Dragon obsessed with his UVB light!

[Drazhaar]

Hi guys,

I've recently purchased a new Bearded Dragon and named him Kai. I did have a dragon prior to this but unfortunately it was very ill, had metabolic bone disease and only lasted a few months.

I've only had Kai for a few days but he seems obsessed with his UVB light.
I have a strip light that extends the length of the back wall of his vivarium. It's exactly 8 inches from the floor of the viv and to my knowledge this is the best place to have it? Or maybe somebody can confirm that or correct me if I'm wrong...

Anyway, Kai just sits there and stares directly at the bulb. He kept trying to climb objects within the vivarium to get closer to the light and stick his face right against it.
I moved the items around to make sure nothing was against the back wall so that he couldn't climb and get too close to it...but now he is just walking up the back wall and standing vertically!

My worry is that surely it can't be too good for his eyes, being so close to it like that? But I don't know how to stop him. It's already 8 inches high and I thought that putting it any higher would take it out of the optimal distance for UVB rays.

Here's a photo of the viv set up and the height of the UVB in comparison to him -

http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/554395_10152173173195724_1327558411_n.jpg

Now here's a photo of him climbing up the back wall to get as close to it as possible and stick his face into the light...

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/254635_10152173172990724_1789646815_n.jpg

Does anybody have any suggestions? Is it okay to let him continue? I don't know what to do..

 

[BeardedDragonCo]

Where do you have his basking bulb?

 

[Drazhaar]

The basking bulb is a ceramic heat lamp to the far right of the vivarium, it has rocks etc so that he can climb up and bask underneath

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

 

[Catalyst]

The basking bulb is a ceramic heat lamp to the far right of the vivarium, it has rocks etc so that he can climb up and bask underneath

Ceramic heat emitters are used for providing extra heat at night if your tank gets too cold, but during the day you want a heat bulb that is going to put out lots of bright, clear light. Dragons are desert creatures and need that bright light during the day. You can use a regular lightbulb or a halogen flood light as a heat light - no need to pay extra for a petstore "heat bulb." It may be that your dragon is searching out the strongest light source in his tank and so is getting too close to his UV bulb.

I'm not sure if it's dangerous for him to be right up against the bulb like that but it does make me uneasy, especially getting his face and eyes right in there. It's recommended that your dragon be able to get within 6 inches of his bulb at some point in his tank so my suggestion would be to move the UVB higher and set the furniture in his tank so that when he's up on top of it basking, he's about 6 inches from the UVB light.

 

[vampy]

I'd be very uneasy about allowing him to get that close to the light. If he gets the recommended levels at 8 inches, (edited cos my brain wasn't working so late at night) he'll be getting 4 times this at 4 inches, 16 times this at 2 inches, 64 times this at 1 inch, and 256 times that at half an inch, which is about the distance he looks from it, and I'm sure it can't be good for his eyes, especially with no bright light next to it to make his pupils contract properly.

As said above, he's almost certainly doing this because he wants bright light, and that's the best he's got. Swap out your CHE for a regular incandescent bulb and see if his behaviour changes.

Also, the light doesn't need to be mounted 8 inches from the floor, just so that he can get within about 8 inches of it when he is basking. They tend to like to bask an an elevated platform (and it makes it easier for us to get the temps right if the basking area is elevated), so it could be that you'd be fine mounting the light higher if his basking spot is a tall rock.

 

[Drazhaar]

Catalyst - The guy who sold us the first dragon came over to my house and checked the vivarium set up and everything, he said the ceramic was the correct one to buy, I just bought everything based on what he told me. It puts out the right overall temperature, the basking spot is 100-105 degrees so everything is fine in terms of heat. But I think you might me right about the bright light source. That was my thinking with the UVB, that he was trying to climb to get close to it, almost as if it's the sun and he's still in a desert setting of some sort. He seems to just want to get as close to it as possible even though that isn't what is giving out the heat in the vivarium. I think I might have to replace the ceramic light with a bright heat lamp

Vampy - That was exactly my worry, it's bright enough for me to look at when I'm a foot away from the vivarium so can't imagine it's doing him any good at all sticking his face right into it!

I'll go out and buy a new heat lamp and see if the situation changes, thanks for the advice guys!

 

[TJeno]

I'd be very uneasy about allowing him to get that close to the light. If he gets the recommended levels at 8 inches, he'll be getting twice this at 4 inches, 4 times this at 2 inches, 8 times this at 1 inch, and 16 times that at half an inch

I don't think that's exactly how it works, but regardless, it can't be good for him.

 

[vampy]

I'd be very uneasy about allowing him to get that close to the light. If he gets the recommended levels at 8 inches, he'll be getting twice this at 4 inches, 4 times this at 2 inches, 8 times this at 1 inch, and 16 times that at half an inch

I don't think that's exactly how it works, but regardless, it can't be good for him.

