Basking light

[hookfang1]

Hi! I'm a new bearded dragon owner. Not sure of the exact age of my beard, about 7inches long. The lighting has been challenging to set up. I read the lighting section and cannot seem to find an incandescent or halogen bulb that is in the 4000K-5000K range that your site recommends. Any suggestions on where to find one? I bought all the wrong lighting from Petco before finding this site so I'm trying to correct everything now.

 

[KarrieRee]

Buy this lighting its easier--- Reptisun 10 T5, or the Arcadia D3 12% or 14% T5 tube, both of which are very good. You will need a T5 light fixture also. I just picked up a bulb today from Petco its for a 18" light fixture T 8 Reptison 10.0 it was $40 :shock: -- its for a friend of mine -- I have a Reptisun 10.0 T 5 in my tank the T 5 is a stronger bulb --- the T 8's need to be changed out every six months whereas the T 5's once per year --- you need to place the UVB in the tank closer to basking area if its a T 8-- the T 5's can be higher 10-11 inches as they are a stronger bulb --- Forgot to mention you can get them on line at www.lightyourreptiles.com
Karrie

 

[Claudiusx]

Most home improvement stores or hardware stores will have a suitable bulb.
A lot won't put the kelvin rating on the bulb though, they would be labeled bright white or daylight bulbs. As long as you get a bright white or daylight you will be ok.
Soft whites are only 3000-3500k
Bright whites (sometimes called cool white) 3500-4500k
Daylights are around 5000k

-Brandon

 

[hookfang1]

Thanks for the reply Karrie. I ordered the Reptisun 10.0 T8 bulb and lamp yesterday, i guess I am confused according to the Care Sheet/Lighting area on this site. I thought the recommendation was to have the Reptisun 10.0 for the UVB, then have a Daylight bulb for the basking area with the 4000-5000 Kelvin rating. Under "How to position my UVB light" the recommendation was to have the UVB alongside the basking light to protect their eyes from the UVB light. This little babies are complicated!
I currently have a Zilla T8 Desert 50 UVB that was not recommended from Newbies Guide:Lighting help on this site, so i am replacing that with the Reptisun 10.0 T8. I thought the T5 was not recommended somewhere else? I have read so many articles, other posts it is all running together. I may have ordered the wrong UVB bulb i guess. Thanks for the help on this, i appreciate it!

 

[hookfang1]

Thanks Brandon for the suggestion for where to buy the Basking bulb. I will shop for that tomorrow and hopefully get this lighting straight soon.

Dana

 

[Claudiusx]

The uvb bulb already is emitting light around the daylight spectrum, which is why a cool white or bright white for a basking bulb would be ideal. More of the light spectrum.
Soft whites are ok but i'd only use them if you know their kelvin rating is at least 3500k.

The reptisun 10.0 is a good bulb. You are fine with the T8, and can update to the T5 in the future if you want.
The T5 version of the bulb is a higher output bulb, and it lasts longer than the T8 version.

And you are correct, the basking bulb is important in protecting your dragons eyes.

-Brandon

 

[KarrieRee]

I dont know anything about the soft white bulbs w/ the kelvin rating -- I just use the basking bulbs from Petco the 100 watt Exo Terro bulb -- and it seems to do fine ---
Karrie

 

[Drache613]

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