How many temperature zones?

[sprinz03]

My vet tells me my tank should have 3 temperature zones: one side about 80 degrees (cool), one side about 85 degrees (warm), and the center for the basking light about 100 degrees.

Right now my beardie is in a 20 gallon & I think its too small for three zones, but when I upgrade to a bigger tank, is this realistic? Does anyone else have their tank set up like this?

Any & all comments welcome...

 

[RB1]

who ever told you 3 zones is wrong

you need only 2,basking side and a cool side.

 

[Spikey07]

You need to create a temperature gradient in the tank so your beardie can thermoregulate.

I find the easiest way to do this is to place a spot bulb at one side of the tank, this will create a basking spot which should be: 95-105 degrees F for an adult or 100-110 degrees F for a youngster. You may need to experiment with different wattage bulbs to get the correct temperature. The temperature will gradually reduce towards the other end of the tank. It should be 80 degrees F on the cool side. If you are struggling to get the cool side at 80 you may need to add a mother low wattage bulb to the cool side to bring the temps up.

You may already know this but you will also need a good UVB bulb for your beardie. The brand and type of bulb is very iMportant. The Repti-Sun 10.0 and Arcaida D3 12% UVB tubes are both great bulbs. Do not use coil lights, they can be harmful as they give off the wrong wavelength of UVB.

 

[ChiefsDaddy]

who ever told you 3 zones is wrong

you need only 2,basking side and a cool side.

^^^ This is incorrect.

There are indeed 3 temperature zones:

Cool side (side with no bulb or lighting only bulb): 75-85F
Warm side (ambient area around the basking bulb): 90-100F
Basking spot (spot directly underneath the basking area. MUST be measured with a probe): 100-110F

The idea is to get a nice gradient in the cage to allow the beardie to thermoregulate themselves by moving to different parts of the cage.

I, personally, only measure two temperatures. The cool side and the basking spot. If your basking spot is right, it is usually safe to assume that the temp on the warm side is good. Every few days, I measure the warm side just to be sure.

I highly recommend getting an Acurite Digital Thermometer with probe like this one:

You place the device on the cool side, and the probe on the basking spot. It will give you the temp of both, plus the humidity level, and it is VERY accurate. Stick-on thermometers are extremely inaccurate and I do not recommend them.

 

[RB1]

this is the first i have ever heard that one needs 3 temp zones i have raised all my dragons on a basking spot and cool side with no bulb with 0 issues

basking spot 100-110

and cool side 80-85

 

[sprinz03]

It was the first I'd heard of it too. Thanks for your input!

 

[ChiefsDaddy]

this is the first i have ever heard that one needs 3 temp zones i have raised all my dragons on a basking spot and cool side with no bulb with 0 issues

basking spot 100-110

and cool side 80-85

This is not at all uncommon. Most people only measure those 2 zones. I, myself, only measure the cool side and basking spot, just like you. Except every few days, I do check the warm side. If the warm side is too cool, I will physically lower the basking spot so that I can increase the intensity of the basking bulb using a dimmer, making the ambient temperature a bit warmer. My dragons don't always stay directly underneath the basking spot. They spend a lot of time on the warm side too, so I like to make sure that it's comfortable for them.

 

[Jerichosdad]

Just be aware if you use a dimmer that they can create a hum sound that can be very annoying and more so for your dragon . This can be fixed by lowering the wattage or getting a more expensive dimmer to absorb some of the jolts or that can handle higher wattages

 

[RB1]

Just be aware if you use a dimmer that they can create a hum sound that can be very annoying and more so for your dragon . This can be fixed by lowering the wattage or getting a more expensive dimmer to absorb some of the jolts or that can handle higher wattages

must be a crappy dimmer,i bought a cheap one from home depot only 10 bucks and don't have any issues like this

 

[Jerichosdad]

I bought mine from home depot too. Maybe mine is just ****ty

 

[ChiefsDaddy]

I can't say I've ever had that issue either. I get mine from Lowes for about $10