advice im new

[connors14]

ok so im new and ive wanted a beardy for like 3 years now. and im gonna try and buy myself one for my b day and i found this tank and its a 55 gallon and i heard thats best for them. i know i would need a screen and such. but the lighting part confuses me. so can someone help me out... :?:

http://newhaven.craigslist.org/for/845078599.html

 

[norbertbd]

I'll try and help you out here. You will need 2 different lights. For UV strip light, the most recommended one on this site is the Repti-Sun 10.0 (make sure NOT to get a Repti-glo). You can get these pretty reasonbly at petmountain.com.

You will also need a basking light, which can be any standard household bulb. But you need to make sure the light holder will be able to handle the heat put out by the bulb, so it can't be a plastic housing, it should be ceramic or metal. You might need to try a few bulbs until you get the right temps inside, but I wouldn't start with less than a 60 Watt since it looks like you will have a screen top and a lot of you heat is going to go right out the screen. Halogens get a lot hotter than a standard round bulb but I'm not sure if they'll work in one of the clamp on type lights.

You also need a couple temp probes. You can get these at Wal-mart or similar stores for about $12 each. The probe needs to be mounted on the basking site itself so it's not measuring the air temp. You need the surface temp. Your basking should be 105-110 and cool side around 80.

Check out the care sheets at the front of the website. They have a lot of good information.

Good luck and enjoy your new little one. It'll have you wrapped around it's fingers in no time, just like the rest of us.

 

[connors14]

ok so should the uv bulb but does that need to stretch the whole cage?
and then the heat bulb should keept the hot side like 100+ degrees right? then the cool side should be like 80ish degrees and you do that by adjusting the bulbs

 

[norbertbd]

The UV strip doesn't really need to stretch the entire length of the viv, but I would go for about 3/4 of the length or so. I'm not sure how long your tank is.

The basking spot (hot side) surface temp shouldn't be over 115F, but should be around 105 for a baby. They need the heat to digest their food. But you need to leave the temp probe on the surface for about 45 minutes to get an accurate temp reading. You might spend a good part of a day just getting you setup right.

If the cool side air temp is around 78-80F you should be pretty good. The trick will be to pick a basking light that will give you the correct hot side surface temp AND the correct temp on the cool side. So you might want to have 3 different wattage bulbs on hand and test them out to get the best setup before actually bringing the little guy home.

 

[connors14]

so the heating light is just to up the heat on the basking side? and heat the cool side.... i think i get it now

and by temperature probes you dont mean like a meat temperature probe?sorry if that sounds like a really stupid question

 

[connors14]

also how do i set the tank up for night time?

 

[norbertbd]

For night, just put your lights on timers. Have them turn off after about 14 hours and 12 or so in the winter months. Unless your house gets lower than 60 degrees at night you probably won't need to do anything. If it does, then you'll need a ceramic heat emitter. I don't know anything about those. But it seems noone here thinks you should use red or other colored lights for night heating. It can disrupt their sleep even though they seem to be sleeping. Whatever you do, don't get a heat rock because I understand the beardies can burn themselves on them.

 

[Elora]

You can get the thermometer at walmart. It has a probe on it. Like the meat thermometers

 

[Elora]

You can also look around on this website at other peoples tanks. there is a thread that has photos of everyones vivs. You could take a look there and get an idea of how the lighting should look

 

[connors14]

ok i thought it was like a meat thermometer and that tank was already sold. is there any places to find tanks cause ive looked at alot of pet stores and cant find one i like?

 

[norbertbd]

You could check to see if your county or a nearby county has a monthly reptile show. Sometimes people have used equipment they are selling and also sometimes new equipment. Otherwise you could try researching at bigappleherp.com and petmountain.com. I think people have purchased equipment from them.

You could aslo start a new post looking for tank suppliers. You might get a whole slew of ideas from people.

 

[connors14]

ok ill try

 

[akingsley9000]

You can also check craigslist.org for tanks, you can usually find some good deals on there. Just to put it all in one place for you, here is a list of all the items you will need for a happy and healthy beardie:

Option 1:
40 gallon breeder tank
Basking bulb (this can be just an ordinary house holdbulb)
Clamp lamp (for basking bulb)
36" Reptisun 10 tube or Repti-glo 8.0 (if you can find it) (need to be replaced every 6 months)
Florescent light fixture (you can get these at home depot or lowes, they are shop lights)
Substrate for the bottom - non-adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, news paper, tile, washed & sifted childrens play sand (sand for sub-adults/adults only)
Thermometer - either a digital one with a probe or a temp gun
Basking platform
Food dishes
Calcium with D3 Phosperus free
Multi-vitiman
Large Cricket Keeper

Option 2:
40 gallon breeder tank
Mercury Vapor Bulb (t-rex active heat uv, power sun or reptileUV) (these are more expenseive to start with but are much better and last 2x as long)
Deep Clamp lamp (for MVB)
Clamp lamp (incase you need extra light at the other end of the viv)
Substrate for the bottom - non-adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, news paper, tile, washed & sifted childrens play sand (sand for sub-adults/adults only)
Thermometer - either a digital one with a probe or a temp gun
Basking platform
Food dishes
Calcium no D3 Phosperus free
Multi-vitiman
Large Cricket Keeper

Things to stay away from:
colored bulbs
coil/compact bulbs
any bulbs by ESU or Zilla
Calci-Sand
Repti-Sand

 

[connors14]

ya ive been looking for a 40 gallon breeder tank but cant find one used ive checked craigslist. thats the main thing im looking for now then ill get the other stuff after i find it. and the vitamins and the calcium are just to sprinkle on there food right?

 

[kirby]

40 gal breeder? 36x18x24?

please TRY to get something bigger then, the absolute bare minimum!! its a pet, a living breathing animal, not a display item.

TRY to find something with 24" in depth, and between 36"-48"+ in length. preferably a 4x2x2 foot.