New enclosure! Feedback welcome! *PICS*

[Recaro01]

I am new to being a owner of a Bearded Dragon!
Please tell me if you see anything i should change or add!
It does have a screen top. (not sure if that effects the UVB or not)
Thank you

Enjoy!

 

[Kalyn876]

He's a little cutie!

You will only need two lights,

One heat lamp (usually a regular household bulb will suffice)

One UVB which I see you have the compact flourescent, these are not a great source of UVB. They start out too strong then dwindle very quickly. I would reccomend the Reptisun 10.0 tube fourescent instead. Your beardie should be able to get within 6-8 inches of it with nothing in between.

The screen will affect the amount of UVB getting through, you could mount the UVB inside the tank beside/behind the basking bulb. This way he is getting sufficient UVB while basking just like they do in the wild.

The red lamp has no real use in a beardie tank, as long as your house doens't get below 65F at night you don't need a night time heat source. Beardies actually benefit from a cool down period and the red lamp will disturb his sleep.

EDIT** Also I noticed in the last two pics there is repticarpet, in the first few sand. Here is a great link to information about using sand, that way you can make a fully educated decision.
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=132151

 

[ClydesGirl]

Oh, I'm going to sound like a total negative nellie here. I swear to you, I am not trying to be mean or anything. I just want to try to give you the absolute best advice possible. Obviously, it's ultimately your decision whether or not you want to heed any of this advice, but here it is:

1. Sand.... any loose/particle substrate runs the risk of impaction for your beardie. As you've probably noticed, bearies explore with their tongues. So, even if you feed your beardie in a separate container, he can still ingest some sand while exploring his viv. Also, the dust in sand can cause respiratory problems. And finally, sand is just not very sanitary. It's hard to keep clean.

2. Thermometer.... I see a stick-on thermometer there. Those aren't going to give you anything close to an accurate temp reading, especially a basking temp reading. You should get an infrared temp gun or a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe. I got my indoor/outdoor thermometer at Walmart for $13. I stuck the probe directly on the basking rock and that displays as the "outdoor" temp, then put the display over on the wall of the cool side and that shows as the "indoor" temp. It also has a humidity readout for the cool side.

3. UVB... as was already mentioned, coil UVBs are not only inadequate, but potentially dangerous. In addition to putting out insufficient and inconsistent amounts of UVB, they have also been known to cause eye problems. You will want a Reptisun 10.0 or an Arcadia 12% fluorescent tube mounted inside the tank. Screen can block up to 50% of the UVB (though that number is supposed to be slightly better with the Arcadia 12%). Two mount it inside your viv, you can either wire it to the screen top somehow, use 3M Command hooks to hang a fixture from the inside wall, or buy special brackets like these: http://www.reptiza.net/beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=63&product_id=211.

4. Heat lamps... you should only have one clear glass incandescent bulb as a basking bulb. Colored "nighttime" bulbs will disturb your beardies sleep. If you have trouble keeping your night time temps above 65 degrees, look into getting a CHE (ceramic heat emitter).

5. Water dish... as long as the humidity doesn't get above 37-ish percent, there's no HARM in keeping a water dish in your viv. However, they aren't necessary, since beardies rarely will drink standing water and they can be a hassle to keep clean. So that one is mostly up to you. I prefer to avoid the hassle, personally.