Issues with temperatures for a Bearded dragon

[liviu_s_tudor]

Hi guys,
I have problems in getting the right temperatures for my bearded dragon.
My enclosure is a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft viv from plywood.

I have a an electronic thermostat and I place the sensor on the hot end side of the viv. ( you can see it in the attached pics).
For heating I just installed an Arcadia Halogen Heat Lamp 100w.
I also have (not installed) :
- Arcadia Solar Basking Flood Light 100watts - this is not in the enclose to dry out play-sand
- Arcadia Halogen Heat Lamp 75w

The problem is that the enclosure is not heating up at all - the sensor shows right now: 24 celsius

have to mention that the sliding doors are open now to eliminate humidity right now.


But under the basking spot there are 60 degrees celsius .


I am out of ideas where should I place the thermostat sensor and why isn't the temperature going up ? I will attach some pictures as well ...

Thank you all in advance.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi guys,
I have problems in getting the right temperatures for my bearded dragon.
My enclosure is a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft viv from plywood.

I have a an electronic thermostat and I place the sensor on the hot end side of the viv. ( you can see it in the attached pics).
For heating I just installed an Arcadia Halogen Heat Lamp 100w.
I also have (not installed) :
- Arcadia Solar Basking Flood Light 100watts - this is not in the enclose to dry out play-sand
- Arcadia Halogen Heat Lamp 75w

The problem is that the enclosure is not heating up at all - the sensor shows right now: 24 celsius

have to mention that the sliding doors are open now to eliminate humidity right now.


But under the basking spot there are 60 degrees celsius .


I am out of ideas where should I place the thermostat sensor and why isn't the temperature going up ? I will attach some pictures as well ...

Thank you all in advance.

I am going to have CooperDragon help you flagging to him
@CooperDragon

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

thank you !

 

[CooperDragon]

I would place the sensor right on the basking surface. Perhaps zip tie it to secure it in place. That should stay in the range of roughly 38-42 or so. The areas around it should provide a temperature gradient, but the exact temps aren't as important. I like to monitor the cool side temps to get an idea of what the gradient is across the enclosure. The cool side will probably be around room temperature or a little warmer most of the time.

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

Thank you @CooperDragon !

My basking temp is 46.7celsius , while the cold side is 23-24 celsius.
The ambient temp in the middle is 26.5 celsius.
The room is at about 18-20 celsius range.
I attached the pictures.

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

This is how my lighting and heating is installed.
The heating is Arcadia Halogen Heatlamp 100w.
I also have Arcadia Halogen Heatlamp 75w.

 

[CooperDragon]

The cool side and middle temps are OK. Pretty similar to what I get in my enclosure. The basking surface is too hot though. I'd try not to go beyond 42 if possible (your dragon will likely just stay to the side of the beam if it's too hot). Since you have a nice large UVB light, then that's not necessarily a problem because they will still get UVB and proper temps over to the side. It wastes some space in the basking area though, and space is valuable.

I think what might be happening is the bulb you have is giving off a relatively narrow beam and since it's sitting so close to the basking area, it is producing a bit of a hot spot. Since your enclosure has a hard top, raising the bulb up higher isn't an option in this case. You might want to try a bulb with a bulge reflector (BR30 or BR40 sometimes called flood). You can usually find incandescent versions of these at a hardware store and Arcadia has one that is similar style (Solar Basking Flood). The wider reflector might disperse the heat out a bit further and be less intense right in the center. The downside can be that these bulbs are larger and might come down too close from the ceiling. Probably worth testing one out if you can find one for a reasonable price.

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

Should I try to use the Arcadia Floodlight 100w ? I have that one as well. Please see the photos from the 1st post !

update: I will try with Halogen Lamp 75w and also with Floodlight 100w and see what temps I get

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

I would place the sensor right on the basking surface. Perhaps zip tie it to secure it in place. That should stay in the range of roughly 38-42 or so. The areas around it should provide a temperature gradient, but the exact temps aren't as important. I like to monitor the cool side temps to get an idea of what the gradient is across the enclosure. The cool side will probably be around room temperature or a little warmer most of the time.

@CooperDragon if I use the 75W Halogen Lamp ( which is a lot smaller but narrower than the 100w - PAR30 vs PAR38 ) and set the basking surface to around 40-42 celsius , than the warm side won't be so hot , it will be around 26-27-28 somewhere there!
My question is : does it matter as long as the dragon has 43-43 celsius on the basking ?

Also there are different basking temps for leatherbacks ?


My dragon is home now ! his name is Olaf !

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

I also tried to use the 100w floodlight, but the basking spot is not reaching 40-42 celsius at all.
the best results I had with 150w floodlight . the basking spot gets easily ramp up and the hot side is at around 29-30 , but somehow I am just trying to use a halogen lamp since i've heard that is very good for the bearded dragon.
thank you . what do you think ?

 

[CooperDragon]

Very nice looking little guy there! Looks like a frustrating all-limb shed about to get going too =).

If the basking area is in the 38-42ish range in an area that is large enough to allow for even basking, meaning at least the diameter of the length of your dragon, then the other temps aren't as important. After that, the important thing is to have a gradient and allow for options (Same with UVB). You'll find that they move around a lot over the course of the day and what they want in terms of temp and UVB exposure varies quite a lot. Hitting those basking temps are helpful in case they need a lot of heat to digest, but they won't always want it. The range is also a general guidance based on experience. It's always a good idea to fine tune and adjust based on your dragon's individual preferences which you'll discover over time.

As far as the requirements for leatherbacks, I'm not aware of them requiring different temps. Silkbacks might require some different care and less intense temps/UVB, but I don't think that's the case for leatherbacks. Just give the current setup a shot and observe. Make tweaks as you go along and don't be afraid to try out some different lighting and temp settings to see how they go over.

 

[CooperDragon]

If you do continue to run into issues with reaching temp, another option is to use a second bulb in conjunction with a main basking light. You could use another visible light that is connected to a dimmer, or you could use a heat projector bulb that kicks in as needed to bump the temps using infrared. The disadvantage is that it takes up more space and increases complexity. The advantage is that by using multiple smaller bulbs, you can widen the basking space a bit and also have some more control over the temps.

 

[liviu_s_tudor]

Still getting issues with this setup :
- I am currently using the 150w Arcadia Floodlight : I am getting good temps on basking platform and warm side

But I really want to use the HALOGEN lights ( they seem to work better for the dragons) but with the Halogen I only get good temps on the basking platform !!!!
Should I try to buy the 50w Arcadia Halogen ? that will work , I know it has a small PAR ( 20 )

Any ideas ?

 

[CooperDragon]

With smaller width beams the best bet is probably to try and cluster them if you have room to do so. Setting a few side by side or in a triangle shape would help to cast a wider overall beam of heat using smaller/less powerful bulbs.