UVB horizontal, but is vertical ok?

[DarkRapture]

i am curious to know if anyone has their UVB lights (i have reptisun 5.0) vertical. i have 2 lizards that require uv lights (veiled cham and beardie) so i have the option to have a 48" tube vertically or my 24" tube horizontally. i presently have the 24" for my cham. i am wondering if it poses any health problems to put the 48" vertically on the outside his aluminum screen cage (30"W X 26"D X 60"H).

the only reason i would want to do this is to provide further light to the rest of the enclosure, and to ensure he has exposure. the cage is quite full of plants, so i had bought an additional 65W plant light for brightness and to aide in the plants growth... the only other light is an infrared 75W basking bulb.

i would assume that he could have problems with his eyes with it shining in his face all the time, so i might just go out and get another UVB tube and fixture for the top.

what do you guys think?

 

[DarkRapture]

i think that i read in a post somewhere that someone was using dual lights vertically, one was the UV light and the other was a regular florescent tube. i still think that i will keep the horizontal setup for now, but it might be nice to have so much light

 

[Nicodemayo]

Florescent bulbs dont give off alot of distance in lighting so i would reccomend getting a basking spot light. I use 100w ones on both my veiled and panther chams. When placed 10 inches or so away it creates a perfect 95 degree basking spot and the light will penetrate through even the thickest schefflera. I only use 2 lights in my cham enclosures, the repti sun and the baskin bulb that gives off the heat and light. I was using infrared lights for heat but the basking bulb gives off plenty of heat and light so i dont even use the infrared ones anymore cause it doesn't drop below 75 in my apt. As for the 42" i wouldnt recommend putting it vertically. Remember the whole idea of adding foliage and hight to you enclosure is to simulate a tree with the canopy being the brightest and warmest and the base being the coolest and darkest. You cham will regulate its light/heat exposure. If you put you basking bulb next to your uvb on the top, uvb exposure wont be a problem because he'll have to go near the uvb to get warm from the basking bulb. If he has access to ubv even at the bottom he wont be as warm as he should be to properly digest food and such. Just my thoughts on the subject.

 

[Justin Carl]

Yea, you dont need a light to be mounted verticaly on the side of your cage.
Chameleons can see UV light, so they know where it is coming from.
I UVB light is plenty. I agree that all you need is a basking bulb and UV bulb.
Try to keep it as natural as possible. Light for the top is what i mean.

 

[DarkRapture]

the plant spot light does emit a lot of light, and i have both that and the basking bulb at the top. his basking spot is near the uvb light (which is about 8" from the tube) and its 95.2F. the ambient temp on the upper half is 76F and the lower half 72F. so i suppose that everything is A- OK the way it is
thanx guys for the feedback!

 

[amalthea23]

Has anyone here heard of eye problems being caused by vertical UVB light mounting? I've been told on a Facebook group that its actually dangerous, but I can't imagine how that would be so?

 

[Carlton]

Has anyone here heard of eye problems being caused by vertical UVB light mounting? I've been told on a Facebook group that its actually dangerous, but I can't imagine how that would be so?

I wouldn't use a fresh UVB fluorescent vertically as it may be a constant irritation to a cham's eyes (they will be staring at the bulb a lot more than if it was on top of the cage). Whether it is dangerous or not is a question. If you are using the correct type of UV bulb probably not. There were problems with some of the cfl bulbs when they were first developed, but this isn't true now.

When I want to add general light to more of my large cages I just use a single regular house fluorescent, just not a high output type.

 

[Olimpia]

I wouldn't use a fresh UVB fluorescent vertically as it may be a constant irritation to a cham's eyes (they will be staring at the bulb a lot more than if it was on top of the cage). Whether it is dangerous or not is a question.

Highly irritating, I would think! I'm with Carlton. Think of how horrible it is to drive for long periods with the sun hitting your eye from the side. That's a big strain on your eye. Imagine that all day long, every day.