UVB

Hello

I'm new to owning a bearded dragon

When I first got my little dude I had a T8 uvb bulb and everything was fine but once he out grew his first tank I upgraded to a 48x24x24 and still had the T8 bulb so I was researching about the uvb and that they had to be 6-8" away from it and he wasn't so I spoke to my pet shop and they said to get a T5 bulb and I asked them if that was safe due to my tank the uvb had to be mounted inside of the tank and they said yea it's fine so I went ahead and got a T5(his current UVB bulb) so now i recently been told that a T5 shouldn't be mounted inside of the tank as it's to strong is this true ?? If so I'll order a T8 again asap I'm just worried with a T8 he won't be close enough he has logs ect ect in his viv but he doesn't use them much he likes his hammock more

Thanks
Aaron

Hi there, can you post a few pics of the position of your lights ? The t8 is recommended to not be any closer than 6", not that it has to be at 6". Frances Baines wrote about that in her latet article in reptiles magazine. So the t8 bulb is fine at 10", especialy if it has a reflector. If your t5 is closer than that, it may be too close. The t5 is made to be about 12" away at least.

His hammock is the highest point of the tank the log he won't go up here

Very nice set up ! The t8 would work fine in there. It's a misconception that the t8 needs to be at 6" . It's to be no closer than 6". But 8-10" is fine, and if you're don't have a reflector on the back of your uvb fixture you can put a sheet of aluminum foil to increase the uvb that is reflect down.


The t5 should be no closer than 10"....if that's the distance you have it at, then it should be O.K. Just take note of how he reacts, if he seems to not want to bask under it then he may be bothered by it. But it looks like it's at an O.K distance.

Well from the basking platform to the basking light is 9-10inches from my BD then even higher for the uvb I will measure the cold side hammock to see how far it is away from the uvb and if its within the safe distance I'll keep it for now until the 6month is up and I'll buy another T8

His light not has a reflector and he dose bask a lot but at the moment I need to get him to ththe vets he is going on Friday as he is spending to much time down the cold end so need to get him checked out he has only been like it for a few days so I hope he will be ok

One problem that almost all new owners are running in to is that the pet stores are pushing the " spot" basking bulbs. These are not good heat bulbs for several reasons. The main one is that beardies feel intense heat from them so they move away and end up going anywhere in the tank.

Replace the spot bulb with a par 38 halogen flood bulb from Home Depot or Walmart. It will provide a wider area of heat where the temps. drop gradually as you move from the central area that it is shining.

But on the other hand a sub adult or adult dragon may go through a phase where they become less active...that's perfectly normal. Adults don't need as much heat, uvb or food as babies do.

So as he is a adult would you still suggest a flood light ??? I did have one before (reptile bulb haha) and it made my tank very very hot even with a dim stat so the one u suggested would that be fine ????

And still going to get him checked out as he is a little of his food right now still pooping (in the bath ) trying to get a stool sample done but it's hard as he only goes in ththe tub hahaha

If a flood light is ok to go with what wattage would u recommend for my tank size ?

What watt is the bulb you have now ? Just get a similar or lower watt bulb. Probably a 50 maybe 65.

He has a 75w right now and that's giving me temps of 40c and as I had a flood light before it was way hotter so it I buy say a 50w and a 60w to start first and see how it goes

Hello,

That's a really nice setup! I am sure he is a happy boy.
I agree, using a nice bright halogen flood bulb is better than most of the reptile bulbs at the pet stores. A 60 watt would probably be just fine for his temperatures.

Tracie

Compare T8 and T5ho tubes



is a good idea to mount the UVB globe or one end of the UVB T8 or T5 tube, so it’s adjacent as close as you can arrange it , to the basking bulb.

I have a 36" T5 ATM and it starts more on the basking side so when he is basking he can get all that lovely UV

So I'm off out this morning to get him a flood light

And also ordering him a T8 36" and another fixture hehe

Thanks for all your help