Bearded dragon, heating and lighting?

Question

Tomorrow morning I go pick out my juvenile bearded dragon. I am getting a sandfire.

My tank is 48 x 18 x21 (LxWxH) which is equivalent to 75 gallons.

What should I be getting for lighting and heating? I know that you can get bulbs that are used for basking, and they have UV in them. Do I still need a UV light even if I get one of these lights?

What all do I need to get for lighting, and what wattage light bulbs should I be getting?

How close should my beardy be able to get to the light on his basking rock?

What do I do for heating at night time? Can I just use a heat pad under the carpet?

Thank you!

Answer 1

for lighting a uv bulb a 50 watt should be acceptable if he spends a lot of time under that change it to a 75 watt one. he should be able to get within 12 inches but in able to touch as it might burn him causing serious damage. use a night bulb they are balck heat pads can be used but they are better for snakes use the uv its simpler.

Answer 2

'Excellent choice on acquiring  a Beardie as a pet.  But - before obtaining any animal - you should research it and its needs thoroughly.  The habitat should be fully set up, and temperature ranges adjusted, BEFORE you ever get the animal.  

You will find a lot of contradictory suggestions, information, and advice as you research.  That bring us to the topic of a good knowledgable/reputable reptile vet (you can contact the “herpetologicalsocieties.com“ for a listing of vets in your area).  The vet can easily resolve your information dilemmas for you.

Just as you would for a new puppy or kitten; a routine screening inspection for general health; condition; parasites/diseases should be performed by your vet at the time you get the animal.  Starting an early relationship with a vet is the best bet, and if a problem arrises: you will already know where to take the animal, instead of hunting for a vet when suddenly needed.

Reptiles are very slow to show signs of illness, and by the time they exhibit symptoms; the problem is usually well progressed.  Be observant, and note ANY behavior/eating/illiminating changes.  Any issue should be addressed immediately.

You've got some good posted information here about temperature ranges and lighting (you do not regulate heat by guessing the distance placement of a bulb/light; you use an accurate thermometer/them. gun to read the heat where the animal will actually be standing/laying/sitting), so I'll skip that part, and instead suggest strongly that you do NOT use sand as a substrate.

Sand is a growing media for bacteria/fungi/mold, and can even harbor parasites.  Even if you are diligent, can watch the animal 24/7, and scoop the sand clean the moment the lizard illiminates; you will still be unable to sift the bacteria from the sand which falls through the scoop/screen back into the environment.

Another issue is impaction.  Lizards WILL end up ingesting sand if they live on it.  This can result in expensive vet bills, and even death.  It can even cause infection or damage to their eyes.

I haven't seen any mention here yet concerning feeding your Beardie.   In the links I have provided below, you will find additional information.  It's very important that you gut load the insects you will offer to your lizard.   I'll provide a basic recipe here for feeding crickets.  Just skip it if you're already informed on all this.  I know it's a lot to read, but as the adages go: "Better safe - than sorry," and "Forewarned is forearmed."

Basic Dry/Staple Cricket Food:

Equal amounts of dry Iguana food, dry dog food, chick starter mash, oatmeal (you can add dry baby food wheat/rye/barley, etc. as well; even shredded wheat - no sugar).

Grind these items together.  Place in a small lid/bowl for the crickets to eat.  Store the unused portion in the refrigerator or freezer, until needed.

Supplement daily with one of the following: sweet potato, bananas, zucchini, oranges, carrots, strawberries, assorted squashes (acorn, yellow, etc.), grapefruit, green beans, apples, kale, spinach, cactus pads, and just about any other nutritious item you can think of (do not use white/yellow potatoes - these are starchy and only good if used as a moisture source during shipping, and NEVER use Avacado - it's poisonous to most animals).

Provide the dry food and kale at all times (kale is readily available during the winter months, too), rotating the other food items through in succession. The key is variety, and to provide an assortment of varying nutrients. What you are trying to do is offer your reptiles crickets with guts 'loaded' with fresh foodstuffs.

