Having trouble getting temps high enough?

[RawrtheBeardedDragon]

Hi all, brand new beardie owner here after wife and 2 year old went to the pet store for a Beta fish…. And came home with a Dragon

A few questions on temperatures, I feel like I’m really struggling to get it warm enough. I have both a 100w basking bulb, and after feeling it was too cool and especially worried about night, added a 100w ceramic heater to the other in the duplex ballast. Replaced the little uvb light was originally there with a prot5 14%. Even with all that, the center “average” of the cage only gets to 83 degrees on the control (was afraid of over cooking him/her) with the ceramic added) digital read. 77 on the cool side and 88 on warm side air temp. And I feel like this much heating for a 40 gallon take should be more than enough.

Just got an IR gun and now I’m really confused, shooting at floor the cool side is 77 and but warm side says (which is what I was trying for) 100, and then his elevated rock right under the basking light is 107.

He only ever is on the warm side, never goes to the cool side. At night I try to keep the middle temp at 75 but the ceramic heater somehow doesn’t keep up and it’s been 72 in the morning (house is 70) and little dude is again on the warm side of his cage.

Little guidance on if this is good and which numbers, the digital probes or the ir gun, to believe would be helpful. I ignore the stick on ones that came with the starter tank.

Last question is flooring, looks like tile is the prefered as they can’t have sand yet, but I can’t find tile that fits here. Ended up with a laminate wood flooring that’s waterproof and scratch resistant thinking that would be easiest to clean? Is that alright?

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi all, brand new beardie owner here after wife and 2 year old went to the pet store for a Beta fish…. And came home with a Dragon

A few questions on temperatures, I feel like I’m really struggling to get it warm enough. I have both a 100w basking bulb, and after feeling it was too cool and especially worried about night, added a 100w ceramic heater to the other in the duplex ballast. Replaced the little uvb light was originally there with a prot5 14%. Even with all that, the center “average” of the cage only gets to 83 degrees on the control (was afraid of over cooking him/her) with the ceramic added) digital read. 77 on the cool side and 88 on warm side air temp. And I feel like this much heating for a 40 gallon take should be more than enough.

Just got an IR gun and now I’m really confused, shooting at floor the cool side is 77 and but warm side says (which is what I was trying for) 100, and then his elevated rock right under the basking light is 107.

He only ever is on the warm side, never goes to the cool side. At night I try to keep the middle temp at 75 but the ceramic heater somehow doesn’t keep up and it’s been 72 in the morning (house is 70) and little dude is again on the warm side of his cage.

Little guidance on if this is good and which numbers, the digital probes or the ir gun, to believe would be helpful. I ignore the stick on ones that came with the starter tank.

Last question is flooring, looks like tile is the prefered as they can’t have sand yet, but I can’t find tile that fits here. Ended up with a laminate wood flooring that’s waterproof and scratch resistant thinking that would be easiest to clean? Is that alright?

Ok I see you have the digital probe thermometer- place on the spot where he basks that more accurate you want 105-110- you have a really strong uvb bulb-- the 14% bulbs are recommended for tanks 24 + height- it's on the screen so it's ok there its gonna cut down on some of the strength --try 10 inches directly above a piece of basking decor--- the night temps should be 65-75 ambient-

 

[Austinnnnn23]

If you are super concerned with just basking temps because other tank temps seem pretty good you could always use a higher up basking spot closer to the heat bulb, bearded dragons are smart and know how to thermo regulate and wont cook themselves unless the entire tank is the same temp and they have 0 heat gradient. With your substrate people are always indifferent about it, you cant do this or that but honestly I think you can do whatever you think is best, if you want to do a loose sandy type of substrate make sure that you arent feeding on it and no feeders are left in the tank and make it a habit of when your beardie comes out they are fed so then they dont think anything in the tank is food because they arent out of their tank. I have kept multiple bearded dragons and done something different with each one, My current beardie is on carpet and I dont really recommend just because of the maintenance that comes along with it there is no super easy way to clean it unless you want to put it in your washing machine. Ive kept them on sand, cocunut shells other loose substrates you get the idea its up to you with how you want to do that people will always have more experience then us with certain things but always remember its just a suggestion and you dont need to follow it!

