A newbie to reptiles who’s a little confused :)

There’s a reptile show coming up in a few days, where I plan to buy a baby or juvenile bearded dragon- I have some things I bought for it, but I don’t know if they’re safe to use, or if I’m setting things up correctly. I bought a Exo Terra 40 gallon tank that has a styrofoam background to it- and I placed newspaper on the floor before placing slate tile on top of that. I have what I believe is a 75 watt heating lamp bulb, and I’m looking for a reptisun 10.0 fluorescent light-the stick one (though I don’t really know how to install it properly, especially with the styrofoam back). The heating bulb is in the zoo med combo deep dome lamp fixture, which is sitting on top of the screen of my cage. I have some decor, one being a fake cactus, another being a rock-looking hide, some fake leaves, and the final one being a huge fake tree knot. My food and water dishes are made of some kind of plastic (Zoo med reptirock) and I’m not really sure if it’s fully safe or not (it may be, I’m just worried). I placed the large fake tree knot under the heating lamp, which seems like it wouldn’t heat naturally and might be bad, so I think I’ll switch to cork bark. I noticed that all of my fake decor (except for the fake leaves) have a weird styrofoam smell to them at times, and I’m wondering if that’d be bad for my beardie to inhale or be around. The temperature on my hot side, on the tile, is 81.5 degrees F. The temperature on the tile on my cool side is 78.3. The tree knot gets to around 120 degrees F, which is bad. I think it might be the wrong height, and is too close to the heating lamp. I don’t really know how to get the temperatures exact, since the tile seems to be quite cool. Any suggestions would really help. I read a lot of different opinions on what is safe for a terrarium-how far away the lights should be from the dragon, what it should be eating, how it should be fed, how to store the food... and I’d appreciate any tips on how to feed my beardie, what to feed it, how small the prey should be, how to store the crickets/live food, and how often to clean the terrarium (I used Eco max dish soap to clean the tile and decor, Can I use that to clean my cage after the beardie is here?) I know, a lot of questions, I’m just really confused at the moment and advice from a seasoned beardie owner would certainly help.

It's always good to see someone setting up an enclosure before getting a new reptile! Let's get started.

40 gallons are typically used for adult bearded dragons, so my only concern there is that a juvenile may get stressed in such an enclosure. 20 gallons is usually the recommended size for beardies under 14" or so, so if you can, I would recommend buying an adult if you can find one. They don't have all of the baby cuteness, but buying a bearded dragon as an adult is just as rewarding in my opinion.

The temps you reported are a bit low, especially your basking temps. You want basking temps between 100-105 for an adult (or 105-115 for a juvenile) and a cool zone around 80 degrees, although 78 isn't much to be worried about.

The decor sounds fine. It just smells funny because it's new, but shouldn't cause any problems. And dish soap is a perfectly good way to clean a terrarium, although for disinfecting I recommend investing in some chlorhexidine solution.

As for the rest of your questions (I'm glad you have so many!), here's a link to the bearded dragon care guide I helped write. It's the same information I would have given you here: https://www.reptifiles.com/bearded-dragon-care-packet/

I hope this helps!

Thank you! I was a bit stressed about the tank since I’ve never owned any kind of reptile before, but I’m glad that I’m doing an okay job overall. I still haven’t been able to find a light fixture that fits the bulb I want (all I have is a Zoo med mini compact light at the moment) but I’ll keep looking-will the Zoo med mini compact cause problems if I have to use it?

Is this the Exo Terra 36x18x18'' tank with the front opening doors?


If so, that's a nice one to have because of the doors. The size shouldn't be a problem for a little one and you can take advantage of the space by building up some branches to climb on. Little ones tend to love climbing. The larger size will also let you set a proper heat and light gradient which is very important. Keep in mind that bugs like to sneak through the cable channels in the foam and hide behind it. I chose to remove the foam from mine to allow some more space and I put a photo background on the outside of the glass instead.

Can you post some photos of what you have set up so far? That may be the easiest way for us to give suggestions on arrangement. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them using the XIMG button when you reply.

