MVB vs Repti Sun

[arosstyler]

Hi Guys

New here but been I have had 2 chams over the past 7 years. Currently I have Tamatave Panther from Screameleons named Leon (after Leon Trotsky because he is red... get it... the Red Scare... haha) anyway. We have had Leon for 3 years. That's him from a year ago in my avatar. He has had a few ups and downs but is really healthy, eats well and such.

Leon has a 36" wide, 24" deep, 48" tall all screen enclosure from cages.net. He has a 3 year old pothos that wraps all over the cage and a ton of natural "wet habitat" vines from blackjungle.com.

I he has a mist king system with two nozzles. An aquarium water heater in the resivoir an a fancy cycle timer set for 1min 30 secs of mist every 3 hours.

Here is the reason for the post (besides just saying hi)

We have tried all diff types of overhead lighting. For the last year and a half we have used a externally ballasted MVB from reptileuv.com. But have had spells of hunger strikes and other issues. Before that we had used a power sun but the heat was too intense. I just tossed in a 36" Reptisun 5.0 but... is that OK for the 48" heigh of his cage? The basking spot is 4" from the bulb surface.

Oh and I have read all the results on the UK uv guide site (forgot the address). So it should be fine right? Also the light output of the Reptisun is very very dim. THere are overhead lights in the room his cage is in but the spot of the basking bulb seems too intense.

How many of you use a ReptiSun in a big cage like Leons?? How many use HeatEmitters for basking and How many use Basking bulbs??

Thanks a bunch
Ross

 

[PardalisGirl]

Lighting for big cages.........

Welcome to the group........I lOVE LEON!!!!!! He is beautiful. For a big cage like that and a fully grown panther I use two Reptisun 10.0 lights. The 10.0 lights go down to 20". The 5.0 lights only go down 12". I use 5.0 on smaller cages. I put two combo hood fixtures across the top of my cages. Each one holds one Reptisun light and a couple of screw in bulb fixtures. To make the cage even brighter I add a screw in house light bulb. It adds more light with not too much heat. In the winter I change that house light bulb and put in a heat basking bulb that generates more heat. This set up has worked well for me for several years. Hope this helps....Keep participating here....it's a great group of people

 

[arosstyler]

Catherine, thanks for the reply! OK question is how far from the 10.0 is the basking spot? I hear that if it is too close there is too much UVB for a cham is that right?

 

[PardalisGirl]

Reptisun lights..........

I got the 10.0 lights in hooded fixtures which hold the light about three inches above the cage. My climbing branches go all the way to the top of the cages (to hold them in place) and the plants go up to maybe three inches to four inches from the cage top. The chams usually end up sitting so their back is about five inches below the top of the cage. But they roam around a lot. They are not always sitting right under the bulb. If they sat constantly at the top I would suspect the rest of the cage was too cold. A healthy panther should spend time roaming around. Reptisun flourescents are very consistant in quality and performance. I have never had an overdose of UVB with them. They don't have "hot spots" in them. I hate the compact UVB screw in bulbs. The brands I tried did result in one "sunburn" from a "hot spot" in the bulb. I threw them all out after that. On a big cage like yours with a male that is going to roam around you will be fine with a 10.0. The male won't stay at the very top 100% of the time and the 10.0 will allow the UVB to penetrate further down into that big cage. I use 5.0 lights on baby cages and small juvie cages. My heating/basking source is changed several times a year depending on my interior room temperatures. Some rooms are colder or warmer in my house. I like the combo hoods because I can put several things in each hood like one house lighting bulb to make things brighter and one heat bulb for heat. Everything in the hood has a seperate switch so I can put some on a timer and some on 24/7. Hope this clarifies things for you

 

[arosstyler]

Yep all helpful stuff. One last question is... combo hood as in Zoomed Slider so that the incandesent (spelled that wrong I think haha) are pointing down. Or combo hood like Fluker's were they regular incand bulbs are on their side?

Thanks again!

 

[chameloman72]

I have had nothing but bad luck with MVB!!!

 

[PardalisGirl]

Combo Hoods

I buy ESU combo hoods from Big Apple Herp. They come in all the lengths that I need. I have two ZooMed Slider Hoods on the big side by side cage I have for my two iguanas. They are big and heavy and stable. There is a lot of space wasted in them. They are much wider than they need to be. I have a bunch of other ones in my closet that I don't use. They are very heavy and hard to change bulbs in. And a LOT more expensive. They are good for the iguana cages but not the cham cages. The ESU combo hoods are lighter and easier to manage when I change bulbs. I can fit two hoods on each big cage so I have two flourescents and other light and heat options for each cage. The screw in bulbs go in sideways which works fine for the things I put in there.

 

[arosstyler]

cahmelonman72 thanks for the tag. What are you using instead of MVB then?

 

[arosstyler]

OK Catherine I lied. Another question ahha. Do those ESU combo hoods have switches for each bulb or is it all 3 on or nothing? I am going to order one but I may only use 2 of the three sockets. i would like to not have the 3rd socket "live" if there is no bulb in it.

Thanks
Ross

 

[PardalisGirl]

Esu Hoods

Each light has its own switch and power cord. Thats why I love them. I put the light switches/cords on a timer and the heat ones stay on all the time. I leave some sockets empty too and don't have those plugged in at all.

 

[summoner12]

Can we see some pictures?