Help with lighting and heating

[beertney06]

Ok, so i have to lights in my tank, the basking light ,and the uv light whitch is one of those coil lights .

Are theses good enough? Do I leave them both on at the same time. Whats more important the uv or basking..my uv light socket or whatever died on my this moring i work as a nurse and pull 3 -4 12's a week, but my boyfriends mother has a light fixture i can use in the mean time its one of these ones u use for painting i guess its silver and round shaped...what should i do

 

[beertney06]

also i hear talk of heating pads under the tank?? is this good for them ive been having and will be having more cold nights. What kinda heating pad do u use? Can u use a regular heating pad or are there special ones

 

[beardie parents]

The silver one would be fine. One of the drop lights we use were purchased close to 15 or more years ago and still works fine.
What size tank do you have? If you have one smaller than a 40 breeder, what I would suggest is use the drop light that does work for your basking light and get a long fluorescent fixture and put a reptisun 10 in it. Make sure that you get the long strip bulb, not any coil or compact as they cause damage to beardies.

I went to a pet store and got one of those partial hood things that are for fish tanks and I use them for our beardies. The reason we got those, even tho they are more expensive, is because they are easier for us to use as those that you get from walmart and Home depot. The ones we found had the turn on switch on the part of the fixture that you must put on top of the screen.

If you have a 40 breeder tank or larger, just order a Mega ray from here: http://www.reptileuv.com The reason you can't use them in tanks smaller than the 40 breeder is because they get the tank to hot. The Mega ray is a much better uvb than the reptisun strip fluorescent uvb's. It also gives out heat and light along with the better uvb. I haven't used one of these yet, but I have read a lot about them, including the fact that Bob, the maker of the mega ray, tests each and every bulb to make sure it won't cause health problems for any reptile. There is a lot of info on the site I gave you above, it caused a little confusion for me, not much tho. You can also email them or call them for help. Apparently they are extremely helpful in helping you choose the correct wattage for the tank you have.

 

[beardie parents]

Forgive me for forgetting about the heating rock/undertank heat pad. The best way to give extra heat in the tank at night is to use the Ceramic Heat Emitter. I just got two, a 40 watt for my 20 gallon tank and a 60 watt for my 40 breeder. I decided to use these because my new girl, speedy, refuses to use a hide and the light from my night glo moonlight bulb would cause to much light for her to sleep well enough. I don't need to use it that much at the moment as it doesn't get real cold at night yet.

 

[beertney06]

Welll lol i get paid friday i found that the coil lights arnt safe for Draco so i will purchase i new one this weekend im sure it wont hurt for a few more days..the mega light you talked about that puts out heat and uv rays would be all i need?? i have on sunlight light right know which i leave on for 12 hrs then turn them off his tank is 5 gallons but hes only the size of a business card lol very tiny..i know this will last him a few and i do mean few months lol soi plan on a bigger tank