Tegu Lighting

Deafbum · Member Joined: Jun 26, 2008 Posts: 16

Hi I'm building a 8x4x4 cage for a tegu that I will be getting shortly. I am unsure about the lighting requirements for this size of cage, so could you tell me what lights you personaly use for your cage of similar size. Could you please include their wattages aswell.

Update: The cage will have about 24" of substrate so the headspace will be about 2 feet.

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 590

well, with 4 feet of headroom, you're looking at needing to lower the lights unless you want to use insane wattage.

honestly i'd make one side have 3 fixtures that hang free. one fixture for a megaray uvb 160 watt, the other two for halogen floods. on the halogens wattage will vary by ambient temp in the room. if you live in a warm place you could get away with 50watt flood lamps, but if it's cooler you'd need to go 100 watts.

lighting is kinda specific to your environment.

some people recommend full spectrum flourecents aswell. the uva produced makes the light more natural for the tegu (reptiles can actually see into uv wavelengths)
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

Deafbum · Member Joined: Jun 26, 2008 Posts: 16

Would one ceramic heat emmiter(150w), one halogen flood bulb (150w) and one reptisun 10.0(40w) work if my house is about 75F(24C)?

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 590

is it a constant 75 or how much does the temp drop at night?
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

Deafbum · Member Joined: Jun 26, 2008 Posts: 16

At night the temperature drops down to about 70 degrees

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 590

ok, you don't need a light on at night then.

whatever distance will get you to 100-110 basking temp with the lights you have will work.

i use a 10.0 uvb bulb i put it on the ground and she lay's on it. they're very short range, i think you need to keep the uvb within 12 inches of the tegu. i'm upgrading to a megaray bulb this month as the uvb bulbs only last 6 months and i think my bulb is older than that.
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

Deafbum · Member Joined: Jun 26, 2008 Posts: 16

A little off topic but how does a light run out of UV after 6 months? I dont understand this bcause UV is a fourm of light and light isn't matter so as long as the light is on it should still be producing UV regardless of the time.

someone please tell me why i'm wrong

angelrose · Moderator Joined: Jan 05, 2008 Posts: 1470

here is a good link that explains things well ....

http://exo-terra.com/en/connect/exo_terra_tv.php

as to why part; good question. I'll have to find out.

you can use a meter

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm

Alek · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 9:24 pm Post subject:

Great stuff Angelrose

angelrose · Moderator Joined: Jan 05, 2008 Posts: 1470