Thoughts on my customer Enclosure

OK folks, I have done a lot of research before I went ahead and built this. I would like any comments or suggestions.

Specs:
Oak Enclosure is 6 foot x 2 foot x 28 inches high.
Natural rock tile for the floor (almost finished).
Eight, two inch vents on the back.
4 foot 36 watt Reptisun bulb for UVA/UVB
1 Porcelain fixture for basking light on right side
1 Porcelain fixture for ceramic heat emitter on left side
Spyder Robotics Thermostat for the heat emitter (for those cold nights)
Plexiglass side windows
Thick glass sliding doors for front.

Following are some photos, any suggestions on how to improve this for my beardie would be appreciated.

Incredible job! I so wish I had space to build a 6' enclosure, what a dream!

The only thing I would change if you can would be to go to a T5HO fixture and bulb for UVB as you have considerable height there. Getting your dragon to within 6-8" of that bulb, while staying far enough from the heat bulb will be a challenge.

Good luck, what a lucky dragon!

quyllur":3h6rc7an said:

Incredible job! I so wish I had space to build a 6' enclosure, what a dream!

The only thing I would change if you can would be to go to a T5HO fixture and bulb for UVB as you have considerable height there. Getting your dragon to within 6-8" of that bulb, while staying far enough from the heat bulb will be a challenge.

Good luck, what a lucky dragon!

Click to expand...

Can you give me more information about the T5HO? Will one bulb be enough?

Yes, one bulb will be fine, you could do a 36" or 48".

T5HO emits significantly more UVB, so your dragon only needs to get within 12-14" of it during basking.

With all that space you should be able to make some great climbing spots for the little guy. What are you planning for decorations?

Really Lovely enclosure!
Here is some more info about light options : https://sites.google.com/site/thelizardmadness/lighting-guides

I would add a 22" T5 to the basking aide for UV and use the T8 with a daylight bulb in it. The added brightness is almost always a benifit. Could use the reptisun as well but without a meter to judge where to put the basking spot it might be a bit too much UV.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I am really anxious about my guy and any comments or help would be appreciated.

So he is in his new home, but he is acting strange.

I did swap out the reptisun t8 for a t5 HO 48 inch. Its about 24 - 26 inches above the floor.

I also swapped out the 100W ceramic heat emitter with a 250W. The 100W seemed to take to long to regain the temp after I opened the glass front for a while.

As you can see by the picture below, I gave him some good clumbing and basking spots. Unfortunately he isnt using them. When he was in his old cage he would bask all day.

I did some temp checks with my new temp gun. Basking spot is 109F, ambient on the basking side of the tank is 90F give or take a degree depending on the spot and shade. 85F on the cool side of the tank.

But all he does is lay on the ground all day. He is awake, alert, he moves his head and looks at you when you walk over, but doesnt ever climb on anything.

Another thing is, he is not eating his greens. In fact he will not eat anything I offer other than superworms. If I give him 4 superworms he will eat them all right away. If I offer phoenix worms, he might eat one or two reluctantly. Crickets he will completely ignore and I wind up having to take them all out.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. I keep giving him the phoenix worms because I dont want him to starve.

Oh one more thing, he is pooping every other day or so.

Here is a pic of the finished tank with decorations. You cant see him because he is behind the wood platforms in the middle. :*(

250W might be a bit too hot for him, if you can try getting a probe that you can tape onto the basking spot so you can read it with the glass closed, perhaps the area just gets too hot for him?

ruben0311":1afwncus said:

250W might be a bit too hot for him, if you can try getting a probe that you can tape onto the basking spot so you can read it with the glass closed, perhaps the area just gets too hot for him?

Click to expand...

The 250W heat emitter is on the cool side of the enclosure and regulated by a spyder robotics thermostat to keep the area 85 degrees.

I check the basking spot, and it is about 106-109 depending on the time of day.

my apologies, i didn't notice you meant a heat emitter, thought you meant light bulb. haha. maybe just chock it up to stress and not being use to so much room