uv lights

[sandy mackie]

hi there
can somebody please tell me if its ok to have the uv light outside my vivarium shinning in
.ive just been told that the light has to be inside the viv beceause the uv wont penetrate through the wire mesh if its sat on top. thanks

 

[pssh]

That's fine as long as it's not going through glass or plastic.

 

[OOOst16]

yeah. pssh is right...if its a heavy heavy mesh the uv wont be as strong to penitrate. i wouldnt sugest putting it inside...but make sure the mesh isnt to dense so the rays cant go through. no glass plastic...ect

 

[sandy mackie]

strip lights or coil bulbs ?thanks

 

[DJ Richey Rich]

coil is very bad for there eyes strip is the best either a 5.0 uvb or 10.0 uvb

 

[joopasaur]

agreed the coil bulbs can blind them.

 

[pssh]

Not all coil bulbs blind them/cause burns. Some can and do, but some are safe. The reason why I recommend a linear tube is because when you use a coil the chameleon isn't benfiting from it as much. With a linear tube the whole top of the cage (or most of it) has UVB rays. When you use a coil bulb only a small part of the top has effective UVB.

I recommend a reptisun 5.0 tube.

 

[sandrachameleon]

hi there
can somebody please tell me if its ok to have the uv light outside my vivarium shinning in
.ive just been told that the light has to be inside the viv beceause the uv wont penetrate through the wire mesh if its sat on top. thanks

Mounting outside the cage is normal. Mesh does block some UVB. If you are using a dense mesh screen, you will want to use a more powerful UVB light.

 

[DJ Richey Rich]

on wire it will block a little amount of uv but not enough to matter but thats my opinion? So I agree with SandraChameleon