Bearded Dragon Lighting - Captive Breeding

Hello All,

I have been breeding bearded dragons for years, and am accustomed to T8 Reptisun 10.0 Bulbs in all of my vivariums. All of my vivariums the UVB at ground level (roughly 15.5" from the bulb) reads at about 1-1.5, with various wood articles and branches in the tanks, there are areas where they can get levels of 3-4.

I am not an expert, as we all are constantly learning. I wish to master my husbandry of these animals and have a question regarding lighting. I am in the process of upgrading to T5HO fixtures with reflectors (sunblaster brand). I am currently torn between Reptisun 10.0 vs Reptisun 5.0 bulbs as it seems the 10.0 T5HO's emit too much uvb. At ground level readings across the vivariums are at about 3.5, increasing significantly if there are any items in the tanks to climb on. The normal branches that read around 3.5, read at around 6-7. My UVB bulbs do not cover the basking spot. It spans the length of the tanks down the middle. I will post up pictures for example.

My question to all: Is it better to consistantly have reading around 4-6 or readings of 1-3. I know they are ferguson zone 3-4 animals, but this implies that during points of the day they have a way of hiding from UVB, which in this case they do not. It will be constant exposure, so I am assuming less exposure is required in this instance.

As for vitamin supplements, if they are receiving this quantity of UVA/UVB. It is safe to assume 0 D3 calcium supplements should be given, only calcium without D3, correct?

I look forward to discussing this topic with you all, I am going to be purchasing my bulbs in bulk in a few days. 5.0's are what sounds logical at the moment.

Here are the examples I am showing. The distance from bulb to floor is about 15.5" and the bulb (at an angle) to the basking spot is about 18-20"

Hello,

That is a great looking tank for your dragon. There are areas in the tank that he can get to a lower
UVI/UVB concentrated area. You can always put in a little hide hut or cave for him, if needed to
help out.
The tube you have in there, does it have a light fixture around it to help direct the light downwards
towards your dragon? If not, it would be a good idea to put a shield around it to help with UVB
emissions. I see the fixiture but it's an open type of fixture. You could add some flashing or even
tin foil around it just to direct the light better.
It is nice to provide a couple of different levels so he can choose his exposure, yes. If the levels
are higher that is ok as long as he has somewhere to go where the levels are a bit lower.
If you use the T5 tube, it can be 10 or so inches from him & unobstructed in his tank the way you
have the bulb shown there. If you use a 5, but a T5 that would probably be alright also, but I do
think a 10 would be better.
Supplementing with D3 should only be done 1-2 times per week when using the stronger T5
tube bulbs. Exposure to stronger UVB will allow them to more easily synthesize D3 via their
skin. You can use just regular calcium without D3 regularly. Really you probably don't even
need any D3 at all, but could give a little if you wanted to.

I hope this helps out.

Tracie

For what you are doing, I dont think you will really get much of a difference from upgrading your tanks to the t5s.

The thing is, higher levels are ok at the basking surface that the t5 10.0s would give you, but the issue comes from the exposure in the rest of the tank. The 10.0 t5s will throw out too much uv throughout the whole tank, leaving no real place to escape the rays. unless you changed how you have your tanks setup to a more left or right setup for the lights, you wont be able to get a proper gradient of uv with the stronger bulbs.

Sure, it will be lower than the basking areas, but 1-2 uvi is not an escape, it's still decent exposure. And 3-4 as the lowest level in the tank I'd consider borderline dangerous. There needs to be an escape to 0. Preferably a gradient down to 0, so the dragon can choose which uvi level to hang out in.

It's a bit of a debate right now in regards to is more uvi better. But despite opinion, the fact is you should provide your dragon an area of escape of 0 uvi. And in this specific case, I dont believe you will be able to do that with your setup. UV rays are beneficial, but they are also harmful.

-Brandon

Here is a link to one place we are trying to have a good discussion on the topic.

https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=249953

-Brandon