Hi!
I'm going to be getting a bearded dragon soon (it's been almost a decade since I've had one!), and I went ahead and bought a 90 gallon aquarium on craigslist the other day (so its definitely happening now). I spent $75 on it, so I feel pretty good 8)
The dimensions are 4' x 18" wide x 2' high, so I have plenty of room and plenty of decisions to make! I'm just going to list everything I'm thinking of doing, and just looking for feedback before I go ahead and make the purchases.
First, for UVB, I'm going to get a 160W Mega-Ray. I'll have this suspended 18-24" above the basking spot on one side of the cage, using a ceramic clamp light fixture (probably something like this, since it handles 160W).
Second, I plan on having two basking spots (one with UVB, one without) at both sides of the cage. I'll be using 2 x 150W ceramic heat emitters on a dimming switch, with a simple clamp ceramic light fixture for 150W bulbs. I'll simply control those with a dimming switch to get the proper basking temperatures.
As far as cage lighting, I'll just get a 48" 5000K fluorescent light to go across the top.
I don't plan on getting a screen for the top, since I don't think a bearded dragon can climb 2' of glass, and I don't plan on having a basking spot higher than 6". Everything will just be clamped to the top of the cage.
For substrate, I'm thinking tile. Maybe shelf liner?
Other than that, we let our house get down to 65 at night and I'll have the UVB light and fluorescent light on a 12 hour timer. I assume the cage will be at a reasonable temperature with the two basking spots. Any advice/opinions on this set up? Any ways I can do it better?
I'm hoping to find a nice red/orange/yellow leatherback to buy in the near future
I'm going to be getting a bearded dragon soon (it's been almost a decade since I've had one!), and I went ahead and bought a 90 gallon aquarium on craigslist the other day (so its definitely happening now). I spent $75 on it, so I feel pretty good 8)
The dimensions are 4' x 18" wide x 2' high, so I have plenty of room and plenty of decisions to make! I'm just going to list everything I'm thinking of doing, and just looking for feedback before I go ahead and make the purchases.
First, for UVB, I'm going to get a 160W Mega-Ray. I'll have this suspended 18-24" above the basking spot on one side of the cage, using a ceramic clamp light fixture (probably something like this, since it handles 160W).
Second, I plan on having two basking spots (one with UVB, one without) at both sides of the cage. I'll be using 2 x 150W ceramic heat emitters on a dimming switch, with a simple clamp ceramic light fixture for 150W bulbs. I'll simply control those with a dimming switch to get the proper basking temperatures.
As far as cage lighting, I'll just get a 48" 5000K fluorescent light to go across the top.
I don't plan on getting a screen for the top, since I don't think a bearded dragon can climb 2' of glass, and I don't plan on having a basking spot higher than 6". Everything will just be clamped to the top of the cage.
For substrate, I'm thinking tile. Maybe shelf liner?
Other than that, we let our house get down to 65 at night and I'll have the UVB light and fluorescent light on a 12 hour timer. I assume the cage will be at a reasonable temperature with the two basking spots. Any advice/opinions on this set up? Any ways I can do it better?
I'm hoping to find a nice red/orange/yellow leatherback to buy in the near future