Lighting Question

[Abriana8]

Hey everyone,

I just rehomed/adopted a bearded dragon a week ago.
I noticed he doesn't really spend any time under his UVB light and his basking light wasn't quite hot enough so I got a MVB. it is an Exo Terra Solar Glo, 160W. His enclosure is approx 50-55 gallons. (I got him through Craigslist and the ad with the enclosure dimensions is gone) I have the light just resting on the screen top of his enclosure. Basking spot is 95°F. I just want to know if I need to move the light further away due to potential eye damage since it is both a UVB and UVA light. I am a first time bearded dragon owner and wanna do the best for my little guy. Thanks!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Can you measure the dimensions? 55 gallons are usually 48x12x20 and the narrowness of it is not the best for a full grown adult beardie.
50 gallons can very however, usually most commonly used are 36x18x18, however I know there are some enclosures that are 48x24x10 that is around 50 gallons or so.

160 may overheat the enclosure, if its a 36x18x18, then again MVB's suck at heating and and to get it to that 100-110 temp range for the basking zone it can be quite hard to do so without exposing the beardie to too much UVB.

The MVB your using is actually quite weak, trust me solar glo's suck and loose UVB at a rapid pace once turned on. If you wanted to continue using MVB go for arcadia's or a megaray MVB. Personally really like the megaray and so does my Tegu and a few of my other reptiles.

Depending on how big your tank is I'd just go for a tube light and a regular basking light since your not getting the basking spot to the correct temps.
Reptisun and arcadia are two of the most trustworthy brands currently. Most likely go for a reptisun T5 HO 10.0 22" or 34" if its a 36x18x18 enclosure, or an arcadia D3+ T5 HO 12% 22" or 34".
For 48" long enclosure i'd get a reptisun T5 HO 10.0 or a arcadia D3+ T5 HO 12% 46" tube light.
Depending on height you may be able to go for a arcadia D3+ T5 HO 14% bulb.

Make sure to get a fitting reflective fixture.

These bulbs need to be replaced every 6-12 months unless you have a solarmeter to check it (which costs a lot sadly).

For a 18 high enclosure probably a 75-100 regular basking bulb works, and then for a 20+ inch tall enclosure a 150+ watt would work. Maybe 120 watts if your house is really warm.

Temps should be this.
Basking spot 100-110.
Warm side (area around the basking spot and somewhat in the middle) 90-95.
Cool side 70-85.
Night time temps no lower than 65.
If its below this you can use a low wattage CHE (ceramic heat emitter), this wont produce any light so it doesn't disturb their sleep and can keep them warm at night.
(Dont use colored bulbs, red, purple, black, blue ect for day or nighttime heating as they can see it)

Also what are you monitoring the temps with?
What is his substrate/flooring?
What are you feeding him?
How old is he?
What supplements are you giving him currently?

 

[Abriana8]

He has a tube light for UVB as well. It's a 36 x 18 x 18. I read that they should be within 8-12" of the UVB. Basking spot is currently 95°, still climbing a bit. If he's approximately 12" from the light is that too close?

He is almost 2 years old.
Substrate is repti carpet.
He eats his daily salad + dubia roaches 4-5x/week.
Calcium supplement without D3 dusted on roaches.
Multivitamin supplement: 3x/wk ==> Herptivite with no vitamin A, with beta carotene.

 

[Abriana8]

Measuring temps with infared thermometer gun

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

What type of tube light is it? brand, t5, t8, 10.0, 5.0, ect ect. Some brands can cause damage to the beardie and not provide any uvb at all while others are entirely fine to use.

I doubt 12" would be too close, however if it doesn't get up to at least 100*f you need to get another heat lamp and see if you can return the MVB or you could possibly use the MVB as a basking light for when he's roaming outside his viv. (under careful watch of course).

 

[Abriana8]

Not 100% sure it came with the lizard when I adopted him. This is the only information on the light:

15 watt t8 bp desert 50

when I looked that up it said it's most likely zilla or reptisun

 

[AHBD]

If it's a zilla, be sure to remove any plastic shield if there is one covering the uvb bulb.

 

[Abriana8]

Thank you guys for all your insight!!!