Couple of ??s

Rebecca · 05-16-05, 01:56 AM

I was wondering what lights are the best for chams?? Well for veiled or panther. I use the repti sun 8.0 light for my uro, because it has the highest output of uva/b. Should I use the same for a cham?? Also are the screw in lights bulbs ok to use?? I've just never used them, and have never thought of it untill I looked in my LPS and saw that, that's all they carry. I bought my uros lights when I was in edmonton I stocked up, I'm out now though. And my last question is does anyone know of some good B.C/Alberta breeders?? Thanks.

Solomon · 05-16-05, 08:15 AM

I use a 5.0 for all my chams and a regular incandescent for a basking light. Usually a 40 or 60 watt.

Can't help with the breeders, sorry!

vipervenom · 05-16-05, 04:31 PM

Reptisun 8.0 is adequate.

peterm15 · 05-16-05, 08:28 PM

isnt 8.0 a little high.. thats mostly for desert creatures.. im sure it wouldnt hurt but isnt 5.0 exo terra more than enough

meow_mix450 · 05-16-05, 09:14 PM

ive alwys thought it was 8.0

Meow

peterm15 · 05-17-05, 08:57 PM

i dont remember who but someone on here told me 8.0 was to high and 5.0 is better.. i could be rong though.. but even the books on lighting ( from exo terra ) suggest 5.0 for chams as 8.0 is for desert creatures like beardies

vipervenom · 05-18-05, 05:36 PM

Sorry, I meant to say 5.0. I forgot that 2.0 was the lowest and not 5.0 so I said 8.0, my mistake, 5.0 is perfectly adequate. If you have a very tall cage 8.0 might be the better choice.

Pookie · 05-24-05, 12:03 PM

If you need to stock up on some 5.0 bulbs, here's a great site that's reasonably priced! I use them all the time, although it may be a distance away from where most of you all live!

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Pages/Product/262125.html

Rebecca · 05-26-05, 02:40 AM

Ya it's the states. I prefer to use canadian dealers, just because the shipping is sometimes better. Thanks though Pookie.

DragnDrop · 05-26-05, 08:02 AM

Considering we're talking about man-made UVB lights, compared to the sun, how can 8.0 be too strong? It can't even penetrate more than a few inches from the bulb, while sunlight UVB can go millions of miles. I used 8.0 on chams and any other UV-B type daytime critters and not one got sunburned or had health problems.
The packaging might say 'desert', but that's packaging for you. No rules, no laws for reptile products, put on whatever you want on the label. That's why they can get away with the 5.0 as UV-B and the same bulbs sold as iguana bulbs. They're the same bulb, but the consumer thinks it's different.

peterm15 · 05-26-05, 05:45 PM

true true.. but the reasoning that i have heard is that chameleons usually spend some time under slightly filtered sun.. under leaves.. so in that case 5.0 makes it seem more natural.. 8.0 is what i did use and had no problems.. so.. my worry was the vitimine d3, being to much..

either way use 5.0 or 8.0 just dont use 2.0

vipervenom · 05-26-05, 07:51 PM

Could it be that the stronger "man-made" bulbs emitt negative rays etc. that the sun doesn't give off?

But it makes perfect sense what Dragn Drop says. The package is simply marketing, and nothing really to do with the specific needs of individual species.

DragnDrop · 05-27-05, 08:15 AM

Sunlight is made up of all possible rays you can find in light, so if there are any 'negative' rays, the dose from natural light would be way bigger than you could package into a fluorescent or any other man-made bulb.

Chams do spend a lot of time in the tree canopy out of direct sunlight. The thing is that sunlight is so much stronger than those measley fluorescents could ever dream of being, that there's just no way you could overdo the UV rays using any currently available bulbs.
Use as strong a UV-B bulb as you can get, you won't OD your cham on Vitamin D3 using it. The nice thing about making D3 in their own bodies using sunglight is that it will never result in an overdose. Their bodies (and ours and any life form that makes D3) will stop producing it ones they've got a 'full supply'. There's no way the body will make more than it can store safely. Supplying it via supplements is the way to OD on D3, they are 'forced' to absorb too much if it's there, causing all the other problems even MBD from excess D3.
If you want to play it safe, use the strongest UV-B bulb without worrying, just don't supply D3 via supplements.

vipervenom · 05-27-05, 02:01 PM

These stronger bulbs are fairly new, haven't the supplements we've used already for our chams been based on the amount of rays the cham receives from a simple flourescent bulb? My question is basically, with the stronger bulb, do do use vits a little less frequent?