Lighting in AP cage

Hey Everyone!

So I recently bought a new cage for Axel. I bought the bearded dragon/uromastyx special order Cage from Animal Plastics. The dimensions of it are 48x24x15. I asked for the uvb bulb to be beside the heat bulb on the left side. Which it is... but it is far enough from it that I can only heat up the end of his 12x12 slate basking spot which makes him move farther from the uvb. I use a reptisun 10.0 tube and he is currently 10 inches from it (if he is directly under it not under his spot from his basking bulb. I want to switch to a HO to fix this problem but I don’t know if I can do that inside my cage because then I’m scared it will be too much UVB because it’s only 15 in height even though he won’t be directly under it. Thanks for the replies in advance.

Are you using a T5 or T8 ReptiSun? The spread from the bulb should be enough so that even to the side, there should be sufficient UVB at that distance with a T5. 10'' is a bit too far for a T8 though.

Do you our could you post a picture of what you are talking about?

A T8 is 1'' diameter and a T5 is .625'' diameter. They should be marked with which type they are. Taterbug has created some graphics that help explain the spread of light from the bulb https://sites.google.com/site/thelizardmadness/photogradient

CooperDragon":20r07ze1 said:

Are you using a T5 or T8 ReptiSun? The spread from the bulb should be enough so that even to the side, there should be sufficient UVB at that distance with a T5. 10'' is a bit too far for a T8 though.

Click to expand...

A 10.0 T5 HO is 5/8 of an inch in diameter and, a 10.0 T8 is 1 inch in diameter. The 10.0 T8 is a much weaker bulb than the 10.0 T5 HO.

It’s a t-8, what I was wondering if I put a new fixture in it and switched to the T5HOs 22 inch bulb it would fix the problem so I could lengthen the spot so he can get uvb without being directly under it but to the side under the actual spot bulb so he can get hot enough.

Thanks for the help so far!

Yes. If you have the reflector facing down, it will create a gradient to the sides. I have my fixture set to the front of the tank so the highest UVB is in the front and a gradient toward the back. Even several inches to either side there is a very good amount of UVB.

CooperDragon":313sqs3o said:

Yes. If you have the reflector facing down, it will create a gradient to the sides. I have my fixture set to the front of the tank so the highest UVB is in the front and a gradient toward the back. Even several inches to either side there is a very good amount of UVB.

Click to expand...

So it won’t be too close to him with the low height of the cage? If I mount the new one exactly where the other one is. I could lower the basking spot even more if need be, I think he likes having it off the ground, his is currently about 2-3 inches off. With a cage height of 15 in I don’t want it to be too powerful and I know they can’t be as close as the can with the t8.

If you mount the T5 right where your T8 is along the back ceiling it should do well. That will create a gradient outward from the back and I think will work really well, even at that distance.