Physical set up for lighting

[Amadeus_peasant]

This sounds stupid but how do you guys have your lighting set up?
I have my linear uvb resting on unoccupied plant pots (they’re short and square) to get the distance needed and have the basking bulb being held up with a clamp light also attached to the planter.
It’s not the sturdiest set up because if I accidentally bump a wire, the lamps gets moved.
I’m just trying to figure out how to set up the light fixtures without getting annoyed every time I need to move something.
I’m using a 2x2x4 zen habitat enclosure which it resting on top of an IKEA MELLTORP TABLE (30 inches tall). A lot of the lamp stands I’ve seen aren’t going to be tall enough to go from the floor to the top of the enclosure and idk how flat the plate stand is - like would I be able to slide it under the enclosure or is it going to be too thick?

 

[Andrew1283]

Can you send a picture of your current set up?

 

[Steve A]

This sounds stupid but how do you guys have your lighting set up?
I have my linear uvb resting on unoccupied plant pots (they’re short and square) to get the distance needed and have the basking bulb being held up with a clamp light also attached to the planter.
It’s not the sturdiest set up because if I accidentally bump a wire, the lamps gets moved.
I’m just trying to figure out how to set up the light fixtures without getting annoyed every time I need to move something.
I’m using a 2x2x4 zen habitat enclosure which it resting on top of an IKEA MELLTORP TABLE (30 inches tall). A lot of the lamp stands I’ve seen aren’t going to be tall enough to go from the floor to the top of the enclosure and idk how flat the plate stand is - like would I be able to slide it under the enclosure or is it going to be too thick?

When I get home I will take some good pics of how my lighting is set up. I have pics on me but not quite showing exactly how my lights are.

From what I can tell you I have 3 lights. Arcadia T5 HO fixture (with 6% UVB bulb), Vivarium Electronics T5 HO Fixture (plant bulb), and the basking light, and the Reptizoo heating lamp fixture, with fixed temp control.

I specifically keep my basking light, I want to say about 4" above the top screen. I'll have to check that when I get home. My UVB and plant light (both linear) sit on top DIRECTLY on the mesh. However, I also custom built my enclosure (36" in length), and I put a support bar in the middle of the enclosure so that the lights can easily just rest on top. My basking light is clamped onto the bakers rack that my enclosure sits in, and zip tied to the distance I want it to be at.

**Here is what my setup looks like, when I get home I'll take an overhead view of my setup. When I originally posted this I was on my pc and the pic was on my phone. I didnt realize I took a pic of my lights lol

 

[Andrew1283]

If you have a Zen Habitat why don’t you just put the heat lamp, grow lamp, and UVB fixture directly on the top screen? Then set your basking branch to the proper height to get a good basking temp. I adjust the branch and the lamp wattage to get good basking temps, not the height of the fixture.

 

[Isadore meadows]

When I get home I will take some good pics of how my lighting is set up. I have pics on me but not quite showing exactly how my lights are.

From what I can tell you I have 3 lights. Arcadia T5 HO fixture (with 6% UVB bulb), Vivarium Electronics T5 HO Fixture (plant bulb), and the basking light, and the Reptizoo heating lamp fixture, with fixed temp control.

I specifically keep my basking light, I want to say about 4" above the top screen. I'll have to check that when I get home. My UVB and plant light (both linear) sit on top DIRECTLY on the mesh. However, I also custom built my enclosure (36" in length), and I put a support bar in the middle of the enclosure so that the lights can easily just rest on top. My basking light is clamped onto the bakers rack that my enclosure sits in, and zip tied to the distance I want it to be at.

**Here is what my setup looks like, when I get home I'll take an overhead view of my setup. When I originally posted this I was on my pc and the pic was on my phone. I didnt realize I took a pic of my lights lol

View attachment 347597

I think it should be taller but im no expert. Nice eclosure though

 

[Steve A]

I think it should be taller but im no expert. Nice eclosure though

Thank you! If you are talking about the 36" that's the length. My enclosure is 36"Lx24"Wx48"H. I actually wanted to go bigger....but it was hard to find the space in my house lol

 

[BryanP]

I have a zen "style" cage I DIY'd and I have my lamps just sitting on top.

If you have a 3d printer or access to one I'm sure you could print a solution instead of the pots.

 

[Steve A]

I did the best I could witn these pics lol hope they help.

 

[Amadeus_peasant]

I posted my set up in the past and had people get really upset that I had the lights resting on the top of the enclosure since ~it’s too close and he’d never get that kind of exposure in the wild~
So I added the pots to lift it up
The zen habitat enclosure I got FROM THE COMPANY was highkey damaged and they refused to send me a replacement. It’s still fully functional but has dents in the post and I wasn’t sure about how much weight would mess with the top if there was an issue with that I haven’t noticed

 

[Steve A]

I posted my set up in the past and had people get really upset that I had the lights resting on the top of the enclosure since ~it’s too close and he’d never get that kind of exposure in the wild~
So I added the pots to lift it up
The zen habitat enclosure I got FROM THE COMPANY was highkey damaged and they refused to send me a replacement. It’s still fully functional but has dents in the post and I wasn’t sure about how much weight would mess with the top if there was an issue with that I haven’t noticed

That's likely not good advice, but it depends on the setup.

If you're using 12% UVB bulbs, then yeah unless you have a really really tall enclosure, you should likely have it raised. You can check on chameleonacademy.com for those recommendations. But with 6% bulb which most use for panthers specifically (Not sure which type of chameleon you have and that is important!) resting the UVB and plant light is definitely okay. You want your branches at appropriate heights of course as well, depending on yourself.


Spike is doing excellent with uvb + plant light directly on the mesh, with his basking light about 4" or so raised.