am i giving proper lighting?

i gotta say this forum is great. thanks to everyone whos given me some help along the way its my first time owning a veiled chameleon. my chameleon has been vet-checked and hes doing good. no problems so far, everything that i asked here got answered and with great results. i have another question though, to anyone, my chameleon is constantly basking or at the top of his plant. he is in a darker color pretty much all day long, except for night and when hes sleeping. im wondering if its the amount of heat my bulb is putting out. for heat i use a 25 watt incandescant bulb, in a 10 gallon aquarium. i also use a 50 watt uva/uvb coil lamp. hes 2 months old and the temperatures are around 78-80 during the day. any advice would be greatly appreciated. please feel free to email me at ridethesky900@comcast.net

its hard to tell how many watt you should use, because we don't know how much ventilation there is in your cage.

I use (to my f.pardalis) 50watt bulb and 2 fluorescents one of them with uv-b and 2 times a week i give all my chams 15min with a 300watt ultraxitalux lamp.

The colour on you cham don't have to be a problem, but "offen" when they are to cold, they will turn dark, to help them warm up.

Steve Miller Band,
Being dark all the time could be indicative of your chameleon not getting warmed up enough, and attempting to absorb as much heat from light energy as possible, typical of chameleons in the early morning. Set up a basking perch directly under the light, approximately 8-12 inches below the bulb. Tape a thermometer to it directly beneath and facing the bulb. Allowing about 5 minutes exposure, check the temperature. Move the basking spot closer, or further away, or the light closer or further away, or increase or decrease the wattage of the bulb, until you have a 98-103 F reading, again allowing several minutes to obtain a stable reading. Once you have it, remove the thermometer and secure all in place. From there, establish 2-3 additional basking sites , each one 2-3 inches further away and offset to the side a little bit. Now you chameleon will have all the appropriate options. By the way, its a Fauna rule that you sign with your real name, and most of us prefer giving of our time when we're communicating with someone who is comfortable using it. Good luck.

Jim Flaherty
The Chameleon Company, LLC