As I was setting up my vivarium today, I had a few questions

[Sj45]

1) Is it normal for the basking bulb to come out of the clamp lamp? I assumed the clamp lamp edges would be longer than the bulb itself. It still sits halfway nice on top of my screen, but I'm afraid with the bulb touching the screen, it may melt etc. so I have clamped it to the side. What do you think?

2) The basking area is a nice 105F with my dimmable clamp lamp (easy to adjust temperature) but the other side of my viv is only 70F. What can I do? Doesn't it need to be 80-85F?

 

[Sj45]

The viv is a 75 gallon tank.

3) Is it alright if I give my dragon the whole 75 gallon and feed him in a separate smaller box?

 

[spurlee01]

How old/big will your new dragon be? (So we know if he/she is big enough for a 75 gal)
If the bulb comes out past the fixture, you probably need a different fixture. What type of bulb are you using? You may have to get a deep-dome fixture.
What type of UVB will you use? (This is a standard question since there's so many bad ones floating around)
The cool side should be 78-82 or so. You may need to add a very low wattage bulb to the middle or cool end of your tank to keep it warm enough.
Sara

 

[Sj45]

How old/big will your new dragon be? (So we know if he/she is big enough for a 75 gal)
If the bulb comes out past the fixture, you probably need a different fixture. What type of bulb are you using? You may have to get a deep-dome fixture.
What type of UVB will you use? (This is a standard question since there's so many bad ones floating around)
The cool side should be 78-82 or so. You may need to add a very low wattage bulb to the middle or cool end of your tank to keep it warm enough.
Sara

Dragon will be six weeks.
The Light is called "Zoo Med Reptile UVA Basking Spot Lamp"
I have a Reptisun 10.0 UVB
Alright, I have another clamp lamp, I guess I will use it to heat the other side but I'm going to assume then the middle will still be about 70F, with one side being 105F and one side about 80F.

 

[spurlee01]

6 weeks might be a bit young for 75 gallons. You may want to wait til closer to 3 months. As for the light, all I can really tell you is that temperatures take a lot of experimenting (and just when you get them right the outdoor temps change and you get to do it again! no it's really not quite that bad just feels that way). You might want to put the new light on the middle and hopefully that'll keep the middle around 85-90 and the cool end 78-82ish. The reptisun 10.0 is the bulb you want (I'm sure you already knew that).
Sara

 

[Sj45]

Alright, well, I put a 60 watt light in the middle and it got it up to 80F but the cool end is at 75F :/ will the uvb light add any heat? It's not on as I need an igniter.

Thanks, Scott

 

[spurlee01]

The UVB only adds a little bit of heat. I do still buy my basking bulbs from the pet store and try them out. Most let you bring them back within 30 days and I can tell within a few hours if they will work well or not.
Sara

 

[akingsley9000]

Hi -

As far as the basking bulb goes you have two options:

1. Return it and use and ordinary house hold bulb
2. as Sara suggested use a deep dome fixture

As far as the enclosure is concerned - if you find that your baby is to stressed out with extra space you can always block off a portion of it until he/she gets a bit bigger.

~Allison

 

[Sj45]

ok, thanks.