An Alternative to Tanks

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Hi everyone,

My bearded dragon Clifford hates his tank. He stays in long enough to warm up, then starts to bang on the glass and turn black until I take him out. Cliff is 16" long and his tank is 36" x 18". He has a hot and cool side to his tank so overheating isn't the problem.

He spends most of his time wandering my bedroom, which is about 25C or 77F. The potlights that light my room plus his heat lamp being on make the room quite warm. He exhibits none of the symptoms of brumating or otherwise being too low in temperature. He digests well and his poops are well formed and consistent. Most days he runs around my room for 2-3 hours before plopping down for a nap, sleeps a while, and then wanders more slowly from place to place (or from corner to corner - he has a weird obsession with corners). He even sleeps in a little hammock beside my bed.

Here is my proposition: instead of having a tank, having Clifford simply roam my bedroom all the time. I would have two heat/uvb lamps at opposite ends of my room at Clifford height (ie close enough to the ground to that Clifford could hit 95F underneath them. I would put a salad bowl in each heat zone. I would feed him his live insects in the tank (otherwise there would be cricks EVERYWHERE.

My bedroom is 9ft by 11ft. The floor is hardwood. He almost never poops on the floor - he mostly poops in the bath.

One of my main concerns is whether or not he would remember or be somehow attracted to his "heat zones" when he needs to warm up. I mean, it's easy in a 3ft tank.

Thank you!
Kit

 

[Taterbug]

One thought is that your tank maybe too small...

Free roaming can be dangerous, so make sure you have it set up to keep him safe. I've read on this forum of dragons getting crushed by opening doors they were behind, stepped on, rolled over on in the owners sleep etc. Personally I would also worry about the ambient temps being too so low. Not saying it can't be done, but just things to think about.

Dragons aren't stupid, some will even return to their cages to bask. Since your room is big, I'd consider using MVB at one or both basking spots. The MVB puts out better UVA than a heat lamp or fluorescent and dragons can likely see the UVA - it could help him know where to go.

 

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Thanks!
I am very used to him free roaming and everything in my room is already suited to him: my bed and bedtables are all pulled away from the wall enough to let him by easily, etc. There is also a "Lizard Roaming" sign on my door just in case.
One thing I can do to raise the ambient temperature is to add another basking area.
I also just got a laser temp gun so I will recheck the temperatures today. The temperature I put yesterday was with the room lights on (they are just really hot by coincidence - the rest of the basement is much cooler) but the heat lamp off for sleepytimes.