Lighting... what am I missing?

Arpretty

Avid Member
Hi all,

After recently losing my male veiled chameleon, I am hoping to dive back into the hobby and essentially start from scratch. I’ll save the background story unless you ask!

For his Zoo Med Reptibreeze screen enclosure, I had a heat lamp with a 60W bulb and 24” Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0 T5 HO UVB 24W linear bulb/fixture.

My thought is to very slowly build up a strong, high quality enclosure before bringing anyone home to live in it. I have yet to decide on a panther or veiled, and ideally I would like to bring in a juvenile to the adult cage from the start, if this wouldn’t pose an issue. I would get the Tall Hybrid Cage System from Dragon Strand.

Am I missing anything with lighting? Do I need to improve in some area? I really want to do it right and be solid with the fundamentals.
 
Depending on how high you put the 10.0 uvb away from the highest branch (which will probably have to be significant), it’ll probably way too high of an output. Sticking with a 5.0 or 6% uvb is usually always better. Once you set up the cage, use a digital thermometer and/or heat gun to measure the basking spot, then play around with the wattages to get the correct temperature. Filling out the ask for help form after you decide which species and before you actually get one will help make sure everything is perfect for your future new guy or girl!
 
Depending on how high you put the 10.0 uvb away from the highest branch (which will probably have to be significant), it’ll probably way too high of an output. Sticking with a 5.0 or 6% uvb is usually always better. Once you set up the cage, use a digital thermometer and/or heat gun to measure the basking spot, then play around with the wattages to get the correct temperature. Filling out the ask for help form after you decide which species and before you actually get one will help make sure everything is perfect for your future new guy or girl!

Thank you! Is one heat bulb and one UVB bulb sufficient for that size cage? No other lighting?
 
Thank you! Is one heat bulb and one UVB bulb sufficient for that size cage? No other lighting?
You’ll need supplemental lighting for live plants. Either an Arcadia Jungle Bar LED strip or something similar or a 6500K fluorescent blub.
 
You’ll need supplemental lighting for live plants. Either an Arcadia Jungle Bar LED strip or something similar or a 6500K fluorescent blub.

Thank you so much. I was wondering why I was having continual issues with my umbrella plants... do these lights go above the cage as well?
 
Back
Top Bottom