Murcury Vapor Bulb Wattage???

Kaianuanu

New Member
I my baby boy nosy be panther that is 3 months old. In a month or 2, he will be moving to the custom cage i built. The cage has a base of 3' x 2' and it is 4' tall. I was wondering what strength/wattage of mercury vapor bulb i should buy for it. I think they only come in 100w or 160w. There is a pic below of the cage(obviously).


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It all depends on the temperature your room is. However at start i'd suggest a 100w. In the worst case, you can add another regular bulb to higher the temperature.

I also suggest suspending your MVB several inches above your enclosure. You'll soon realize that your chameleon can get a pretty bad burn if it's too close, and some chameleon climb upside-down on the roof of their enclosure.

Finally, your cage definately need more horizontal vines. The more the better.
 
yeah, ive already gotten a ton more stuff in there including horizontal perches, my mom is on a cruise right now so i hav no camera. Thats an old pic. on that stand, i have the small Zilla screen cage he is in right now. i actually anchored a hook in the perfect spot in my roof to hang a 100w herp specific basking bulb to replace a 30w household bulb that was directly on the small cage before. And, yes, my little guy loves to hang upside-down sometimes but increasingly less nowa days. i also think i may want to just hang the MVB extra high above my cham's small cage now and dish the fluorescent UV tube. Also, can MVB's be dimmed? One of my lamps has a built in dimmer, so if they can be dimmed, it would be better to just get the 160w and dim it if necessary.
 
I've always been fine with 100W mercury vapor bulbs. Temps get into the mid-eighties at the highest basking point, a foot under the bulb or a little more. I second the recommendation to suspend the fixture (which it sounds like you're already planning on doing). I would consider a 160 too high for most chameleon arrangements.
 
in my room, w/ the cage on the stand, the most distance between the bottom of the lamp and the top of the cage i can get is 14". So, Even for my big 3' x 2' x 4' cage, 100w is enough wattage, if so, what brand should i go with, i can only get fluker's sun spot, zoo med powersun, or exo terra solar glo. Still not positive about the flukers though.
 
Wow, petsmart charger $80 for a powersun while lll reptile is only $40 for the same exact thing. Thats retarded. If the family owned store that i go to has MVB's at a gppd price, i will go w/ MVB, if not, i will get stuck w/ reptisun 5.0's.
 
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