You're right, thanks, it was late and I was tired. If you halve the distance, the intensity goes up by a factor of 4. So at half an inch (1/16 of the distance) the intensity increases by 16^2...256 times the radiation.

 

[mudskipper]

Have you got a new basking light for him yet? What kind of UVB bulb is that in the pictures?

 

[Drazhaar]

The UVB is a Komodo 10.0. It states on the box it can be placed up to 20 inches away. So I've raised the UVB up the back wall to around 14 inches. I bought his new basking light yesterday and it already seems to have made a difference. Prior to this he would never bask unless I placed him on the basking spot and I'd never see him gaping. Since I put the new light in he's spent most of his time basking and sitting there gaping so much he looks like he's smiling!
He still tries to get to the UVB every few hours. He keeps trying to scramble up the vertical back wall, he eventually gives up now he's realised he cant get too close to it like before

My only problem is now the night time temperature. I used to leave the ceramic heater on as it was ceramic there was no light. But now I'm worried the night temp will drop too low. Last night it was 68 degrees, which I think is okay through my research? But as winter comes it might get lower and I might need a heat mat under the viv

Edit - forgot to mention that his right eye looks a little strange. Seems to be runny and I'm worried it might be because of being to close to the UVB. I might just be paranoid but I'm going to monitor him closely and watch it for any signs of damage or infection

 

[vampy]

Poor guy, I'm glad the basking spot made a difference. Are you sure he is trying to get to the UV rather than just randomly climbing the walls, they do do that sometimes.

The eye problems are almost certainly due to the UV, not only is it too close, but the one you have isn't recommended for beardies, you should replace it with the reptisun 10.0 or the arcadia 12% tube to prevent further eye damage. Personally I'd order the new tube now and turn off the old one until it arrives to prevent more eye damage.

As for night time heat, you really don't want to use a heat mat, your best bet is to get another fixture and use your CHE if the temps do start to get below 65

 

[Drazhaar]

Im not sure, it could be just random climbing. But before he used to climb up and stick his face into it and now hes climbing up in the same spot so i just presumed.

Not recommended for beardies? Really? It has a bearded dragon on the packaging, it says in the description you can have it for dragons and the guy in the pet store specifically handed me it and told me its the one I'd need! Are they really that bad?

 

[mudskipper]

I have never heard of that brand of UVB bulbs, but maybe you should change the bulb to the only 2 brands ever recommended like Vampy said just to be on the safe side. This is through experiments and countless personal experiences of other members.

As for the night temperature, you could plug the ceramic heat bulb into a Hydrofarms Thermostat and set the thermostat to turn on if the temperature drops below 70F. Don't use just any other thermostat without doing an extensive research though. You can get the Hydrofarms one from Amazon for $25. For the bulb, you can probably use the lowest wattage one. I would put the probe where he likes to sleep and put the bulb up in the middle of the tank so it heats the whole tank.

 

[vampy]

Im not sure, it could be just random climbing. But before he used to climb up and stick his face into it and now hes climbing up in the same spot so i just presumed.

Not recommended for beardies? Really? It has a bearded dragon on the packaging, it says in the description you can have it for dragons and the guy in the pet store specifically handed me it and told me its the one I'd need! Are they really that bad?

Common sense would dictate that something with a picture of a beardie on that was sold as being for beardies would be the right thing, but sadly not. Just check around all the threads here about the beardie starter kits that come with sand and coil lights that can harm them as well as night lights which are just totally unnecessary. Either manufacturers haven't kept up with the latest research into how best to keep them healthy, haven't invested the time in testing their gear to be sure it's safe, or simply don't care because they are still selling stuff and making profits.

UV tubes have a coating on the inside which is what makes the UV (and what makes them different to regular household tube lights). Lots of these bulbs have been found to give off way too much at the start of the bulb's life, then nowhere near enough later on. Also many of them give out frequencies of UV which are not found in natural sunlight, so the dragon's eyes haven't evolved to deal with them and they can cause eye damage.

As far as I know no-one has done an exhaustive test of all the many different makes of tubes (i think the UV guide site might be in the process of doing so), but from previous tests and anecdotal evidence on this forum, many many dragons with eye problems have those problems clear up as soon as they switch to the reptisun 10.0 or arcadia 12% bulbs. There are also dragons who had other bulbs and no eye issues, but still improved in colour/health/appetite when switched to a better brand.

As we can't see your dragon and you don't have all the necessary UV meters and other expensive kit to check the spectrum of your individual bulb to know it's safe, the best and most often recommended course of action is to switch the bulb to one we definitely know is safe. In every case I've read on here, changing the bulb cured the problem.