Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[chamchris]

Hi
Its at the time of year when i replace all my chams UV tubes, what % of tube do you lot recommend/prefer on here? I would only use Zoomed but i can't decided on either the 5% or 10% version. I use Terry Thatcher cages for all my chams so i loose around 10% UV through the mesh.

My concern with using the 10% is however that i heard the visible light emitted is a lot less. On the other hand though i do use two tubes per cage.

What do you think?

[Rickeezee]

I agree with using zoo med UV tubes thats all I use. I use 10% on some of my vivs with reflectors and 5% on others. Yes the visible light emitted lowers the higher the UV value of the tube that is used. Why not use a 10% and a 5% if your using two tubes per viv.

I use 6mm gauge mesh on the top of my vivs with tubes mounted externally with reflectors, this seems a reasonable compromise for my set ups and allows the UV to get through.

I think 10% may be a bit strong for panthers but all depends how much UV is getting through I suppose. I use the 10% for Yemens and have tried 10% for the panthers but from what I can gather 5% is fine for panthers. All depends what chams you have I guess. Also at what level the chams spend most of their time at in the viv. It varies with my chams (panthers) some like to bask more than others and remain higher up some remain lower down where the uv penetration is less, so for these I use the 10%. Even the same species seem to have varied preferences.

If your going to use 10% why not try just using a standard hi lux tube for the second tube used so that you get a compromise between strong UV and another tube that kicks out a higher level of visible light.

I have tried varying the basking spot bulbs used, tight beam bulbs, broad beam, enrich spot lamps that give of an enhanced light that picks out the primary colours within the spectrum (higher intensity of red, blue green) , halogen reflectors that give of 20% more light and so on. All of the bulbs have different qualities, but its hard to quantify their respective benefits against each other apart from an aesthetic viewpoint.

Very difficult to measure the benefits of the various UV tubes, basking bulbs, and the numerous combinations that could be used for the chameleons. There are just to many variables and possible combinations. The only thing that can be measured is the actual UV output over a period of time via uv degradation. As for the chameleons long term well being and the benefits for the cham with the various options available, I would imagine this is impossible to measure again due to the amount of variables, such as viv set up, diet, age etc.

Interesting and potentially very confusing
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[johne.ev]

I use EXO TERRA SUN GLO 8.0 for the last year, and never had any probs. have used zoo med reptisuns, but never noticed any difference either in the animals behaviour or quality of light. in the warmer months my panther is out as much as possible. i always renew my tube every autumn.