The crickets should be gut loaded for 2-3 days prior to offering them to your reptiles.

Also, provide fresh clean water in a lid/bowl, adding a sponge or folded paper towel to prevent drowning.

  

Don't offer more crickets than the reptile(s) will consume within: 1.) a few hours if it’s a lizard, salamander, frog/toad, or 2.) a few minutes, if it’s a water turtle, so you know the crickets will still be full of the good stuff when eaten.

Good luck, and most of all - enjoy the new addition to your family!

I hope this has been helpful.

Answer 3

you could use a mercury vapor bulbs . they provide all the heat and lighting( UV-b and UV -a) it will need. 60 watts should be enough. just get  set it up about 8" from the basking spot and use a rheostat to adjust the basking spot temps to about 110-115 f ,us a inferred temp gun to check. with that M.V.B. making a basking spot temp of a 110 f  your ambient air temps should be around 85-90 f on the warm side and about 80 -75 f on the cool side. just what your looking for. if the room your keeping it in doesn't drop below 70 f at night you should need any night time heating

Answer 4

if you are getting a basking light with UVB in it as well make sure it says mercury vapor, dont get the ones that are crappy, make sure not to use any lights at night time, its not necessary so a heat mat could be ok if you are that concerned about the temps. The mercury Vapor Bulb should be at least 10 inches away from him i believe.

Answer 5

uv and a basking light if you dont understand go to a petstore or breeder and ask them they should know

Answer 6

I can't tell you what wattage bulb to get, but the bulb must provide basking temps of 105-110 for a juvie beardie. Check these temps with a digital thermometer with probe; place the probe directly onto the basking spot, and check the reading in 30-40 minutes. If the beardie is laying on/touching the probe, the reading will not be accurate. Do NOT use the cheap stick on/dial thermometers, they can be up to 20 degrees off!

What do you mean basking lights that have UV in them too? The only lights like that are MVB bulbs like the MegaRay from http://www.reptileuv.com/   If you get one of them, then no, you do not need a UVB tube. If you don't have a MVB bulb, but just a regular white bulb, then yes, you do need a UVB tube. The MegaRay should be 12 inches away from your beardie at any point in the cage.

If you are not getting an MVB, then you need to get the ReptiSUN 10.0 flourescent TUBE light. It should be 6-8 inches away from your dragon at any point in the cage. Do NOT get coil or compact UVB lights, or the ReptiGLO 10.0; all 3 bulbs cause blindness, seizure, conjuctivitus, and even death!

Remeber to use supplements for your beardie. If you have a flourescent TUBE light, you need Repcal+D3 and Herptivite multi-vitamin. If you have MVB light, you need Repcal NO D3, and Herptivite multi-vitamin.

For your basking rock, I hope you mean just a regular rock, and not a hot rock. If it is a hot rock, do NOT use it, your dragon will get horribly burnt by it. Beardies can't sense heat coming from below them, so will not realize that the hot rock is burning them. If you use a rock for basking, just use a regular rock.

For night time heat, don't use anything. If the temps of your house don't drop below 62 degrees at night, then you do not need to provide any type of heat. Beardies actually need a drop in temps at night, or they will not sleep well.

I suggest http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/  if you need more advice.

Answer 7

Nice choice of lizard! For lighting, get a non-color (emits a "sun shine-like" light) light. This gives a better sense of actual sunlight than the flourescents or the brown/red colored lamps. I'd say the lamp should be a good 2/ 2 and a half feet from the basking rock, but basically a distance where he cant reach it, its high enough so that the light isn't focusing directly on the rock but on the whole cage, but yet close enough that he feels the heat from it. As long as your tank is closed though, the whole cage will get warm. But remember, natural sunlight is always best! so take him/her out for a coupe days a week at least for about 15+ minutes so he can get some sun!  As for night, I have a dark red colored lamp (I know I said not to get these for day time but my bearded dragon seems to like it) that emits a low level heat for the mild days, and a non-lit heat lamp along w/ the red one (when I say non-lit I mean that it has no light) for the colder days. I suggest you don't go with heating pads, as they can develop hot spots which could be bad. They're also very prone to electrical fire. I also suggest a layer of sand on the carpet, as that gives him or her a more natural sense of its real habitat.  Well I hope this helped! good luck with your new baby ;) I hope you enjoy him/her as much as I do mine!

