treeann
New Member
Chiquita’s UV bar recently burned out so we have replaced it and ever since she has been displaying stress colors and trying to escape her cage every day. I do not know what to do from here.
Let me start by saying we originally had the wrong light. I know now that was too strong for her. She had a T5 HO 10.0 UVB bar that has been on her cage since we got her in April. It burned out about a week and a half ago and we purchased a 5.0 to replace it with. Thankfully she does not seem to have any lasting damage. She has never been burned and her eyesight is great. But she has been very upset, I assume, with the lower level of UV. Nothing else in her care or routine has changed. Every day she has had dark stress spots all day and when I leave her cage open she leaves. She has been climbing up the sides and onto the ceiling which she did when we first got her and I know is a sign of unhappiness with her environment. We took her outside and colors returned to normal and stayed that way for a while after bringing her in, so the sun seemed to make her happy.
I’m wondering where we go from here. Is this just going to be a painful transition period until she gets used to the lower UV or should I try to find her something between 5.0 and 10.0? I’m not even sure if that exists. When we get close to her and feed her colors do calm down, so I’m 99% sure it is due to the lighting. Please help! I don’t want to see her upset like this and I want her to be safe and happy.
Attached pics are some angry Chiquita under her new light and some happy Chiquita elsewhere. Thank you so much.
Let me start by saying we originally had the wrong light. I know now that was too strong for her. She had a T5 HO 10.0 UVB bar that has been on her cage since we got her in April. It burned out about a week and a half ago and we purchased a 5.0 to replace it with. Thankfully she does not seem to have any lasting damage. She has never been burned and her eyesight is great. But she has been very upset, I assume, with the lower level of UV. Nothing else in her care or routine has changed. Every day she has had dark stress spots all day and when I leave her cage open she leaves. She has been climbing up the sides and onto the ceiling which she did when we first got her and I know is a sign of unhappiness with her environment. We took her outside and colors returned to normal and stayed that way for a while after bringing her in, so the sun seemed to make her happy.
I’m wondering where we go from here. Is this just going to be a painful transition period until she gets used to the lower UV or should I try to find her something between 5.0 and 10.0? I’m not even sure if that exists. When we get close to her and feed her colors do calm down, so I’m 99% sure it is due to the lighting. Please help! I don’t want to see her upset like this and I want her to be safe and happy.
Attached pics are some angry Chiquita under her new light and some happy Chiquita elsewhere. Thank you so much.