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi all, brand new beardie owner here after wife and 2 year old went to the pet store for a Beta fish…. And came home with a Dragon

A few questions on temperatures, I feel like I’m really struggling to get it warm enough. I have both a 100w basking bulb, and after feeling it was too cool and especially worried about night, added a 100w ceramic heater to the other in the duplex ballast. Replaced the little uvb light was originally there with a prot5 14%. Even with all that, the center “average” of the cage only gets to 83 degrees on the control (was afraid of over cooking him/her) with the ceramic added) digital read. 77 on the cool side and 88 on warm side air temp. And I feel like this much heating for a 40 gallon take should be more than enough.

Just got an IR gun and now I’m really confused, shooting at floor the cool side is 77 and but warm side says (which is what I was trying for) 100, and then his elevated rock right under the basking light is 107.

He only ever is on the warm side, never goes to the cool side. At night I try to keep the middle temp at 75 but the ceramic heater somehow doesn’t keep up and it’s been 72 in the morning (house is 70) and little dude is again on the warm side of his cage.

Little guidance on if this is good and which numbers, the digital probes or the ir gun, to believe would be helpful. I ignore the stick on ones that came with the starter tank.

Last question is flooring, looks like tile is the prefered as they can’t have sand yet, but I can’t find tile that fits here. Ended up with a laminate wood flooring that’s waterproof and scratch resistant thinking that would be easiest to clean? Is that alright?

Yes the flooring is fine as long as there is texture- recommended is also textured NON adhesive shelf liner -

 

[RawrtheBeardedDragon]

Ok I see you have the digital probe thermometer- place on the spot where he basks that more accurate you want 105-110- you have a really strong uvb bulb-- the 14% bulbs are recommended for tanks 24 + height- it's on the screen so it's ok there its gonna cut down on some of the strength --try 10 inches directly above a piece of basking decor--- the night temps should be 65-75 ambient-

The digital probe connected to the outlet controller is actually in the middle behind the big log. The other one on the hot side of the tank is just a $10 digital probe I bough. That one says 88 while the analog one on the glass in the same area say 100 so I’m a little confused. The IR heat gun on the floor there says 98 but that’s surface heat not air heat I believe.

Sorry, super new

 

[KarrieRee]

The digital probe connected to the outlet controller is actually in the middle behind the big log. The other one on the hot side of the tank is just a $10 digital probe I bough. That one says 88 while the analog one on the glass in the same area say 100 so I’m a little confused. The IR heat gun on the floor there says 98 but that’s surface heat not air heat I believe.

Sorry, super new

Where is the probe - it needs to be placed on the spot he sits for basking - ambient temp on hot side of 100 is good - IR guns can be off by certain decor materials - it's best to go by the probe for actual accurate basking temps

 

[RawrtheBeardedDragon]

Where is the probe - it needs to be placed on the spot he sits for basking - ambient temp on hot side of 100 is good - IR guns can be off by certain decor materials - it's best to go by the probe for actual accurate basking temps

The control probe for the ceramic heater I just have in the middle of the tank, thought process being so that doesn’t go above 85 degrees because then the cool side would probably be too warm

But my other digital probe that’s just an lcd readout is on the hot side under both the basking light and the ceramic heater (which is always on, it never actually gets up to that 85 degree mark in the center of cage where outlet would switch it off) and it’s only 88 for ambient tempt there, despite essentially 200 watts of heating plus whatever the uvb light puts out.

 

[KarrieRee]

The control probe for the ceramic heater I just have in the middle of the tank, thought process being so that doesn’t go above 85 degrees because then the cool side would probably be too warm

But my other digital probe that’s just an lcd readout is on the hot side under both the basking light and the ceramic heater (which is always on, it never actually gets up to that 85 degree mark in the center of cage where outlet would switch it off) and it’s only 88 for ambient tempt there, despite essentially 200 watts of heating plus whatever the uvb light puts out.

Uvb's do not put out heat - ceramic heat emitters are good for keeping tanks at night 65-75-- you want cool and dark-- your basking bulb should keep surface basking temps 95-100 for a juvenile/ adult dragon- in that surrounding area around 100- cool side of tank low 80's middle of tank 90's