Nearly there.....

Hi All,

My daughter will have her new bearded dragon in 4 weeks. In the mean time I have been very busy sorting the vivarium and food source.

So far, I have set up a Dubia Roach colony and it is thriving (although still early days) in a 106L tub (250 female and 50 male and countless babies) this is set up in my shed on a heat mat and mini stat with my own dry mix with fruit and veg every other day

I tend to obsess over new projects and research things to death. Since buying a wooden vivarium starter kit, all that is left of the kit is the wooden vivarium itself. I have done away with the small uvb bulb and replaced with an arcadia D3 24W UVB compact flood, I have installed a 2 tear natural sandstone basking area, I have replaced the substrate from calci sand to exo terra reptile mat, The 60w spot has been replaced with a white python ultra slim 60w ceramic heater, the plastic holder has been replaced with a ceramic fixture. I have also fitted a microclimate DL1ME day/night dimmer (had to adapt the controller to fit in the viv so the day night function works in tandem with the arcadia flood as my daughter isn't the best for opening her curtains in the morning plus the dark nights are fast approaching).

So... why the post... Having read as much as I can, you cant beat hands on experience hence why I am on here again asking your for your valued guidance. Today I plugged in the white python ultra slim ceramic heater and boy does it get hot, however, the basking spot doesn't really feel all that warm. Its been on for about 3-4 hours now and the rock temp is a mere 94C on the lower tear and 95.5 on the upper (its about 8" away from the basking spot). As the new arrival will be 6 weeks old, I would be looking for temps of around 105-110. Firstly, I realise that I may be being a bit hasty but if the night setting is set to 80C then it will take far too long to raise the temperature up. It is a only a 3ft Viv (we are very limited on space in my daughters room) but bearing in mind the microclimate dimmer, would it be frugal to install a 100w or 150w ceramic heater to get the temperatures moving quicker?

Cheers for reading

It sounds like you have a pretty good setup going. Are you using the ceramic heat emitter as the only heat source over the basking area? If so, I suggest adding a bright white halogen flood light to provide bright visible light along with heat. That should be the main heat source that will imitate sunlight when mixed with the UVB light over the basking area. I would have that main light dim as needed and then set the CHE as secondary heat that can increase/decrease as needed.

Hi CooperDragon,

I have taken your advice on board and am going to do away with the ceramic heater and I have ordered an arcadia mercury vapour 80W UVB UVA & Heat bulb (literally just ordered it) so that in the cool area I still have the arcadia flood and in the basking area will still have the valuable UV with the mercury bulb. Thanks for your advice, it is very much appreciated

I feel I have wasted my money buying the day/night microclimate as it wont drop to night time mode without the light going out, as the light source will also be the heat source it defeats the object :roll: . At best I could switch it to permanent day mode and stick it on a timer as normal.

I am still concerned about night time temps dropping too low in the winter. I have a mini stat 100 controlling heat on my roach colony but as its in my shed, I recon I could use the mini stat over winter on a ceramic heater in the viv and return it to the roaches in the summer so they don't cook (or I may just buy another mini stat for the sake of £25).

It sounded so simple when the guy (pet shop) sold me the kit :?: .... Only by doing my own research have I found that it is the proverbial mine field to keep a bd happy and healthy.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

It's confusing at first because there are so many options. It takes a bit of tweaking for a while to get everything just the way you want it but once done, it's pretty hands off.

I would keep the CHE on hand to supplement the Arcadia MVB if needed. The MVB will need to be set at a specific distance to allow for proper UVB output, probably around 25-30cm above the highest basking area, but I don't have test results from that bulb to verify. You'll need to pick up a Solarmeter to be sure but 25-30cm is probably a good safe estimate based on other lamps of the similar wattage. If you aren't getting high enough temps at that distance you can set the CHE to come on via dimming setting to compensate as needed.

Moving the other UVB light to the other side of the tank is OK, but you'll want to be sure to provide some shade areas. It's good to provide high UVB and low UVB areas just as with the heat so they can move around and get what they need at a given time. They are very good at self regulating so we want to provide them with as many options as is practical in an artificial setup.

Hmmm, the highest I can get the bulb away from the basking spot is about 22cm, 25 if I remove the upper tear of the basking spot. The other thing I have just been reading is that the MBV cannot be dimmed (no mention of this on the arcadia website) so I am hoping that the 80w bulb will somehow miraculously give me basking temps of 105*C although I suspect otherwise (maybe another waste of money). If it has to be other than 105*C then I hope its less, then as you say I can supplement the heat with the CHE. I will fit this anyway and stick on the mini stat if the temps are good or on the dimmer stat if I need to increase the temp.

I am shocked at how much is involved. I wonder how many reptiles are out there that are living in "kits" bought from pet shops where the owners have done no or very little research. I just wish I hadn't listened to the guy and took his word for everything in the first instance.

Anyway, hopefully next week I can make the tweaks and hopefully be in a whole better place

Have you got a MVB? if so how do you find the temperature compared to a halogen?

Thanks again

22cm is fine as long as you provide areas slightly further away. Your dragon will move around and self regulate. You're correct in that you don't want to dim an MVB. Just let it run and provide the UVB. You can dim the CHE next to it though for supplemental heat. Just hook that to the thermostat dimmer and let it adjust the CHE as needed.

For temps, you want to shoot for 100-110*F in the basking area or about 38-43*C gradient down to 23-27*C or so cool side.

I do have a MVB but I use it as a portable basking spot in the living room. In my tank I have a T5 Arcadia tube for UVB and a halogen flood for heat with a heat projector on the cool side that comes on as needed (usually during winter). I've found that the output of both UVB and heat varies quite a bit between models of MVB. For the most part they seem to be a bit cooler than the halogen bulbs or reptile specific basking lights. I have a 100w Mega Ray sitting 30cm above the floor in the living room and it's currently putting out only 33*C onto my dragon's back. In the tank the halogen flood is 48cm above the basking area and the temp is sitting at 39*C. You'll need to mess around with it quite a bit to get everything fine tuned. Once you do though, it is pretty straightforward to monitor and maintain.

Unfortunately I see the results of improper care almost every day. It's incredibly sad to see dragons with issues related to malnutrition and deformities due to MBD. Spreading as much good information as possible and trying to update my own knowledge and testing regularly is about the best I can do at the moment. The lucky dragons have caregivers who come on here and we can help them correct their setups before it's too late.

Thank you for your help CooperDragon... Just a little update.

I have done away with the microclimate DL1 ME dimmer stat (will be going on eBay soon but will post on here 1st for anyone interested in the UK). I have replaced it with the new Microclimate Evo with timer control. I have also done away with the CHE, I was obsessing to much on night time temps. The Evo is a 2 channel timer stat day/night pulse or dimmer with LCD touch screen and I've got to be honest, first impressions are very good. I now have the basking bulb and Arcadia flood at the basking end. It has been running all day and I've got the temps as follows: upper basking spot at 110f lower basking spot at 105f surrounding floor at 100f, 90f mid and 85f at the cool end (80f in the hide). It's a much simpler setup than I was attempting but it works! For the odd occasion that temperatures in the house go below 60f the heat bulb will come on dimmed for a short period. I know that lights shouldn't come on over night but it is unlikely that temps will drop below 60f in the house. Plus, it's ultimately safer than introducing another star and heat source (failure limitation).

So with your help and advice, I think I may actually be there now... Woop woop. So, I would just like to thank you once again for your time to reply to my questions. Thanks mate!!!!

Where are you getting your dragon from?