Greetings from the Pac NW

[tenchijin2]

Hi all,

I'm an experienced herp keeper of middling age... but I will be getting my first bearded dragon next week (I think) for my 10 year old son who loves reptiles. He currently has a green iguana in a 6x6x3 cage I built.

Anyway I'm going to have some questions mostly of the "has anyone tried..." variety since probably all my great ideas are things others have tried and already ruled out, LOL.

Along those lines... what are the opinions of 48" fluo tubes? Reptisun 10 comes in that length but I'm not sure if it's overkill (assuming a 48" + cage of course) or just generally impractical.

Aric

 

[SpacialCoogs]

I thought you were posting from the PACNWRS reptile show : :lol: but that is coming up on April 1/2. You should check it out and post updates for us.

Lighting...
48" in a 48" cage seems too large to me unless you have a large custom enclosure that requires a lot of coverage. But whether it's a T5 or T8 will also affect where and how you place it. So imo it depends on what your enclosure will be like.

 

[tenchijin2]

I am planning to go to the show. I haven't been to one in several years.

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't like to have a UVB light running all the way across the cage. Just enough to provide intense UVB over a basking spot that is slightly larger than the length of the dragon. The 22'' T5 works well in most cases. This allows basking levels of UVB over one area but a gradient to lower UVB in other areas. While they like basking, they tend to move around quite a bit during the day to enjoy different temperatures and UV exposure. It's best to offer as much variety as you can. I like this combo a lot http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/ If you want a brighter enclosure you could get a dual fixture that includes a 6.5k daylight bulb as well http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/24...arcadia-12-and-6-5k-day-light-bulbs-included/ The optimal output from the T5 Arcadia is at about 12'' so I'd plan on mounting it 12'' up from the basking area for best results.

 

[Rankins]

Haha...I'll be a vendor at the PACNWRS expo!!
Please stop by my table and say 'hi'!
I'll be there under the name 'Desert Design Venomous'
I'll have my baby Mexican beaded lizards, maybe a Gila, a bunch of orange head roaches and food for them.
Buy a lizard or 10

Edit: I see 'Beautiful Dragons' will also be there...I know a lot of people use their feeding chart.
I'm letting an elderly friend borrow a spot on my table to try and rehome some of her rescue dragons....but I don't know what she's bringing with her.

 

[tenchijin2]

Haha...I'll be a vendor at the PACNWRS expo!!
Please stop by my table and say 'hi'!
I'll be there under the name 'Desert Design Venomous'
I'll have my baby Mexican beaded lizards, maybe a Gila, a bunch of orange head roaches and food for them.
Buy a lizard or 10

Edit: I see 'Beautiful Dragons' will also be there...I know a lot of people use their feeding chart.
I'm letting an elderly friend borrow a spot on my table to try and rehome some of her rescue dragons....but I don't know what she's bringing with her.

Well I just got the ticket prices for the event and YIKES! I don't think I want to spend $50 for my family just to walk in the door. Quite a bummer as I was looking forward to it. I might change my mind but that's a pretty big chunk of change to attend an event where the idea is to then spend money with the various vendors. Makes it pretty uneconomical.

On another note, we did get my son his little beardie. He named him Mr. Mustachio, and after 5 days with us he seems OK.