Answer 8

Well first off. We have the 2 in 1. UV light and Basking/Heating lamp. We keep the basking/heating one on all day and night 24/7. But the UV light we turn it on in the morning around10-11 and turn it off at night around 10-11. I heard if the UV is on all day it could burn their eyes. Are UV light is 120 V and 23 W are basking/heating is 120 V and 25 W ( I Just burned my fingers trying to check it (:) if u get the 2 in 1 ( mines looks like this ) http://www.petsolutions.com/images/200/9...

put it on 1 side of the tank ( left or right - no middle) 1 side of their tank needs to be hot and the other side cool. just incase they need shade. So get a couple of thermometers

For ares' on the hot side we have http://www.reptiledirect.com/productimag... which we keep the temperatures from 88-100 put some branches or rocks by the hot side because they lay on it to bask it doesnt matter how high u put it but dont put it high enough so they could be like infront of the light put it like reaching the middle of your tank.

cool side put 2 ( 1 for cooling temp ) ( 1 for humidity ) which look similar to http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/art...

we keep are cooling area from 30-40 C ( try to keep it in the 35s) and humid from 40-50 % ( keep it around 40-45s)

put the water worm plate and vegetable plate on the cool side. and feed them how much instructed by the owner/salesman as they grown up there food gets bigger to so yah. Clean their p**p everyday because it will smell in the tank since heat is hitting it. and DO NOT HELP THEM SHED. you could ruin their skin and hurt them. You might get a littler nervous and panic and check on them around every 5 minutes to see wut the temperature is. but after a while u learn wut makes it cold or hot inside. At night just leave the basking like on never turn it off. but the uv light turn it on in the morning and turn it off at night

If your house has air conditioning centrally throughout the whole house you might have to put a blanket over the tank so it the temps wont drop. but if the ac is off put no blanket on it because it will get to hot. Here are some pictures of are tank and setting,

(The orange light is are basking lamp and white 1 is UV)

and if your putting your tank on a hardwoord/tile floor make sure you put carpets under it.. because the floor could get cold and it could pass through the tank so yah

Answer 9

You can find answers to all your questions at www.beardeddragon.org.  You should learn all you can about a dragon's requirements before you purchase one.

Answer 10

I would say get the 100 Watt Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp Bulb (http://www.petco.com/product/10811/Zoo-M... from Petco.  This bulb has some UV in it so it should be good.

Do not have anything closer than 6" within the heat source.

You do not need a heat source at night.  Do the bulb 12 hours on, 12 hours off a day.  Plus UTH (under tank heaters) are bad.

Have fun with your new bearded dragon! :)

Answer 11

WOW, nice and big tank! here are the answers to your question:

1)no, you would not need another UV light if one already has one, you may want to consider an undertank heater for heat as well, as it helps to digest food from the heat coming up from underneith.

2) for the wattage of bulbs, for a big tank like that, you'd probably want a 125-150watt-ish (also depending on the age , if juvie u would probably want a 125 around). and you need a light wuth UV ( and UVB and basking spots for the dragon)

3)that really depends, on what wattage bulb ur gunna use. But in general, I dont thing the basking spot should be more than8 or 9 inches of the ground.

4) at night they need a lower temperature, so you can jsut use a heat pad underneith the tank, or you can use an infrared light, which does not emitt light ( so the reptile does not notice it, but humans can, so you can still watch him/her at night) but it emitts heat.

Hope I helped,

Adam

Answer 12

I can't tell you what wattage bulb to get, but the bulb must provide basking temps of 105-110 for a juvie beardie.