Hello everyone, we are planning in getting our first bearded dragon a few weeks from now and would like to get set up in preparation for bringing him/her home. After reading dozens of websites we keep reading conflicting views for what is best.
So we think we are close to getting the right setup but would appreciate it if someone with experience could give us some pointers as we are complete beginners.
Basking light: a 100w bulb? Do we need a timer and thermostat for this to stop it getting too hot? I'm aware this and UVB should be on about 12 hours a day.
The vivarium is going to be located in our main living area which is also the warmest room in the house, we live in the north of the UK so the coldest winter days can get cold. The coldest the room would ever get would be roughly 14 Celsius/58 Fahrenheit. Bearing in mind this is only on the coldest of nights (perhaps a dozen times a year) would we need a night time ceramic heater?
Do we need a digital thermometer at both the basking spot and the cool spot?
We were hoping to use ceramic tiles on the bottom.
Apologies about the length of the post and the amount of questions but we don't want to do anything wrong!
The enclosure looks good if you get that one, and tiles are amazing to use. My beardies nails are short enough to where they dont scratch me but still can climb good with them because of the tile. Definitely use a digital thermometer for the basking spot and cool side. Most people dont use a thermostat for the basking bulb since if you get the right watt and it stays at around 95-105 its good, and plus you can always lower the wattage or get a higher wattage if it doesnt work out with that specific wattage. I usually leave the lights on for 13-14 hours in the summer and 12 hours in the winter. Which 13-14 hours is more close to their summer day time hours. As for the nighttime temps, as long as it doesnt drop below 65 you wont need the ceramic heater but on the coldest nights probably getting one for those would be good.
If you can i suggest getting dubias before you get it as babies eat a lot, 1-4 months eat three times a day with 4-12 months eating twice a day and adults eating once day. Every feeding let them eat bugs for 10-15 minutes as many as they want. And dusting with calcium 5 times a week and multivitamin twice a week.
Yeah, usually only time i even touch the lights is when i turn them on in the morning or off at night since if you have the correct wattage then it should stay at the perfect temperature.
I control both lights manually, i turn the uvb off 10-20 minutes early before i turn the heat lamps off though just so it can sort of go from bright light to somewhat dim. And i dont exactly know too many thermostats that are good but i do have one for my ball pythons heat mat, its not digital but it works. https://www.amazon.com/Zilla-Reptil...1510781029&sr=8-3&keywords=thermostat+reptile