Placement of Outside Enclosures

[BocaJan]

I am planning to move my crew outside in about a month and have a question regarding placement of the cages. The Florida sun can get pretty intense and way too hot even with lots of plants inside the cage. If I put the cages in permanent shade from my patio roof will they still get UV? It seems like my patio is an all or nothing deal as far as the sun goes. I have no trees or shrubs around it, only a roof.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...If I put the cages in permanent shade from my patio roof will they still get UV?...

Howdy Naomi,

They will still get some UVA and UVB so long as the shaded sunlight doesn't have to pass through glass etc. As to how much, I'll have to go out in the noon-day sun and check again. It's been a while since I played with that measurement. A clear summer day will get you a reading like 300uW/cm2 in direct sunlight while the winter months will be down in the ~100 area. I vaguely remember that a totally shaded area will get you something like 30uW/cm2 (was that winter or summer?) If you relate that to the Reptisun 5.0 output of about 30uW/cm2 at a reasonable basking distance then one could assume that your shaded area would suffice. I'll try to make a few relative measurements later today and see what's what . Someone in your "latitude" could make a more relevant measurement though .

I just remembered that we (note the Manhattan Beach numbers along with Florida's ) made many of the measurements that I just talked about and the results are graphed and posted here: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/uvinnature.htm Figure 4 just happens to be non-shaded sunlight taken around ~Dec. 21st in 2005 (Winter Solstice). There is also discussion a bit later down the page about shaded areas and UVB. I'll still take a couple of readings around noon today just for fun .

 

[summoner12]

Good luck!

I am planning to move my crew outside in about a month and have a question regarding placement of the cages. The Florida sun can get pretty intense and way too hot even with lots of plants inside the cage. If I put the cages in permanent shade from my patio roof will they still get UV? It seems like my patio is an all or nothing deal as far as the sun goes. I have no trees or shrubs around it, only a roof.

They will need direct sunlight for at least a couple of hours. I would see if a local keeper has a UVB meter you can barrow and take some readings. Morning sunlight is best. If you can get them some sun from say 9-12am your giving them the best light of the day.

Edit: haha Dave I was gonna PM you to jump on this! I knew you had some input!

 

[Julirs]

I have my Oustalets and Evil on the lanai-they do not get direct sunlight and have UVB over them all of the time. I am scared to death to put them truly fulltime outside of the lanai where they would live and get direct sun/shade due to predators and things like ants, but people here do it all the time. So I simply rotate them to the pool deck and bring them back in. The babies are out on the pool deck sunning as I type this, but I check on them constantly!

 

[summoner12]

I have my Oustalets and Evil on the lanai-they do not get direct sunlight and have UVB over them all of the time. I am scared to death to put them truly fulltime outside of the lanai where they would live and get direct sun/shade due to predators and things like ants, but people here do it all the time. So I simply rotate them to the pool deck and bring them back in. The babies are out on the pool deck sunning as I type this, but I check on them constantly!

You bring up a good point! Aren't there a lot of things in FL that want to eat chams? I mean that would be a concern with anywhere... but you guys have man eating crocks!

 

[BocaJan]

That is a great website Dave. I really appreciate the information from you, Julie and Summoner12. I will keep track of the sunshine on my patio over the next month (January) and see where the light falls at maybe 9am 12pm 3pm and see what I can see. Until Feb I will probably keep them inside unless they go outside every once in awhile in a temporary cage.

 

[opihiman]

My chams stay outside all the time, out of direct sunlight most of the time. When it is shady where they are the UVB stays pretty high, 40 to 50s ( solar meter) on the really sunny days it is evey higher.

aren't the UVB waves reflectable?

OPI

 

[BocaJan]

I am more concerned with cooking them, even with the plants in the cage.

 

[opihiman]

that was one of the problems that I had too,

I added a misting cycle for each hour of the hottest parts of the day (Here it's about 12 to 3).

the Vivs stay in the high 80's or cooler.

OPI

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

I just took a few measurement here at about 12:30pm.

Direct full sun access = 115uW/cm2
Full shade but with full visibility to open vertical blue sky = 40uW/cm2
Covered shaded area (no access to vertical blue sky) = 15uW/cm2