What light does my beardie bask under ?

What should i let him bask under ? Does he bask under the Heat Bulb or The Uvb Bulb ? I have a Zilla Daywhite light and a Reptisun 10.0 PLEASE Help , and are those lights okay ? hes a small one like about 5 to 7 weeks , he’s red, Leatherback

Hi. You want to put the basking light and uvb together so when he basks he get the benefits of both. What kind of uvb a coil/compact or a long tube?

The uvb is in the middle the day white light heat lamp is on the right , he has a hiding rock and theres leaves that he can limb up to the green hammock and he would be right under the heat lamp by 6-7 inches away , i have a heat pad in the middle of the tank , On the wide side not under it where he cant climb or reach , (i live in michigan so its cold and house temperture goes low but not lower than 60 , his tank never goes under 80 degrees , should i put the heat lamp in the middle and the uvb on the right ? or is it good ? idk if i can post a picture or not . oh yeah they are both black domes , like the ones that get hot , the bulb is the coil one but the straight one not the one that twists around its not the long ones that go across the tank

Well let's try to simplify this for you...his tank should be split into 2 sides, the Hot Side and the Cool Side. His Main Basking Spot, which should be something solid like a rock, a big piece of wood or a log, a thick branch, a cave with a platform on top, etc. so that it absorbs the heat from the bright white basking/heat bulb (not the hammock), should be in the Hot Side of the tank, and directly under both his bright white basking/heat bulb AND his UVB tube, which need to be right alongside each other and positioned directly over top of this Main Basking Spot. The idea is that while he's on this Main Basking Spot/Platform he will get both a bright white basking light and an adequate UVB light at the same time, and this replicates natural sunlight for him. Both lights need to be on for at least 13-14 hours a day.

You're using a compact 10.0 UVB bulb, which is not adequate at all for a bearded dragon. They are only 13 watts (unless you have the 1 that is adequate, an Exo Terra 200, which is 26 watts) and they do not emit adequate or strong enough UVB light for a desert reptile like a bearded dragon. Plus, if you have any type of lid on his tank, like a mesh lid, that the compact UVB bulb is sitting on and being obstructed by, then that mesh lid is blocking about 40% of the already far too weak UVB light. So he's not really getting much UVB light at all right now (keep in mind that UVB light does not penetrate glass or clear plastic at all, it blocks 100% of the UVB light, just an FYI). So you really need to get him a long UVB tube, either an 18" or a 24" long Reptisun 10.0 T8 or T5HO UVB tube, and a matching length tube fixture that has no plastic covers over the UVB tube.

Keep in mind that if you buy the weaker Reptisun 10.0 T8 UVB tube instead of the stronger T5 UVB tube, the T8 must be mounted underneath the mesh lid by poking holes in the mesh and strapping the tube fixture to the underside of the mesh with Zip Ties, Shoelaces, twine, etc. Also, whatever you decide to use as his main basking spot/platform needs to be within 6" of the unobstructed T8 UVB tube in order for him to get adequate UVB light. If you order the stronger T5 UVB tube then it needs to be within 11" of his main basking spot, and a T5 UVB tube can sit on top of the mesh lid because it is strong enough to penetrate adequate UVB light to your beardie. And very important to remember is that you must replace a T8 UVB tube once every 6 months, and a T5 UVB tube once every 12 months, as that's when they stop emitting any UVB light, even though they won't be burnt out and will still emit light, they won't be emitting any UVB light.

I'm sorry you bought a compact UVB light for him, it's a mistake that a lot of people make, but it's good that you caught this while he's so young, because if you get him an adequate UVB tube and fixture now and get it mounted correctly and within the correct distance of his basking spot/platform, he should be fine. It's very important at his age that he gets 13-14 hours of adequate UVB light every single day and he gets his live insects dusted with calcium every day and a multivitamin at least 4 days a week, this all will keep him healthy and avoid any MBD.