Unusual basking?

[DeviousMike]

Both my chameleons just had a hearty breakfast of crickets and I know that after eating they bask to help digestion. Well the odd thing is that both have climbed up on to the ceilings of their respective cages and are right under the 60w light bulb. It's still cool in my house, about 69 degrees F as it is only 8AM.

Is this a bad or harmful behavior? I don't want them to get burned being literally 1 inch from the bulbs.

 

[Jamelon]

Id remove the light for now, you definetly dont want them to burn themselves. just keep an eye on them so that they dont go back and do the same thing, my little girl got close, so i moved the light a bit and it freaked her out haha so she has never done it since however she does sometimes hang upside down under the UVB tube though which is ok.

 

[DeviousMike]

I tried to take a pic of the panther doing it and he's camera shy so he dropped onto the top of the foilage and then started to run and dropped himself to the cage floor...He's too weird! The veiled is still just hanging out and I'm about to turn off the light as we speak. This is disturbing because on weekdays when I'm at work, this may be a normal practice for them...

You can't really tell from the pic but he was flared up, almost whitish in fact and you could see his reds coming through.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Both my chameleons just had a hearty breakfast of crickets and I know that after eating they bask to help digestion. Well the odd thing is that both have climbed up on to the ceilings of their respective cages and are right under the 60w light bulb. It's still cool in my house, about 69 degrees F as it is only 8AM.

Is this a bad or harmful behavior? I don't want them to get burned being literally 1 inch from the bulbs.

Chameleons and other reptiles have to be warm to digest their food properly. They're probably just following their instincts to get warm since they just ate. Just put the light a little higher if you're concerned but a 60w bulb shouldn't be a huge risk to burn them. Just keep an eye on them.

 

[DeviousMike]

Chameleons and other reptiles have to be warm to digest their food properly. They're probably just following their instincts to get warm since they just ate. Just put the light a little higher if you're concerned but a 60w bulb shouldn't be a huge risk to burn them. Just keep an eye on them.

In my panther's cage, its a good 8 inches away from the highest branch so I believe I need to make some adjustments so that he would not have to climb to the ceiling to warm up. This might not work though because he's just all about climbing on the screens.

My veiled cham's cage is quite smaller (baby cage) so the highest branch is just a couple of inches from the top where the basking light sits. I'm hesitant to move the lights further away since it may not sufficiently keep the ambient temperature in the 75-80 range.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I agree, I can't see all of your cage but it looks like there aren't a whole lot of branches under his basking light, which is probably why he's crawling on the screen. I'd try putting some branches closer to help him get warm enough at a further distance. I'd also put some leaves and stuff up there so he doesn't have to stand on a branch with no cover because being that little he knows he's supposed to hide. So he might not use it still if he doesn't feel protected. That may apply to his whole cage if he doesn't feel safe anywhere but on the screen.

If you're worried about the temp getting lower if you move the little one's light then it probably isn't strong enough to cause a severe burn. The 60w bulbs tend to be pretty safe as long as they're not right on top of it. Just keep an eye on him!

 

[DeviousMike]

I agree, I can't see all of your cage but it looks like there aren't a whole lot of branches under his basking light, which is probably why he's crawling on the screen. I'd try putting some branches closer to help him get warm enough at a further distance. I'd also put some leaves and stuff up there so he doesn't have to stand on a branch with no cover because being that little he knows he's supposed to hide. So he might not use it still if he doesn't feel protected. That may apply to his whole cage if he doesn't feel safe anywhere but on the screen.

If you're worried about the temp getting lower if you move the little one's light then it probably isn't strong enough to cause a severe burn. The 60w bulbs tend to be pretty safe as long as they're not right on top of it. Just keep an eye on him!

I'm actually going to the store today to pick up some dowels and perhaps some fake viney things from the craft store. I will post a pic of the 2 enclosures I'm using. Disregard any coil lights you see as they have been replaced with linear UVB. They've changed a bit more as there are more branches and places to climb but the general setup is about the same.

Panther's 3 foot cage

Veiled's 20 inch baby cage

 

[kinyonga]

My only concern would be that they could get burned. I would not remove or tun off the light since your saying the temperature in your house is that cool...but I would put my hand where the chameleon is hanging and make sure that I could keep my hand there without the light burning it...which would mean it shouldn't burn the chameleon either.

 

[Ace]

for the veiled cage are u using a compact uvb bulb or a linear tube 5.0 bulb?..i cant tell..and it looks like you have two heat bulbs???

 

[kinyonga]

Ace...in post #7 DeviousMike said..."Disregard any coil lights you see as they have been replaced with linear UVB".

 

[Ace]

Ace...in post #7 DeviousMike said..."Disregard any coil lights you see as they have been replaced with linear UVB".

oh..thx u Kinyonga....i read the entire post, but i guess i missed that....never mind

 

[kinyonga]

It happens to us all sooner or later Ace!

 

[DeviousMike]

My only concern would be that they could get burned. I would not remove or tun off the light since your saying the temperature in your house is that cool...but I would put my hand where the chameleon is hanging and make sure that I could keep my hand there without the light burning it...which would mean it shouldn't burn the chameleon either.

I do not feel discomfort when I do put my hand under the bulb. Not sure if my hand is as sensitive as a chameleon's skin, so that is why I was concerned.

 

[kinyonga]

As long as it was the top of your hand I would think it should be okay....unless you're one of these people who feel no/little pain!

 

[DeviousMike]

As long as it was the top of your hand I would think it should be okay....unless you're one of these people who feel no/little pain!

Yeah kinda LOL! I figure if I can unscrew the bulb after its been on for a long time, it can't be -that- hot.

 

[mpbm31]

I know what you mean! What I did was up the bulb wattage from 60 to 75 since it's a lot cooler outside. Make sure the lamp isn't too close to the basking area. Try to give them as much sun as posible. Sometimes they just like climbing around!