I plan on building (wife needs more convincing) a 12'L x 36" x 24" enclosure for bearded dragons for my ALL ANIMAL loving nine year old. I figure I'd start with one female beardie and go from there. If my daughter really enjoys the beardie and wants more I could easily house another female and a male in an enclosure of this size. My plan is to have a bio-active substrate (we live in the woods on 12 acres).
My question concerns lighting. I was thinking of using six staggered 4' reptisun T5's down the middle of the enclosure, 4 halogen flood lamps directed at elevated basking wood and rock decor, and three 6500K daylight LED's (for the cool end). Along the rear of the enclosure I would string: three staggered 4' 5500-6500K plant tubes. I would use link-together fixtures https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XPV236S/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 for the tubes and put everything on staggered timers. Sounded great to me till I went to the zoo med site: https://zoomed.com/wp-content/uploads/Choosing-Correct-UVB-Lamp-2018-07.pdf according to this chart my, oops my daughters; dragon needs to be within seven inches of the bulb to receive sufficient light? Do I need to go with Mercury Vapor bulbs or will the T5 ReptiSuns reach the 16" or so distance to the basking area's? Lighting would be hidden from view in a "hood" but open below to the Vivarium.
Also, I posted this exact question on another forum (and was directed here!) Anyway the respondent said I couldn't house more than one beardie in an enclosure? They said that the male would stress the females by always trying to breed them? Is this true? Could I keep three females in an enclosure of this size?
How about Arcadia 14%? I read somewhere it's strong enough for deeper enclosures.
My question concerns lighting. I was thinking of using six staggered 4' reptisun T5's down the middle of the enclosure, 4 halogen flood lamps directed at elevated basking wood and rock decor, and three 6500K daylight LED's (for the cool end). Along the rear of the enclosure I would string: three staggered 4' 5500-6500K plant tubes. I would use link-together fixtures https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XPV236S/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 for the tubes and put everything on staggered timers. Sounded great to me till I went to the zoo med site: https://zoomed.com/wp-content/uploads/Choosing-Correct-UVB-Lamp-2018-07.pdf according to this chart my, oops my daughters; dragon needs to be within seven inches of the bulb to receive sufficient light? Do I need to go with Mercury Vapor bulbs or will the T5 ReptiSuns reach the 16" or so distance to the basking area's? Lighting would be hidden from view in a "hood" but open below to the Vivarium.
Also, I posted this exact question on another forum (and was directed here!) Anyway the respondent said I couldn't house more than one beardie in an enclosure? They said that the male would stress the females by always trying to breed them? Is this true? Could I keep three females in an enclosure of this size?
How about Arcadia 14%? I read somewhere it's strong enough for deeper enclosures.