Newbie BD owner, questions I have about the terrarium.

Hey folks, I've got some questions that I can't find the right answer for - I've been on YouTube for like 4 hours now, lol. So yesterday my fiancé and I got a baby BD, approx 6 inches long from Petsmart. We also bought this $100 starter terrarium kit, pictured below. My main concerns are proper lighting. This kit came with a 20gal tank that locks with metal mesh that has room for the heat and uvb light only with a 3" meshed off opening on the side, a 75w heat bulb, a 15w uvb bulb, reptile carpet, and a stick on thermometer/hydrometer. The therm/hydro gague hasn't gotten any higher than 87F and the humidity is staying between 40 and 60. I'm concerned with this eventually not allowing the BD to live, which no one wants. Last night until this morning I only left the uvb light on overnight because I didn't think you could cut them both off for 12 hours at night. We live in NC and our ac stays between 73/76 degrees in the summer and around 69/72 in the winter. This is just what we set up with what we had, plus the half log and artificial little climbing thing that I keep under the basking area. I've read about red bulbs, night bulbs, all kinda crap. I thought those two lights we be all would need? Any ideas, tips, tricks will be greatly appreciated! If anymore info is needed don't hesitate to ask.

okay, i'm a newbie too so i don't have a ton of experience, but this is what i've learned from scouring websites and forum posts about lighting: most of my comments come from this page so read through this first because it says it better than i do!
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006

-you need to have a place for the beardie to climb up to get to the basking bulb on one end of the terrarium. the basking place needs to be around 100-110 degrees, with the ideal being somewhere in the middle. not having a warm enough enclosure will not allow your beardie to digest food! stick on thermometers don't work well so you should have a digital thermometer or a heat gun, but since youre only reading temps around 87 degrees its EXTREMELY probable that it's too low. You also need to use a thermometer on the surface where your beardie will be basking, not just the ambient air temp in the tank like the stick on's do.
-you need to take temps from all over your terrarium! You need a temperature gradient where on the warm/basking side, you can have temps around 100-110, where the lower side is 80-90 degrees so your beardie can thermoregulate.
-get rid of that UVB light! sorry, but coiled/bulb UVB lights from most brands dont provide enough UVB and hurt the dragon's eyes, and the #1 kind i've seen reccomended is the 10.0 reptisun flourescent tube. Your UVB should look something like this, http://www.petmountain.com/photos/product/giant/114420S507368/-/24-t8-bulb-17-watt-.jpg
not compacted in a bulb like that because that could damage your beardie.
-The night/heat bulbs are if your temps drop below 65F at night and you need to keep it warm, but in the summer it's not a problem unless your enclosure drops too cold.


It also, in my opinion, looks kind of barren. There should be more stuff to fill up the cage and make the beardie feel more safe. I'm sorry if all the stuff I'm saying is costly or doesn't work with your starter kit tank, but without the proper heating and lighting your beardie can die.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I'm aware it needs more things in the tank like a hammock, artificial branches, misc. decor items and I'm also going to get a desert themed (if they make them) wrapping for the back and sides of the tank. Unfortunately for now that light will have to do, I don't get paid until Wednesday or so. Once paid I'll definitely head to wally world and find one of the tube lighting fixtures to hang inside of the tank as well. What do the 10.0 bulbs usually run and how long are they? He's asleep right now but tomorrow I'll use our digital thermometer, cut it on and first place it on his current basking spot. I just hope there's enough room to mount it inside! I've only had him about 36 hours so far, he ate 3 crickets with calcium +d3 today but that's it, wasn't interested in romane lettuce or tiny pieces of apple at all yet.
Another question, since he's so young should I keep his water dish in there 24/7, just during the day, what's best? I know it screws with humidity.

The bigger concern for me, than the type of UVB bulb is where it located.

The spiral UVB bulbs USED to cause vision problems, but I believe those problems have been solved in this type of bulb and they are now quite functional if you get a good one. The only concern is that they don't give a nice spread of UVB, but for such a small dragon, he can probably fit in the whole area of light that it casts.

The positioning of the lights however, dead center like that is going to make it impossible for him to thermoregulate as there will be no true 'cool' side. If you can find a way, I would move the whole lid so that the lights are over one side. You can cover the opening in the top that this will create with some cardboard cut to size.

You don't need heat inside your tank at night unless your ambient room temp drops below 65F. Then you will want a ceramic heat emitter which does not give off light, only heat, to bump the temperatures up. It is natural for them to cool off at night while they sleep. Having lights, even coloured/black lights will interfere with that.

A 20 gallon will not last very long as baby dragons grow rapidly. Instead of going out to buy new lights now, I would do more research and start saving your funds for when you will need to upgrade. For reference, my little dude was 8" long when I bought him on June 1, he is now over 12" long, less than 2 months later. If your 20g is 13" deep, Fitz would barely be able to turn around in there.

You will be better off buying the parts you need and putting together a kit, rather than buying a ready made one. Get a 40 gallon breeder or larger tank, either buy used (you can get a great deal on a fish tank with a crack in it on something like craigslist, since you don't need it to hold water) or wait for the Petco Dollar per gallon sale. You will be able to reuse one of your current fixtures for the basking/heat bulb, and perhaps re-purpose the other for a ceramic heat emitter if the base is ceramic/porcelain and if you end up needing it. Thank you can purchase a T8 or T5HO light fixture and appropriate sized Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% bulb for it.

Makes sence. Unfortunately the lid to this tank isn't removeable, it has hinges on the rear and opens like a door. Looks like my only option until I get a bigger tank is to go ahead and buy the fixture and 10.0 light and mount it inside. It'd be easier if I could remove it, I can't even move the basking light all the way over to one side. Craaaaap! I'm going to start hunting for a 40gal breeder right now, hopefully I can get one in the next few days.