135 uk gal viv

So here it be at last, few technical issues that have been resolved, bar one, but that will be sorted at a later date.

Here is a link to the short video I made and a link to Bilbos Facebook page, please take a look, and feel free to follow Bilbo on facebook

FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilbo/1591266411155007?skip_nax_wizard=true

VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cls0cZheGb4

Wow, very, very nice. Quite a palatial beardie den ! Lots of room to jog around and keep himself active. Only thing I would be careful of is the stacked rocks. Sometimes beardies will dig under or just knock over the rocks so you don't want them to topple on him. Sand can sometimes cause problems [ accidental ingestion, dust in the eye/airways] but some dragons do fine on it. But it's definitely very beautiful.

Thank you very much, yeah before the rock to sand ratio was better, I'll get some more rocks to balance it out, as for the piled ones I know what your saying, they are natural rocks so all funny shapes to that did not help, I was thinking to drill them and put rods down the middle with a base at the bottom to stop them falling, Im pretty confident they'll be ok though. I have given the shake and bang test lol

That is an awesome viv! :notworthy: I sooooo want to do something like that!

I've thought about making Smauggie her own Facebook page, but haven't done it yet (and we've had her for almost a year now). I have so many critters, though; maybe I should make a group page for all of them? :lol:

Nice viv, what are the dimensions?

What is the stat probe at the cool end controlling?

Go for it why not!

I'll be honest I done it because, to my astonishment, there are people out there who would rather not see a picture of a beautiful bearded Dragon happy in the vivarium.. Yeah I know can you believe it! This way I can post as much as I like with out getting moaned at by miserable people who do not appreciate a beautiful animal when they see one.

Yeah I panned to get this viv, but when I got him I got a starter kit that came with all the basics, good quality stuff but not good enough for my new viv.

Dimensions are L66 x H24 x D25

The probe is for the thermostat that controlls the ceramic heater, there is also a digital thermometer along with the probe to give me a clue to what the temperature actually is, along with a digital thermometer s the basking spot, I will add a basking spot light maybe in the future, but in my opinion I think think it's necessary at the moment.

My problem I mention at the start is that it is currently in my sitting room and there is a nice snug place for it in my bed room, problem is my stairs on my stupid old cottage!! So need to hire a scissor lift or cherry picker to take it up to my bed room on the 2nd floor about £100 an hour, I reckon it will only take an 1-2 tops so not to bad

Out of interest why not keep the probe by the heater? I know probe placement divides opinion so it's a genuine question.

What's the heat set up down the other end?

Not a problem,

I'm using a 150w habisat ceramic with a repti-glow hood, I had a 100w bit it was not getting up to temp.

In my opinion and habbisat, The placement of the probe should be placed at the cool end and set to the maximum cool end temp, mine is set to 28 Celsius, other wise if you place near the heat source you won't get hot enough basking temps, if you look at a thermostat it will only go up 32/34 and your bearded dragon needs at least 40 Celsius. Also it prevents the cool end getting to hot and taking away the ability for your lttile guy to cool off.

I hope that was not to confusing lol I was getting my self confused as in was typing it.

If the starter kit you bought was anything like the one I bought almost a year ago ... I would have upgraded by now, but I'm trying to hold off spending money b/c I'm looking for another job. Her tank is fine for now; it's a 40G, so there's enough room (she's about 19"), but it opens from the top, which is also where the lights rest, so it's a pain!

I got to admit it was a starter kit from a family run pet supplier, it was a pretty decent set up but the T8 tube is no good in a viv this size nor was the 100watt heater, I managed to sell the old viv and the light/starter but I'm stuck with a 100watt ceramic that's only had 6 months use! I might hang on to it for winter as it barely warms the viv so it will be good as a night heater with out a thermostat, and take it out in the warmer months to keep the viv aesthetically pleasing. I always planned on getting this size but he was a present from my partner who insisted on getting him before I sorted a big viv out, she is impatient like that lol

MyBilbo":3lytjv05 said:

Not a problem,

I'm using a 150w habisat ceramic with a repti-glow hood, I had a 100w bit it was not getting up to temp.

In my opinion and habbisat, The placement of the probe should be placed at the cool end and set to the maximum cool end temp, mine is set to 28 Celsius, other wise if you place near the heat source you won't get hot enough basking temps, if you look at a thermostat it will only go up 32/34 and your bearded dragon needs at least 40 Celsius. Also it prevents the cool end getting to hot and taking away the ability for your lttile guy to cool off.

I hope that was not to confusing lol I was getting my self confused as in was typing it.

Click to expand...

Is the ceramic her basking light as well?

My view for what it is worth is to get a higher range stat. Habistat are giving you a work around to their problem. If you have a stat that can go up to 46 or so, you can then make sure you have precise control over the output of the heat source at source. Otherwise you are having to manipulate the cool end to get the hot end correct, which is less than ideal imo.

I'd personally aim for a cool end to get down to 21. With the hot end at about 44/45 controlled at the hot end. In a viv that size I don't think you'd have much trouble achieving that and you have got a really broad thermal gradient. With the height you can also create a vertical basking gradient.

Also how close does the wood get to the UV?

Hope no offense caused by the above, as you weren't soliciting advice. It really is an imoressive sized viv and you clearly want the best for him.

Jenn how big is 40g in dimensions? It sounds small for a 19" lizard

Yeah ... I bought the ZooMed starter kit from PetSmart. Not so lucky!

It's 36" x 18" x 18", so I would prefer something bigger, but she seems okay in it. Granted, she's usually NOT in her tank. She gets cranky and dark if she doesn't get out of her tank by the afternoon. :lol:

"I have something to discuss with you, human ...."



I don't have the tools to make my own custom viv (but it would give me an excuse to finally purchase that circular saw ) but I would like to try in the future. Her tank sits on an industrial-type shelving unit in my son's room ... Not the most aesthetic set up!

I woudlnt have thought it would be too hard to buy the wood precut where you are? Then it's just a matter of joining and If it's melamine coated sealing the joins.

No offense at all, I'm always open for constructive criticism (although your not criticising what I have done)

For me I needed a heater that will get the viv an ambient temperature to a reasonable temp, I'm getting around 25c at the points furthest from the heater and of course gradually increasing the closer you get, and I achieved the right basking temp by judging the distance from ceramic to the point he will be usin, the distance from my old viv, obviously this distance is greater due to having a more powerful heater and much bigger viv

I totally appreciated what your saying, yeah I have the thermostat set to 28 but I doubt it will get to that in this tank it's about 24.6 at the cool end. The old tank was small so was difficult to get right, I feel like this bigger one was much easier to set up and get the right temps. I'm in the UK, what brands in your opinion make good thermostats? Only asking cos I do want the best, I was going to change the thermostat this time around but decided not to last minute. Yes I only have a ceramic thinking about getting a light heat source later on.

What do you mean how close is the tube to the wood?? Lol

UV tube to his basking branch. Sorry that was my fault for being vague.

I'd get a basking light, I don't know how much research there has been done, but there is a theory that bearded dragon eyes can't pick up the wavelengths given off by UVB tubes, so they benefit from a good white light source too. You don't need to buy reptile branded bulbs though.

Microclimate do a dimming stat with a range up to 45.