Black poster light

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Hey guys, im building an enclosure for my 3 bearded dragons because i have extra melamine laying around from a previous project and i recently broke one of their tanks so i have one of my bearded dragons in a little closed off area on te floor with a mvb bulb and i prefer he not be there but in an actual enclosure. Its gonna be 36" wide, 18" height, and 24" deep, anyways im installing a light fixture to have their basking light and i have 3 24 inch black POSTER lights that i dont use anymore and i was wondering if incould put a reptisun 10.0 uvb 24" bulb in there and just mount it to the top. Or would it not work correctly?
 

Buttertoast95

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The black light poster fixtures are for t8 bulbs and i have 2 t8 24" reptisun 10.0 uvb bulbs in my garage that i never used because they were for my uncles iguana and he bought 10 uvb instead of 5uvb. so to not let them go to waste i would have to use a t8 fixture. But what im etting iut of this is that the fixture SHOULD work hypothetically with the right bulb but it would be better if i bought a t5 fixture and bulb because they are better
 

CooperDragon

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Yep. The T8 should work with that fixture but won't have a great output in terms of UVB, especially without a reflector.
 

Buttertoast95

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Thank you. Im not ok with t but its what i have at the moment. Also i have reflective tape from my construction job so that should do the trick if i mess with it a little bit. But im wondering if i should install an mvb light aswell so there is more uvb? Or would that be an excessive ammount? And an additional question. Ive been feeding my beardies crickets and superworms along with their veggies bt the original owner had them only on insects so they arent much for their veggies. But my wife doesnt like crickets very much because they snell and make noise and i just found out that superworms are very high in fat and can cause fatty liver disease. I was windering what insects i vould buy in bulk to feed them that wont make much noise, wont escape and dont smell. She hates roaches btw. She was raused in the bronx so whenever she hears the word "roach" she cringes? So unfortunately no dubias
 

CooperDragon

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The reflective tape may help if it's shiny enough. Adding an MVB wouldn't be overkill depending on the brand and wattage. The downside is that they need to be set at a specific height for UVB output and you can't control heat independently. The cost of a good MVB would wind up being close to a T5 tube fixture as well. I prefer using MVBs as portable basking spots outside the tank.

How old are they? Adults should be on a mostly veg diet but still need bugs weekly(ish). I like to use silk worms, black soldier fly larvae, and hornworms as treats. I have dubia... "bugs" as a staple and they work well but if they're a no go then that's that. You could try a different kind of "bug" that doesn't look as much like a roach. Maybe some banana "bugs" would fit the bill. If you could get a colony going they'd make a nice staple.
 

Buttertoast95

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I have 2 power sun mvb 100watt bulbs that are only a month old. I could buy a third one if it would be better, i would need to buy another uvb meter because the one i bought was cheap and i dropped it from a good height so i wouldnt trust that. How much would a decent one be? And just for the record im talking about putting the 3 powersun 100watt mvbs WITH the 24 inch reptisun 10.0. I dont want to give them too much uvb and hurt them. Im pretty sure one if them has mbd already but i got her like that and im trying my best to help her recover. Lots of calcium intake but not too much.
And ill give it a shot with the banana bugs, i wanted to try soldier fly larvae but wouldnt i need to have flies laying eggs?. The 2 are brother and sister and they are about 4 years old and my other one is about 7 months at 15 inches. They were just accustomed to only freezedried mealworms for many years and bo veggies so its hard to get them onto the veggies now. If it doesnt move, they dont want it.
 

CooperDragon

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It's important that they all have their own space rather than being housed together. They will likely hog resources from eachother, intimidate eachother, and could cause physical harm by attacking eachother in close quarters.

The PowerSun 100w is a decent MVB. I like the wide beam they provide. They need to sit 8-10'' above the basking area to provide proper UVB. One of these on it's own at that distance will provide sufficient UVB. You could add the T8 at 6'' up if you want but it's not necessary. It wouldn't be too much though. With the PowerSun at that distance, you'll still need to provide a basking site that is at about 100-105 surface temp or so while still having other areas be down to around 75-80ish.

The cheap UV meters don't work very well. Your best bet is a Solarmeter 6.5 which will measure UV Index. They run about $200 each. I use these to measure the output of my bulbs and run tests on available bulbs. I like to have the basking site between about 3-7 UVI.

You don't need flies to order BSFL. You can order them in bulk from symtonbsf. I just received a jar of 500 today. They live in a soil substrate and don't require any care. If they do hatch into flies, they are slow moving and easy to catch. My dragon loves to eat them as flies as well as larvae.
 

Buttertoast95

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Awesome, thank you so much, youve been a great help. I made the mistake of getting 3 of them when i wasnt even ready for 1 but with the help of you guys, i now have 2 healthy happy dragons and 1 thats makig a recovery. Im still a much better owner than their previous owner but i still have lots to learn to take cre of them, theyre like family now. Lol thank you
 

CooperDragon

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It's a constant learning experience with them. I'm glad they all have a happy home with you now. Please let me know if you'd like to bounce any other ideas off of me and I'll be glad to help if I can.
 
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