Brand new

[Seadoggs5]

So I just got my first Beardie last night. He is about 6 months old. Hasn't really moved at all but can't wait till he gets used to everything. I am a little unsure of the lighting however. We have a 100w Red heat night light. a UTH as well as a UVA- UVB/Heat source. We got it all from someone who got a new job and doens't have the time anymore. I was wondering though if the light is sufficient enough? Also any suggestions on feeding ideas? We weren't given any food from the person, but he did say he eats roughly 15-20 crickets a day along with some worms. Should we keep going with the crickets or switch to something else? I plan to do keep a decent amount of greens in the cage aswell. Any suggestions will help.

 

[Catalyst]

So I just got my first Beardie last night. He is about 6 months old. Hasn't really moved at all but can't wait till he gets used to everything. I am a little unsure of the lighting however. We have a 100w Red heat night light. a UTH as well as a UVA- UVB/Heat source.

Get rid of the red light - your dragon can see it and it will disrupt his sleep at night. I'd also stop using the UTH - dragons sense heat coming from above, not below, so their main heat source needs to be overhead. If something were to happen and the UTH got too hot, your dragon would keep sitting on it until he got seriously burned. For heat, you can use either a normal lightbulb or a halogen flood light (my preference since they kick out more heat per watt) - they provide the bright clear light that dragons need to thrive as well as heat and are cheaper than the "specialty" basking bulbs sold at the petstore.

What type/brand is your UVA/UVB source and how old is it? Some are great and some are junk, and most need to be replaced every six months.

Also any suggestions on feeding ideas? We weren't given any food from the person, but he did say he eats roughly 15-20 crickets a day along with some worms. Should we keep going with the crickets or switch to something else? I plan to do keep a decent amount of greens in the cage aswell. Any suggestions will help.

For feeding a six month old you should offer live bugs twice a day, as many as he will eat in 10-15 minutes. Good live feeders for dragons include crickets and roaches (both of which need to be no longer than the space between your dragon's eyes), silk worms, pheonix worms, and horn worms (the worms can be bigger because they're soft bodied).

You should also put out a salad of greens and veggies every day, although he may not show much interest in it right away. Collard greens, dandelion greens, endive and squash are all good salad staples for a dragon. Helpful sites on greens/veggies for dragons are here:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index-req-viewarticle-artid-98-page-1.html

You'll also need to supplement your dragon by dusting one feeding of live bugs a day - 5x a week with Repcal phosphorus free calcium with d3, and then the other 2x a day with repcal herptivite.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions you have

 

[Seadoggs5]

Ahhh... I took the UVA/B light out and can't remember who makes it now. Damn. It is a 160W. I saw them for around $60 at the petstore. I think I might switch the UVA/B light over to the light hood the night light is in then. It in a black "bowl" so to say where right now it is open at the surface of the light. Then add a heat light in the source that the UV light is in. It seems to be running really low heat and isn't close to what temperature it should be at. The only heat sources he was using were the UTH and UVA/B light and hooked up here, it is only getting it to 85 at the max. I have a digital thermometer with a probe at the end where the UV is two-thirds of the way up the glass, next to where is proped up right now. What should I do as to heat and what not at night? Just Turn the UV off and leave the heat emitter on? A little confused on that part I guess. Thanks.

 

[Catalyst]

Ahhh... I took the UVA/B light out and can't remember who makes it now. Damn. It is a 160W. I saw them for around $60 at the petstore. I think I might switch the UVA/B light over to the light hood the night light is in then. It in a black "bowl" so to say where right now it is open at the surface of the light. Then add a heat light in the source that the UV light is in.

It's late and I"m having a hard time picturing the hood set up you're talking about. If it'd be possible to post a pic that'd help a lot (if not, that's okay too, heh) Is your UV bulb a full floursecent tube? Or does it look like one of those energy saver lightbulbs?

I have a digital thermometer with a probe at the end where the UV is two-thirds of the way up the glass, next to where is proped up right now. What should I do as to heat and what not at night? Just Turn the UV off and leave the heat emitter on? A little confused on that part I guess. Thanks.

To get the temp on the basking spot, you'll have to put the probe right on the basking spot under the heat bulb and leave it there for about 20 minutes.

For heat you can use a regular lightbulb or a halogen flood light (my preference since it puts out more heat per watt). These are best because they're cheaper than the "specialty" basking bulbs teh pet store will sell you, and they put out a strong bright light that dragons need to thrive. You'll have to experiement a bit to figure out what wattage you'll need to get the right temps (100-110* basking spot, and 80* on cool side).

At night if the tank does not get colder than 60-62*ish then you don't need any heat - turn everything off. If it does get colder than that, then you use the ceramic heat emitter to bump the temperatures up.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions you have - its a lot of info to take in at once

 

[Seadoggs5]

The light is a Zoo Med. 160W. I am not so much worried about the lighting now though.
I actually did put the probe onto where he goes to bask and it was a little above 95. I was told by the girl at a pet store that anywhere from 85-95 is where she keeps her Beardies. So the temperature seems to be right. Last night, my dog woke me up at 4 and it was at 62 degrees. So it is right at what I was considering the lowest point.
Now I just gotta get him to eat his greens. I chopped up some collard greens and squash for him and he didn't touch it. The squash was covered up for the most part, so I am going to try it the other way around. He eats about 10 crickets each time.

 

[BlackMagic]

For UVB light you need to get a full flourescent strip light, I would recommend the reptisun 10.0. The light you mentioned is just a basking light. And the basking temp should be between 100-110 degrees, that lady doesn't quite know what she's saying.

 

[Seadoggs5]

The light it self says it is UV though.

 

[Seadoggs5]

Where would be a good place to get the hood for that light? I am just a little confused I guess why I need to get a new UV light when the one I have is putting out UVA/B. A little bit of an expensive light to replace. But I guess I just need to get what is right.

 

[Catalyst]

Where would be a good place to get the hood for that light? I am just a little confused I guess why I need to get a new UV light when the one I have is putting out UVA/B. A little bit of an expensive light to replace. But I guess I just need to get what is right.

That's why we need to know what type of bulb it is exactly - it should have it printed right on the bulb somewhere. I just did a bit of web surfing - is this the bulb you have?
http://www.zoomed.com/html/powersun_uv.php If that's it then honestly I'm not sure about the details of that bulb, although it's not the bad bulbs I was thinking of initially - I'd suggest PM'img Morkai on this forum, that user has done a lot of research into the different bulbs and will be able to tell you how good that particular one is.

For a young dragon the basking spot should be in the 100-110* range - that can go down a bit for adults, but even then it should still be 95-105*, the lady you're talking to keeps her dragons' temps too low.

 

[Seadoggs5]

That's why we need to know what type of bulb it is exactly - it should have it printed right on the bulb somewhere. I just did a bit of web surfing - is this the bulb you have?

It is a Zoomed 160W UV Powersun.

 

[Catalyst]

Okay, then I think that might be a decent bulb - sorry I can't be more definate, I've not heard much about that one and haven't personally used it. I'd suggest posting a question over in the enclosures forum about it to see what some of the members that frequent that part of the board (and are usually more up with the lighting and housing aspect) have to say about it and hopefully they'll be able to help you out more.

 

[Seadoggs5]

I will give that a try in a min. Thanks