I'm setting up lighting for a incoming beardie, please help.

Hello! I'm planning to get a baby bearded dragon soon but I need the necessities before I can welcome he or she into their new home. I will be getting a 40 gallon tank. I will have a basking spot around 95ºF and I'll make sure the average temperature will be around 80ºF-85ºF. I'll also have a cool side and a warm side. I'll be using reptile carpet to avoid impaction. One question I have is should I get a heat mat. The next question I have is when should I have the timer turn the lights on /off? I know it should be around 12-14 hours of light. I have to get up at around 6:00 A.M. for school. I know this question should go in the feeding discussion but no one answered me so what should my feeding schedule be. Right now I have a idea of vegetation when lights go on, a long with 10-15 crickets. Then I'll come home and feed around 10-15 crickets again. That might seem really dumb but I'm new at this. Thanks. -michael

I would get a ceramic heat emitter not a heating pad. They fit into a normal bulb socket and I've heard bad stories from the heating pads. From what I understand they don't feel as much on their bellies so it can burn them. Its only for night anyways because your heat light will do the trick for the day. The ceramic heaters last forever as well and you can get them cheap if you go on Amazon. They should sell them at most pet stores as well

Thanks, but should I be feeding he / she 50 crickets a day instead of about 20?

Hi. Just to let you know babies eat a ton! Order bulk online. Way cheaper then the pet store. Also make sure you have a good uvb light. A reptisun sun 10.0 T5 long tube. How are you going to take temps? And no heat at night. Beardies like it cool and dark to sleep. Also make sure you have a good bright white basking light.

I would only say no heat at night as long as your setup doesn't go below 65 at night, I personally like to keep it above 70 and it gets cold here. If its not cold then your fine!

Bulk can definitely help, some pet stores may order them in for you as well if you find that easier, we order silk worms from our but we have adults I would start with crickets for sure.

Don't buy petsmart or other big box store ones they reuse their crickets our guy got parasites when we were desperate one time and got them. We get cherry creek here in western Canada, not sure where other sources are I'm sure someone could send you a link.

For a baby bearded dragon you will want basking temps around 105F. 95F is a tad low for a baby, but good for an adult. I keep my basking temps around 108F in both enclosures with a gradient and they both use it. After eating they'll bask at 108F, when just chilling they hang out around 104F or cooler.

I also use no heat source at night.
My house heat is set to kick in if it drops below 68F, but it's summer so it's usually lower 70's in my house at night, or even higher (super hot summer)

A baby beardie can and should eat as much as they want for 15 mins, or until interest is lost, at least twice a day. In terms of appropriately sized crickets, this may be up to 60 per day, so assuming you are only doing 2 feedings a day this is 420 crickets a week, or just under 1700 a month. You will want to buy in bulk
It's worth noting that people tend to overfeed their babies, so I am again reiterating "up to 60" and by no means is this a required amount.

It's worth taking into consideration other main staple feeders, like dubia roaches. Crickets are a lot of "fillers", where as dubia roaches are more meat. What this means is a dragon will get full faster on dubia roaches, taking you down to maybe 30-40 roaches per day opposed to 60 crickets, but dubia also tend to be a bit pricier, but also live longer and are a more complete feeder than stinky crickets.

It's great to also offer a variety of feeders, but please do not buy into the mealworm hype at petstores. Owning two dragons, a chameleon, and a pacman frog, all across the board people state mealies are not worth it for any of those animals. They are an impaction risk and generally not nutritious enough to make the gamble worth it.
Please also do not feed supers until your dragon is older and at least 16" in length. They are too hard on baby and juvie dragon bellies.

Black soldier fly larvae, small hornworms, silkworms, and occasional waxworms are nice to add into the mix as well.

Hello, my name is Michael and soon I'll be getting a new bearded dragon. This is my first bearded dragon so I do need help. I was lookin' in the care sheet article and it has multiple choices for UVB lighting. I decided to use the ReptiSun 10.0 H0. It says I need a bulb and a tube but I can only find the bulb on amazon. Can someone please give me a link to both? Since I have a 36 by 18 by 18 terrarium does that mean I need to get a 36" tube and light? I just can't find the tube anywhere and I'm starting to get frustrated. -Michael

You don't need one that is 36" just because that is the length of your tank. The UVB only needs to cover part of the tank.

