended you can see in my blog for new keepers below. How old is your veiled? You may not need a basking light at all on a female. I have a special section and a link just for females in my blog. The second blog I'm attaching for you is about the laying bin and egg laying. Females can and very often do lay eggs without a male even being around so at 4 to 5 months she'll need to be provided with a laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
 
Welcome to the forums! Chameleons need UVB light specifically to make vitamin D in their skin whereas mammals can get it from their diet. Without vitamin D they cannot absorb any of the calcium they eat, so they can get metabolic bone disease even with good calcium supplementation. So they must have UVB to get calcium into their bones. The numbers on the UVB bulbs indicates the concentration of the UVB rays. So a 2.0 bulb is good for a species that lives on the forest floor where most of the light is blocked by the trees. 5.0 is for species that get quite a bit of sunlight normally. 10.0 is for desert species that are in the sun all the time. We generally use 5.0 bulbs on chameleons since they fall in the middle as basking tree dwellers. You only need one but it is important to remember to get a new UVB bulb at least every 6 months because the bulbs stop emitting UVB rays even though they will still turn on and look normal.

A basking light may be needed because UVB bulbs give off very little heat and as reptiles chameleons can't make their own body heat. They need to be able to bask for proper digestion and health. Too hot though and they can get burned. And in addition to having a warm place to bask they also need a cooler place since they don't sweat or pant to get rid of excess heat. Reptiles are completely dependent on their environment to keep their body temperature right so a gradient is essential to allow them to thermoregulate. In females specifically having it too warm can trigger egg production so we try to keep the girls basking temps a little lower than the males for that reason. Jann's blogs have excellent info for that!
 
hello thank you for replying to me im not sure hjow old she is but at the minute i am trying to nurse her back to health she is very underweight and has no enery at all hence why i asked about uvb and heat ect. as she didnt have any of this were we got her from at the moment she is wrapped up in a blanket on a hot water bottle im not sure iif she is gunna live but i can only try i have brought a 100watt basking lght of the internet today as her tank isnt very hot as i said she only had a normal bulb and i have replaced it with a 50watt sun glo atm would you say a 100watt is to high so sorry bout all the questions just really wanna help her
 
dannii said:
hello thank you for replying to me im not sure hjow old she is but at the minute i am trying to nurse her back to health she is very underweight and has no enery at all hence why i asked about uvb and heat ect. as she didnt have any of this were we got her from at the moment she is wrapped up in a blanket on a hot water bottle im not sure iif she is gunna live but i can only try i have brought a 100watt basking lght of the internet today as her tank isnt very hot as i said she only had a normal bulb and i have replaced it with a 50watt sun glo atm would you say a 100watt is to high so sorry bout all the questions just really wanna help her
Click to expand...

I don't even use a 100 watt on my adult male veiled. If you feel you need a basking light use a regular household bulb, try a 25 watt or 40 watt to keep her basking temps in the low 80's. How are you measuring the temps? You want to be careful not to cook her. Is she in glass or screen? If she's adult she could have eggs. Can you post a picture? I hope she makes it. Fingers cross.
 
she is in a glass viv at the mo but i am going to change the front to a mesh one i will get a pic of her for you i only brought a 100 watt bulb as thats what i read but i will get a 40watt one i have not got a gauge for temp yet but am gettng one the 100 watt bulb is not arrived yet so she isnt cooking :D
 
dannii said:
http://s1094.photobucket.com/albums/i442/dannii20111/
Click to expand...

I hope you don't mind but I'm posting the picture for you. Is her tongue always out?

Photo0189.jpg
 
no i dont mind at all i didnt know how to do it:D
well yesterday she was asleep all day even when you held her she feel asleep she has been awake more today her tongue doesnt usually stick out it only been doing it today
 
i would reccomend a vet immediatly, your cham is obviously dying, or very close to death..from the pic, i see an absolutley sick cham that needs a vet asap!!! make an appointment today!!
 
i will get some pictures of her but i will have to do it later my OH has just taken her to reptile shop to she s they have anythng but i will defo pos some of her when he gets back
 
found out what is the matter with her see is in desperate need of uvb we have brought a 10.0 hopefully she will be ok but i wiill get a 5.0 when she gets better
 
dannii said:
found out what is the matter with her see is in desperate need of uvb we have brought a 10.0 hopefully she will be ok but i wiill get a 5.0 when she gets better
Click to expand...

If shes gone a long timg without uvb, she may have developed metabolic bone disease.
we need pics to determine that
 
Oh poor girlie, she has metabolic bone disease. You can tell by the curves and malformations in her bones. At this point diligent calcium supplementation (with the aid and guidance of an experienced reptile vet), varied, high-nutritional diet, and lots of natural sunshine are the best things you can do to get her to survive (the MBD will never be reversed but it can be halted).

Please try to find a reptile vet around you soon.
 
oh wow..that poor thing looks awful. i hope you have the time and money to put into her to make her healthy again. not to sound like a broken record but ...a vet visit is in order. let us know what the vet says. good luck
 
i have all the time in the world to make her right and money isnt an issue if it makes her better my friend s gettng back to me on the reptile vet see goes to we dont have much sunshine were i am apart from the last few weeks btw this is nothing i have done this is how i got her
 
She looks really dehydrated as well. How often are you misting? She needs to see a vet ASAP in order to survive. Don't worry about it being sunny, if it is a comfortable temp outside, you still get uvb rays through cloud cover.

Hey don't worry about what people think, you are looking out for this little Cham now and that's all that matters. :)
 
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