Lighting Help

[Skipper7]

Hello All,

This is my first post on this website. Please forgive any formatting errors

I've had a beautiful Beardy named Skipper for nearly eight years. She has never had any medical issues until recently. (I was suspicious of a URI so I made a vet trip.) Consequently, I have not read much about beardy care until now.

A complete blood test is pending and I will make another post of anything abnormal shows up.

It appears as though my lighting setup has been wrong since I got Skipper. Lights are listed below.
(Pictures to follow)

- 100 watt Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp
- 26 watt Exo Terra Repti Glo 10.0 UVB (compact)
- 100 watt Zilla Night Black Heat bulb

- 13 watt (tropical) Reptisun 5.0 UVB (not currently in use)
- 150 watt Zilla Day White Light (not currently in use)

She generally sleeps in the corner she is occupying in the picture, so I move the night light to the center of the cage at bed time.

Ambient temperature stays around 80 F.
Basking spot (rock) is around 100 F.
Nighttime temperature around 70 F.


Am I using the correct night and heat lamps? Should I be using a 150 watt heat lamp?
Which of the UVB lights should I be using?
Should I invest in a hood setup? I would prefer not to spend too much money, but I am willing to invest if it is important.
What changes could/should I make?

I am genuinely interested in any and all input that you guys have to offer. Thank you.

 

[ScarvedDragon]

Based off of my research of how to do lighting it seems fine except for the ReptiGlo. that one is bad for their eyes. Reptisun 10.0 is the best from what I understand. The temperatures are great for an adult

You don't need a higher watt light to produce more heat from what I've learned. you can raise the lamp for lower heat or lower the lamp for higher.

Does the black heat light produce any light at all? They need darkness in their terrarium at night to sleep well.

they also need at least 12 hours underneath their lights for proper calcium absorption.

i hope this helps, but I may be wrong on this, I did just get my first reptile, a bearded dragon, 2 weeks ago. But this website is a huge help to me. here's a link to a post by another user about correct lighting help viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006

Hopefully your bearded dragon feels better

 

[Skipper7]

About my night light...

Should I get rid of it? Everything I'm reading says that NO source of light should be on at night. Would switching to a CHE be a good idea?

If so, how much would a 40 or 60 watt CHE raise the temperature in a 50 gal. glass enclosure?

 

[CooperDragon]

It depends on the temps in the tank overnight. If the tank stays above about 65 (low 70s is a good spot to shoot for) then no additional heat is needed. If the temps drop below that (maybe seasonally during the winter - just check overnight temps) using a ceramic heat emitter is a good idea. Low wattage maybe up to 100w should do well. You could put it on a dimming thermostat so it comes on automatically if needed otherwise just put it over one side of the tank and leave it on a timer to go on overnight to bump the temps into the low 70s.