A few questions

[Bradleyv1714]

Hi all,

I have found a few threads with similar questions but not exactly what I was looking for but I have a 20 Gallon tank right now for a small beardie, the only thing is that I have the thermometers that are stickied to the wall of the tank and I have been reading on for a while now on this website that they ARE NOT good! I was thinking about sticking with them for a while until I can afford Digital Thermometers or I would buy one of the PE-1 Temp gun's can anyone tell me what their experience's are with each or which they prefer... I would very much like to know which one you all would recommend.

I also bought a repti glo 10.0 by recommendation of some lady at petsmart but I have noticed that my beardie is starting to close his eyes often... so I bought a Repti sun but the compact one... is that still bad?

He hasnt been eating any veggies and I'm worried... I'm thinking that it's bc he is still a little young but he's 4 month's old now. I have fed him collard greens by hand once but I'm not sure if that's ok... currently he eats about 4-5 crickets/meal which are twice a day... he sometimes poops every day-3days...

please... any suggestions are greatly appreciated and

 

[EmJagsz]

Compact Reptisuns are still bad. You need to get the flourescent tubes.

How long have you had him? If it is less than a month then him not eating is not THAT much to worry about. Concentrate on getting his set up perfect for now. Once he is comfortable then he will start eating. When I had a little baby beardie it took him a month until he was comfortable enough to eat his salad and crickets by the 30-50s daily.

 

[JeffSimpson]

For some reason I feel compelled to defend the strip thermometers, although I'm not entirely sure why. 8)

The strip thermometers work just fine, it's just that they aren't really suitable for a bearded dragon enclosure. In a fish tank where the temps (generally) are fairly even due to the circulation of the water, they work perfect. For a bearded dragon, there generally is very little air circulation, so measuring the temp at the front of the tank may gave a completely different reading then 10" into the center of the tank.

If there is a concern about about temps, you really need to move the thermometer to the spot where you want to measure the temps, especially in the basking area. In a pinch and thermometer will work (i.e. instant read cooking thermometer). If you are in a really big pinch, look for stores with a good return policy and borrow one for a day. Check it through out the day. Assuming the lights turn on/off at the same time each day, and the ambient temps do not swing too much, ones the temps are "set" they should stay fairly consistent each day.

 

[mark83]

If you don't have a ton of money right now you can always buy one of these for 7 bucks:

http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-thermometers/511260/zoo-med-digital-thermometer-for-terrariums.html

I got one for about the same price at a local pet store. As far as lighting I'd recommend one of these:

http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

a lot of people have had success with them just remember to buy a new one every 6 months.