My beardie doesn't like temperatures above 100F?

Charm,my bearded baby, doesn't seem to like high temperatures.
I finally fixed his setup to where the temperatures were from 100-105F but he REFUSES to use his basking area. He'll go on there for a minute at best, and then leave to the other rock that's near his heat lamp that gets to about 90-92F. Previously, when his basking temp was 93-97F he was ALWAYS under there basking? Is this normal? and is this okay? The cool side of his tank is 80-84F depending on where I take the temperature at. Would it be fine if I just left the basking temperatures at the one he seems to prefer? I'm using one of the handheld thermometers but I'm certain it's accurate because it has the right temps for my leopard gecko and he's doing just fine??? I'm so confused please help

Yeah that's fine. It sounds like you have a good temperature gradient available. I'd keep part of the basking area at around 100-105 with areas around that in the 90s and keep your cool side where it is. That will give him lots of options and he'll move about to get what he needs at any given time. The same goes for UVB. You want a nice strong UVB beam across the basking area while providing other areas of the tank with little to no UVB so he can choose what he wants. They move around a lot during the day to get different exposures.

CooperDragon":1bsi6yw9 said:

Yeah that's fine. It sounds like you have a good temperature gradient available. I'd keep part of the basking area at around 100-105 with areas around that in the 90s and keep your cool side where it is. That will give him lots of options and he'll move about to get what he needs at any given time. The same goes for UVB. You want a nice strong UVB beam across the basking area while providing other areas of the tank with little to no UVB so he can choose what he wants. They move around a lot during the day to get different exposures.

Click to expand...

The verrrry top of his basking branch is about 100-105F so if he climbed up high on it he'd be able to reach those temperatures He does move around a lot and typically stays where its the low 90's unless he'd just recently eaten. I have a reptisun T8 10.0, and it is directly on the cage (not stopped by mesh or anything. he only has a small part of his cage covered with a 10gallon screen lid for his heat lamp) in fact tomorrow he's getting a new replacement bulb so I'm hoping that may help him a bit too! He just woke up from brumation about 5 days ago and he seems pretty happy with everything the way it is. I just wanted to make sure that he'd stay nice and healthy with the temperatures he has, so thank you very much for answering my worries!!! <3

That sounds good. Just be sure he can get to about 6'' of the T8 if he wants to in order to provide enough UVB.

hibutan":192w0813 said:

CooperDragon":192w0813 said:

Yeah that's fine. It sounds like you have a good temperature gradient available. I'd keep part of the basking area at around 100-105 with areas around that in the 90s and keep your cool side where it is. That will give him lots of options and he'll move about to get what he needs at any given time. The same goes for UVB. You want a nice strong UVB beam across the basking area while providing other areas of the tank with little to no UVB so he can choose what he wants. They move around a lot during the day to get different exposures.

Click to expand...

The verrrry top of his basking branch is about 100-105F so if he climbed up high on it he'd be able to reach those temperatures He does move around a lot and typically stays where its the low 90's unless he'd just recently eaten. I have a reptisun T8 10.0, and it is directly on the cage (not stopped by mesh or anything. he only has a small part of his cage covered with a 10gallon screen lid for his heat lamp) in fact tomorrow he's getting a new replacement bulb so I'm hoping that may help him a bit too! He just woke up from brumation about 5 days ago and he seems pretty happy with everything the way it is. I just wanted to make sure that he'd stay nice and healthy with the temperatures he has, so thank you very much for answering my worries!!! <3

Click to expand...

How far from the basking spot is the T8 10%UVB tube. These are quite weak and have very limited "reach".

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.

As can been above , to achieve a suitable basking UVB flux, the T8 10%UVB will need to be very close to the basking spot to give about 190 microW UVB/ sqcm , something like about 4 - 5 inches which is very close .
Whereas a T5HO 10-12%UVB will be give an OK level of UVB flux at about 8-10 inches from the basking spot.

kingofnobbys":3jzocvee said:

hibutan":3jzocvee said:

CooperDragon":3jzocvee said:

Yeah that's fine. It sounds like you have a good temperature gradient available. I'd keep part of the basking area at around 100-105 with areas around that in the 90s and keep your cool side where it is. That will give him lots of options and he'll move about to get what he needs at any given time. The same goes for UVB. You want a nice strong UVB beam across the basking area while providing other areas of the tank with little to no UVB so he can choose what he wants. They move around a lot during the day to get different exposures.

Click to expand...

The verrrry top of his basking branch is about 100-105F so if he climbed up high on it he'd be able to reach those temperatures He does move around a lot and typically stays where its the low 90's unless he'd just recently eaten. I have a reptisun T8 10.0, and it is directly on the cage (not stopped by mesh or anything. he only has a small part of his cage covered with a 10gallon screen lid for his heat lamp) in fact tomorrow he's getting a new replacement bulb so I'm hoping that may help him a bit too! He just woke up from brumation about 5 days ago and he seems pretty happy with everything the way it is. I just wanted to make sure that he'd stay nice and healthy with the temperatures he has, so thank you very much for answering my worries!!! <3

Click to expand...

How far from the basking spot is the T8 10%UVB tube. These are quite weak and have very limited "reach".

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.

As can been above , to achieve a suitable basking UVB flux, the T8 10%UVB will need to be very close to the basking spot to give about 190 microW UVB/ sqcm , something like about 4 - 5 inches which is very close .
Whereas a T5HO 10-12%UVB will be give an OK level of UVB flux at about 8-10 inches from the basking spot.

Click to expand...

It's about 10 inches away or so... A T5 is better then? Will he be alright till next month when I get paid again (on the 3rd) so I can buy a new fixture/bulbs? Or is this something that I absolutely need to get right away?

10'' away is a bit beyond the effective reach of a T8 so a T5 would be much better suited. It can probably wait until you are paid but in the meantime I would rearrange furniture or install a branch of some sort to allow him to get a bit closer to the UVB light. It is also a good idea to supplement by bringing him outside for some natural sunlight if the weather allows for it.