I am a soon to be dragon nana

Good evening from small town in Arkansas, USA. I will soon be getting my nine-year-old grandson a new friend, a bearded dragon. I am doing tons of research and have found this organization to have the very best information, I kindly thank you. I have decided on the exo terra 36 X 18 X 24 bearded dragon terrarium using the zilla terrarium liner you owners suggest. My problem seems to be lighting. There are so many choices i am just overwhelmed. Money is not really an object so just let me know what would be best to go with this terrarium. I kindly thank you in advance. Oh, the swell dragon will live with me and be under my care because his Mom said no way to any new pets since they live in a small home. I would rather supervise anyway and think these guys are quite charming looking in all the videos i have watched.

Update: I reread the lighting section and just want to make sure I am understanding it correctly. the 10.0 UVB bulb you all use is just mounted inside on the back of the tank in just a plain old walmart light fixture? I am assuming the mounting strips are the heavy duty ones, will my dragon be able to knock it down and potentially hurt itself. I am a worrier about my pets, whether they have fur or in this case scaly skin, lol.

Hello, and welcome to the forum! KUDOS to you for doing all of your research before you get the beardie, it makes things SO much easier!!!

For lighting, if you are in the US, you'll need this exact bulb: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26061-Reptisun-Fluorescent/dp/B00AQU8HAO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499570434&sr=8-3&keywords=reptisun+10.0+uvb+bulb

You mentioned that price isn't a big concern. If it isn't, then getting a much larger enclosure (specifically a 4x2x2), will do you a lot of good. TBH, a 40 gallon isn't really big enough for a full grown dragon

Howdy! I was raised in a really small Arkansas town ? Excellent research so far!! Your tank is about the size I have now and my baby is only 7 inches long I have a T8 tube mounted under the mesh along with a halogen flood light for basking... her temps are a perfect range

Let's just say I rednecked the tube to the lid ??


This should show pretty much how the lights are set up.. if you need more pics just let me know

Oh my gosh, thank you all so much, I did not expect answers this soon!! Where do I find a 4 X 2 X 2 tank. My petco doesnt have anything that big. I was thinking the exo terra because of the way the doors worked and it got good reviews. I would rather just buy the bigger one and be done with it. I am a pretty crafty gal and am going to give a go at making a big basking platform out of the foam stuff and grout. My sil has a nice sprayer with a small air tank that we got him as a gift, I will con him into spraying the paint for me like I want it maybe. It will probably take me a month or so to find and purchase everything I need to have his home just right, then I will take my grandson to pick out his dragon. Can I be ok with him getting one at petco. are they healthy ususally? I am a bit nervous about the actual picking out of the dragon. I am buying him a book so he can read up on them and get excited about the process. Also, I have a skull from a goat that we found on a hike, can that be sterilized and placed in the tank, it is a very cool looking skull. I hope I don't wear out my welcome with you wonderful people. Thanks so much!!!

You can make them.. do a search for crossfire enclosure or I am lazy so I look around on craigslist ??

No problem We love answering questions! Building a 4x2x2 isn't too hard, but you can buy them custom made online, they are just a bit pricy. https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html

I would avoid PetCo/PetSmart if possible, as they don't tend to have helathy dragons. You can shop around online, or see if there are any local breeders.

And I think the skull would be super cool, just as long as its sterilized super well.

Go ahead and scroll through this thread, it has some amazing enclosures! viewtopic.php?f=34&t=66704&p=1785906#p1785906

Knowing what i know now, I wouldn't have gotten mine at Petsmart but so far I have been very lucky with her.. Of course with the knowledge comes the constant worrying and me checking on her a bazillion times a day lol