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-2605...8&qid=1500163943&sr=8-1&keywords=reptile+hood

That hood already comes with a 5.0 bulb, but you will likely want to replace it with this as a 10.0 is better:

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-2606...TF8&qid=1500163993&sr=8-1&keywords=t5+10.0+Ho

I also have a 36"L and this setup works quite well. It is the exact one I use.

Some people also use fixtures from wal-mart, home depot, and I think Lowes carries them too, but I personally haven't used them so maybe someone who has can comment about those for you.

Hello, I heard that the screen filters out the UVB lighting. So I'm planning to mount my UVB bulb inside of my terrarium. I will be using a 22"-24" ReptiSun 10.0 HO fluorescent tube. Does that mean I get the same size under tank light fixture or about 2 inches bigger? Thanks. Please give me some feedback
.

Here's a bit of guidance on how to set up the lights :

"Effective to a specified distance" DOES NOT mean this is the optimum distance from UV source to the basking spot , effective to distance x means ONLY that UVB will be measureable at distance x.
The optimum UVB distance will be somewhat closer than the distance x.
For example a 26W UVB200 globe :
.......Effective Distance up to 40 inches ==> 4 microW UVB / sqcm
.......At a distance of 24 inches ==> 10 microW UVB / sqcm
.......A good distance for beardies is 6-8 inches ==> 160 - 90 microW / sqcm.

Too far and the UVA and UVB WILL BE TOO DILUTE (as illustrated in the example above).
UVA FLUX TOO LOW where dragon is ==> a very lethargic dragon w/ a very poor apetite just in the short term , and neurological problems if this persists , not to mention MVB if UVB flux too low long enough with inadequate metabolisation of dietary calcium or inadequate intake out calcium

A GOOD GUIDE FOR SETTING UP THE THERMAL AND UV GRADIENT IN A VIV.




Compare T8 and T5ho tubes


is a good idea to mount the UVB globe or one end of the UVB T8 or T5 tube, so it’s adjacent as close as you can arrange it , to the basking bulb.

more is here : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

how far from basking spot ? == there are optimal distances for all UVB lights from the beardie see Arcadia Website for a good guide (a good UVB for beardies at their basking spot is about 180 to 200 microW UVB / sqcm ).

"Effective to a specified distance" DOES NOT mean this is the optimum distance from UV source to the basking spot , effective to distance x means ONLY that UVB will be measureable at distance x.
The optimum UVB distance will be somewhat closer than the distance x.
For example a 26W UVB200 globe :
.......Effective Distance up to 40 inches ==> 4 microW UVB / sqcm
.......At a distance of 24 inches ==> 10 microW UVB / sqcm
.......A good distance for beardies is 6-8 inches ==> 160 - 90 microW / sqcm.

Too far and the UVA and UVB WILL BE TOO DILUTE (as illustrated in the example above).
UVA FLUX TOO LOW where dragon is ==> a very lethargic dragon w/ a very poor apetite just in the short term , and neurological problems if this persists , not to mention MVB if UVB flux too low long enough with inadequate metabolisation of dietary calcium or inadequate intake out calcium

A GOOD GUIDE FOR SETTING UP THE THERMAL AND UV GRADIENT IN A VIV.




Compare T8 and T5ho tubes


is a good idea to mount the UVB globe or one end of the UVB T8 or T5 tube, so it’s adjacent as close as you can arrange it , to the basking bulb.

Good advice in this thread already. I'll just add that in addition to the basking lamp and the UV light, you also need to make sure that the enclose has plenty of other light as well. If it's an all glass enclose (like a fish tank type) then this is usually pretty easy.

But be sure that inside his enclosure it is BRIGHT all day long. Just a basking light and UV light are not enough to do this my themselves. Keep in mind that these things typicality live in FULL SUN, so it should be about as bright in the enclosure as it is outside on a sunny day.

But also don't put your tank in a window, as direct sunlight into an enclose tank will overheat the enclosure. So you need either for the tank to be in a room with lots of bright lights in the room or you need to add additional lighting to the tank.

If you add additional lighting it should typically be a fluorescent light, typically a standard 18" or 24" T8 light is good for this.