Getting a new tank..

[MyLoveThumbelina]

Hey everyone!
I'm going to be getting a 40 gallon tank for my girl tomorrow, hopefully.
next week I'll be able to buy other things I need for it.
i was wanting to know all the things I will need for her new tank. Maybe a list of sorts, if that's possible?

she's in a 29 gallon tank right now.. I have a zilla uvb light, I know I need something else though. And a basking light. I want to make her the happiest dragon I can.
she has tile and food dishes and everything.
But I'd like to know of whatever else i'll need.

She's 19 inches
I'd really like a list of sorts, or some tips, so i can just go to the store and pick it all up at once.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ClydesGirl]

In a 40 gallon tank you'll want a 24" Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% bulb for UVB. You want the fixture to be mounted INSIDE the tank, over on the basking side, so your beardie can get within 8-10 inches of it while basking. For glass tanks, I've found the best way to accomplish that is to get an "under cabinet" style flourescent fixture. These usually have screw holes on the top/back of them that are meant to be mounted under a cabinet (obviously). You can use 3M Command hooks and mount those to the back wall of your tank and then hang the fixture from those.

For a heat lamp you can use an clear incandescent bulb. It doesn't have to be a branded "basking light" from a pet store. For a 40 gallon tank, I would think 75 watts would be sufficient, or better yet, you could get e dome with a dimmer and a 100 watt bulb, then just dim it down to fine-tune the temps.

Speaking of temps, you'll also want an indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe for measuring basking and cool side temps OR an infrared thermometer to measure surface temps.

For substrate you'll want tile, repticarpet, or non-adhesive shelf liner.

A food dish for salad. No need for a water dish really.

Some sort of basking surface that gets your beardie closer to the UVB and heat lamps.

Possibly some sort of hide for the cool side. I have half-logs in both of my vivs.

I also like having some driftwood for my beardies to climb on. Sometimes they like to climb.

 

[MyLoveThumbelina]

Thank you! This is perfect. I wasn't sure exactly what lights I needed. I have a 75wat basking bulb right now, although i don't have the right thermometer so I'm not sure if it gets the cage hot enough. I have one of the dial ones, and it says the hot side is at like 80 degrees.. I'm not sure about the cool side, but I'm worried it's too cold for her.
It feels the same as my room, and with winter coming, I know it'll just get colder in there.

 

[ClydesGirl]

Getting proper temps is super important, because beardies can't digest their food without enough heat. Not sure where you're from, but if you have a Walmart nearby, they sell an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer with probe for around $13. You place the probe directly on the basking spot and it displays as the outdoor temperature. Then put the unit itself over on the cook side (I mount mine to the wall with another 3M Command hook) and the temperature there will read as the "indoor" temp. Plus there will be a humidity reading as well. You want the humidity to stay under about 37%.

At my Walmart they sell these over *near* the garden center, but not inside it. They are on the same wall as the door to the garden center. Here's what the unit itself looks like:

 

[MyLoveThumbelina]

Well thank you
I went to the walmart near my house, but they only had the ones with HUGE probes.. The size of the actual thing it's self.
I happened to find one at petco for around the same price.
I'm having trouble keeping the temps up in the morning. So I plugged in two lights to start with, hoping to keep it up.
directly under the basking spot it's 100.7, but the rest of the tank falls to 72 or less at night. i have to keep a heater pointed at the tank to warm her up..

 

[ClydesGirl]

It's fine if your night time temps are dropping into the low 70's. As long as they are staying above 65 degrees consistently, you shouldn't have to worry about any additional heat.