Hey guys, I have noticed many people on here with problems that they ask about their beardie and many of these mention that they bought the Zilla Bearded Dragon Starter Kit or an Exo-Terra Starter Kit. I just want to inform you of some of the things you will need or shouldn't use from this kit.
The Lighting: The lighting that comes with this kit is a 150W Day Blue Incandescent Bulb, a Black Night Lamp, and a Desert Series 20 Compact Fluorescent Bulb 50 Watt. First Off NONE of these lights should be used with your beardie. The bay Blue bulb contains Neodymium coating on it which isn't preferred by beardies because they need Bright White light; the Night lamp can and probably will affect your beardie's sleep pattern. If you need extra heat at night for your beardie if it drops bellow 65 degrees. Then get a Ceramic Heat Emitter because it puts out heat but no light. Finally, the Compact Fluorescent can damage your beardie's eyes. Plus they don't get the needed UVB that they should get each day
What lights to replace
The Substrate: The substrate that comes with the kit is Alfalfa Meal bedding, although it may absorb odor when he has a B.M. he may eat too many of these and become impacted. Loose Substrate should never be used. A Good replacement for this would be Repti-Carpet although hard to clean, or some nice tile. Tile is probably the most recommended and easiest to clean.
Temperature Gauge: The gauge that comes with the kit that is used to measure the temps is a crappy dial thermometer and those mainly measure air temps. To directly measure the temperature of your beardie's basking spot and cool side, invest in a nice Temp Gun or get a Digital Thermometer with a probe to place directly under the basking light you are using.
Enclosure Size: The enclosure size of this kit is 30" X 12" X 12", this enclosure can be used when beardies are juveniles but when they get to at least 14" in this cage, I would replace it with at least a 40 gallon breeder which is 36L" X 18H" X 18W"
Conclusion: As you can see none of what is in here is preferred to use except for the domes. So please I would definitely buy all these separately and avoid these types of kits at all costs. Your beardies need the best possible care and these kits don't offer it, they just want the money. Please share this and do NOT buy a kit from Zilla!
The Lighting: The lighting that comes with this kit is a 150W Day Blue Incandescent Bulb, a Black Night Lamp, and a Desert Series 20 Compact Fluorescent Bulb 50 Watt. First Off NONE of these lights should be used with your beardie. The bay Blue bulb contains Neodymium coating on it which isn't preferred by beardies because they need Bright White light; the Night lamp can and probably will affect your beardie's sleep pattern. If you need extra heat at night for your beardie if it drops bellow 65 degrees. Then get a Ceramic Heat Emitter because it puts out heat but no light. Finally, the Compact Fluorescent can damage your beardie's eyes. Plus they don't get the needed UVB that they should get each day
What lights to replace
•Replace the Day Blue bulb with an incandescent or halogen bulb that emits bright white light and provides sufficient heat.
•Replace the Night with a CHE only IF you need it
•Replace the Compact Fluorescent with a Reptisun 10.0 Tube or an Arcadia 12%.
The Substrate: The substrate that comes with the kit is Alfalfa Meal bedding, although it may absorb odor when he has a B.M. he may eat too many of these and become impacted. Loose Substrate should never be used. A Good replacement for this would be Repti-Carpet although hard to clean, or some nice tile. Tile is probably the most recommended and easiest to clean.
Temperature Gauge: The gauge that comes with the kit that is used to measure the temps is a crappy dial thermometer and those mainly measure air temps. To directly measure the temperature of your beardie's basking spot and cool side, invest in a nice Temp Gun or get a Digital Thermometer with a probe to place directly under the basking light you are using.
Enclosure Size: The enclosure size of this kit is 30" X 12" X 12", this enclosure can be used when beardies are juveniles but when they get to at least 14" in this cage, I would replace it with at least a 40 gallon breeder which is 36L" X 18H" X 18W"
Conclusion: As you can see none of what is in here is preferred to use except for the domes. So please I would definitely buy all these separately and avoid these types of kits at all costs. Your beardies need the best possible care and these kits don't offer it, they just want the money. Please share this and do NOT buy a kit from Zilla!
Yea it might definitely help, and when anyone has an issue if they bought one of these, many more people will know to reference this.