You may need a more powerful light. The compacts are really designed for smaller tanks. I like using a PAR38 halogen flood light for basking because it produces bright white light, heat, and is dimmable. I have mine in a brooder lamp dome from the local farm store http://www.theisens.com/indoor-lighting/bayco-brooder-lamp-182-sjeo-x-6-fl-302pdq8

For UVB I recommend using a high quality T5 lamp which should sit about 12'' above the basking area for best results. I've used this one for years and it's fantastic http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/ A compact UVB light won't be nearly powerful enough for a bearded dragon so should be replaced.

That’s the one, the Exo Terra 40 gallon. I just bought an 100 watt heat bulb, I had a 75 watt one before, so maybe it was too cold. I’ll have to check the temperatures today to check if it’ll be okay-I bought a 100 watt ceramic heater by exoterra-can I use this in the same fixture has my other bulbs? I want to get a 24 inch bulb for my fluorescent light, will that be too much for my tank or the baby? Should I go for 18? This is my setup so far.

The ceramic heat emitter can be used in the dual dome as long as it's rated to handle over 100w. I've found that the 150w ZooMed Repti Basking Spot lamp was appropriate for that tank but I have my lights suspended well above the tank so I'm sure the extra distance comes into play. I use a 90w PAR38 halogen flood light now but at closer range a 70w would probably do. You may not need the ceramic heat emitter unless the temps in the tank drop below 65 overnight. They are fine with temps above that and don't need extra heat. A 22'' (24'' fixture) T5 is a good fit for that tank so I'd consider the one I linked earlier.

I ran some tests on the heat lamp, and it seems as though the highest point on the cork bark gets to 114 degrees F, and the tile gets to around 92 degrees F. The cool side is around 84 degrees. With the ceramic heater, the cool side is 80 degrees, and the warm side is around 92 degrees F on the cork bark, and 85 degrees F on the tile-are these good temperatures for day and night? (The ceramic heater will be on at night) do I need to get an adjustable lamp for the heater? Something I’ve noticed is that it takes a while for the heat bulb and ceramic heater to actually start to get warm-is there any way around this or will my beardie be ok in the time it takes to heat up? I think I’m going to order the light recommended-it was getting a bit difficult to find the fixture and bulb separately, so that really helps.

That sounds like a good gradient. I'd keep it as it is. The night time temps are a bit high. You might want to keep the CHE off unless it's a really cold night. It's not needed if the tank temps stay above 65. Even when my house goes below that on winter nights I just have the CHE kick in to bring the temp up between 70-73 overnight.

The lag for the bulbs to warm up is fine too. It takes time for the air to heat up in the morning so if anything it's more natural to have a gradual ramp up rather than full on mid day temps all of a sudden.

Okay! It seems to me like the lowest temperature the tank gets to is 70 degrees. I’m assuming it’ll be a little hotter since the door to the room will be closed all day (because of the cat), trapping the heat in it for a little. I suppose the only way I’ll figure out if the beardie likes the temperatures is if it’s actually here! Any suggestions on cage disinfectant, or a good food to feed a baby beardie?

70 is fine. You won't need a night heater.

I use F10 for cage disinfectant. I spray with vinegar/water and scrub it to get the solid bits up and clean everything then spray F10SC at a 1:250 concentration to sanitize. This is the concentrate https://beanfarm.com/products/f10sc-veterinary-disinfectant-100-ml-3-4-oz?variant=24905406857 A little bottle like this should last over a year. I use a small plastic syringe to add the appropriate amount to a spray bottle and fill it with water to create the F10 spray.

I would offer a variety of bugs to a baby. A couple of bug meals each day all they want in about 10 min or so. You can use small roaches or crickets for a staple. I would also offer black soldier fly larvae and small silk worms on rotation too. It's also good to offer a salad every day so they get used to it as a food source. They may not show much interest when they're young but that's OK they need protein to support big growth spurts. Here is a list I like to reference for salad ideas. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html