Lighting Schedule Question

[timber64]

I have the following 3 lights on my enclosure:
- Basking: Fluker's clamp lamp 150 watt w/ 75 Exo Terra bulb
- UVB: Arcadia ProT UVB 12%
- Plant/LED: Arcadia Jungle Dawn 22.5" 34 watt

The basking light is on for part of the day (first to turn off towards the end of the day), but with both the UVB and LED on, there is enough output to light an airport!! I follow a basic 12-hour lighting schedule with the LED on for all 12 hours (8a-8p) and the UVB turning on an hour after the LED and off an hour before the LED.

My question is this.....does anyone stagger their UVB and Plant/LED lights differently so that it gets gradually dimmer before lights out at 8pm? I feel like as my VC is starting to get ready for bed around 7pm, the full-blasting LED is still too bright at that time. Was wondering if I could instead run the UVB for 12 hours with the LED only 10 (on an hour after and off an hour before UVB) - basically reversing the two in the schedule.

Since the UVB is not as intense, it would give more of an appearance of the sun going down, rather than bright as day all day long until finally 8pm when it just immediately switches to dark.

Thoughts?

 

[nightanole]

plant is on all day, even 2 T5HO isnt even to grow alot of plants.
basking is generally only on for an hour or 2 in the morning and maybe an hour towards the end of the afternoon, unless ambient is in the lower 60's

I will warn you about the 12%, make sure the cham can not get real close, i think the danger zone is anything closer than a foot. A lot of people just keep them 6-12" above the wire cage, so that the cham hang out zone has a UVI of 2-3. Once you get closer than 15" it starts creeping into UVI 4, and by the 12" mark its in the "above madagascar" range.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

The basking light is on for part of the day (first to turn off towards the end of the day), but with both the UVB and LED on, there is enough output to light an airport!! I follow a basic 12-hour lighting schedule with the LED on for all 12 hours (8a-8p) and the UVB turning on an hour after the LED and off an hour before the LED.

My question is this.....does anyone stagger their UVB and Plant/LED lights differently so that it gets gradually dimmer before lights out at 8pm?

My timing is very similar to yours.

Some people do use controllers with dimmers to try to simulate a more natural light cycle (at both ends), but I question whether an a reptile born in captivity is going to know the difference.

I have no idea what the chameleons may think of DST or if it matters. I don't bother with that; my timers are an hour off for part of the year, but nobody looks at them; the lights still go on & off at the same time from the cham's POV.

Based on posts here, most chameleons seem to bed down an hour early regardless of timers & dimmers.

 

[suprdude]

give more of an appearance of the sun going down

Seems like a lot of work. I wish someone would take that good of care for me!

 

[timber64]

Seems like a lot of work. I wish someone would take that good of care for me!

I use a geeni smart plug/power strip which you can easily program each plug individually, all from a smartphone app. So it's really just a matter of set it and forget it.