Panther Chameleon Lighting

[sarahlynne]

hi, I'm looking to get panther chameleons and I've read that 5.0 UV bulbs are good but when I've been looking online it'll say 26 watts etc.

what is the difference, and what would be best?
Also what other bulbs would i need?

 

[carol5208]

5.0's are perfect and you need a basking bulb. Just an old white ordinary housebulb will do. Wattage depending on your chameleon species, age, house temp etc.

 

[Hoj]

Most members use a linear flourescant type bulb witch the wattage is typically set by the length. The cfl uvb bulbs have different wattages but
Like i said most prefer the linear bulbs also a basking dome with a reg incondecant bulb of the correct wattage to achieve the desired basking site temp for heat.
5.0 is the typical standard. Check out site sponsor light your reptiles. Todd can set you up.

 

[sarahlynne]

Most members use a linear flourescant type bulb witch the wattage is typically set by the length. The cfl uvb bulbs have different wattages but
Like i said most prefer the linear bulbs also a basking dome with a reg incondecant bulb of the correct wattage to achieve the desired basking site temp for heat.
5.0 is the typical standard. Check out site sponsor light your reptiles. Todd can set you up.

thanks, is todd a person?

 

[Julija]

Hey there,

I am by no means an expert on lighting and I hope someone with more expertise will update this, but this much I can tell you:

2.0, 5.0, 10.0, etc. indicate the percentage of UVB light that the bulb emits. So for instance for a 5.0 bulb - 5% of it's emitted light is going to be UVB, the rest - regular visible daylight, which is a different wavelength than UVB.

Meanwhile 26W indicates how much power the light-bulb consumes, also the higher the wattage - the brighter the visible light.

From what I know it is generally advised to use 5.0 UVB for animals coming from jungle or rain forest, which would also include chameleons. Meanwhile 10.0 UVB is advised to be used with desert animals, like Bearded dragons. There is some controversy to that however, and some people choose to use 10.0 bulbs for chameleons as well. I use 5.0 for mine and so far it has worked out fine for me. I would say it depend on what size the enclosure is going to be, where you are going to position the light (e.g. how much of the enclosure it will cover and how far it is going to be from the animal) and what kind of bulb - spot or tube are you going to use. Also, you need to remember that UVB bulbs need to be replaced on average every 6 month, because their capacity diminishes over time, and sufficient UVB is very important for chameleons health.

Due to generally low wattage (13W or 26W) UVB bulbs don't emit much heat, so you will also need to install a regular house light bulb for heat/basking. Again, depending on the size of the enclosure and the distance from the basking spot, you might choose anywhere from 40W to 100W. You should have a thermometer to be able to measure both ambient temperatures in the enclosure and temperature in the basking spot in order to adjust the wattage of your regular bulb until you reach the desired temps for your type of chameleon.

I hope this makes it a bit more clear otherwise you are very welcome to ask questions

Julija

 

[bradley]

It sounds as if you are looking at the compact uv bulbs, you dont want them you want a tube bulb.

As you are in the Uk you wont be able to buy from Todd. I would use the arcadia T5HO bulbs. I personally use the 12% on mine but the 6% would be fine too for panthers.

No longer can we say that 5.0 is for rainforest or 10.0 is for desert aimals as even the 10.0 doesnt give off near the amount of uv that a rainforest would get. I use the 12% because it above mesh on a 4 feet high cage so this allows a good uv gradient down the cage. as long as the cage is well planted as it should be it is fine to give high percentage uv bulbs.