Lighting question

camimom

New Member
Male 7 week old male veiled.
Cage- screen 2x1x2
Plants- 2 small schefflera, tallest branch is about 3 inches from top of screen.
Basking temp- between 80 and 85 degm depending on how warm it is in my house

I have two lamps, one is a reptiglo 10.0 uvb and the other is his basking light ( i dont remember brand or wattage, but its waht the store gave me) both lights are about 6-8 inches from the top of the screen.

my question- how close should these lights be to him?
SHould i set both on the top of the cage, or keep them suspended the way i have them now?
If yes to being suspended, how do you guys hang them?

Thanks!
 
chameleon

I do not know how u would suspend them but the basking area should be between 6-8in from the light.
 
Never use a 10.0 bulb NEVER only a 5.0
I know some people do, as there are varying caging situations (i.e. Larger, denser screening material, etc.) so never say never, lol. But the standard trusted most successful UVB bulbs are the long tubular ReptiSun brand 5.0's.
 
As far as positioning, I think the point is that the effectiveness range if the standard 5.0 UVB bulbs is generally about 12 inches max I believe, so you want to position sitting spots which can take advantage of that, so they have an opportunity to self regulate their UVB exposure. Sitting spots so they can get some UVB with heat, without heat, no UVB, etc.
As for the basking spot positioning, you want to have the position reaching a desired max temperature, low enough so that he's not touching the top screen (and burning himself) but you also don't want the temp on the screen to be able to burn him if he does crawl on it, so we don't go with a crazy strong bulb and say if he sits a foot down it will be 85 and perfect, of course. Basically you want that gradient to be maxing out around your basking spot temp, but keep it low enough so he's not scraping his back or anything, I guess.
So it's often easier to rearrange sitting spots (vines etc) inside the cage, rather than rearranging hanging lamps. But it seems especially young ones will crawl on screen, so you have to make sure the basking lamp closest screen spot isn't too hot, so either change bulb strength down or raise basking lamp up.
I'm not the best at explaining things, sorry, but not many were jumping in here with specifics, and you still seemed a little confused so I thought I'd try.
 
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As far as positioning, I think the point is that the effectiveness range if the standard 5.0 UVB bulbs is generally about 12 inches max I believe, so you want to position sitting spots which can take advantage of that, so they have an opportunity to self regulate their UVB exposure. Sitting spots so they can get some UVB with heat, without heat, no UVB, etc.
As for the basking spot positioning, you want to have the position reaching a desired max temperature, low enough so that he's not touching the top screen (and burning himself) but you also don't want the temp on the screen to be able to burn him if he does crawl on it, so we don't go with a crazy strong bulb and say if he sits a foot down it will be 85 and perfect, of course. Basically you want that gradient to be maxing out around your basking spot temp, but keep it low enough so he's not scraping his back or anything, I guess.
So it's often easier to rearrange sitting spots (vines etc) inside the cage, rather than rearranging hanging lamps. But it seems especially young ones will crawl on screen, so you have to make sure the basking lamp closest screen spot isn't too hot, so either change bulb strength down or raise basking lamp up.
I'm not the best at explaining things, sorry, but not many were jumping in here with specifics, and you still seemed a little confused so I thought I'd try.

Thank you! finally, better some help then none at all. I have the lights hanging about 6 inches from the top of the screen as he spends most of his day hanging from the ceiling. inside the cage I have two plants that are about 3 inches from the top of the cage, so at least he cant get burned. and he has lots of room to hide if he gets too warm.
What I was wondering is how exactly do you all hang your lights? right now mine are attached to the lamp clamp which is attached to the bottom of a shelf. not very attractive.

P.S. the while the uvb bulb is apparently stronger than some people recommend, he cannot get more than 6-7 inches from it and it does not get very hot (above 86) where it is positioned. He also is not closing his eyes at all and seems to have no problems with it. I will keep a watch to see if anything starts to happen (this wont be out of the norm for me ;) )
 
I would check what your heat bulb is and post it for better advice. (if it's a petstore bulb they usually say in small writing near screw-in part)
Also, I would try to get an appropriate UVB bulb as soon as possible to replace that one, it's designed for desert species. Also repti-SUN is recommended above reptiGLO. If it's the appropriate bulb you can just place it directly on cage and get deeper penetration, but you do still want to give him the option to get away from it (go lower in plant or something)
Many people have their basking lamps just on screen also, but they have a weak enough bulb (most just use a household incandescent bulb for basking, some of them pretty low wattage, especially for babies.)
 
UVB light - they don't get that hot, no, but that's not the worry, there's other issues involved with using the wrong type of bulb. You've got a small cage and that has to increase the risk as he's bound to be exposed almost no matter where he goes, so I imagine it's even more important to have the correct bulb. If it's he correct bulb you don't have to worry and can worry about making sure he's exposed sufficiently (like you're supposed to) :)
 
One more thing, if his only perches are plants, maybe providing some horizontal vines with areas in the range of 6-8 inches from top of cage, he might feel more secure and crawl on screen a little less, then you could lower basking light.
 
One more thing, if his only perches are plants, maybe providing some horizontal vines with areas in the range of 6-8 inches from top of cage, he might feel more secure and crawl on screen a little less, then you could lower basking light.

plants arent his only spots. there are branches and sticks in there too
 
Okay, wasn't sure. :)
Are they skinny enough for his teensy feets?

Absolutely. he grips them perfectly, and since he so small right now, he can stil climb on the leaves of the schefflera thats in his cage too. my avatar pic is him. Kink.
 
Cool. He's a cutiepie. I love the baby pics, they're bug eyes always make them look like cartoons. Lol. :)
 
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