Looking for suggestions! Please help.

[shannond]

Hello! I am very new to the beardie world, and looking for some advice. I just bought a very small beardie over the weekend. I have a 20 gl tank with a combo light....a reptiglo 8.0 UV light, a night heat bulb (60w) a day heat bulb (75 w). Do I turn the reptiglo off at night? I turn the day bulb off, and the night bulb on, but wasn't sure about the "longer" light. I want to make sure the tank is staying warm enough. The "cool" side is averaging 77 degrees, and the warm side about 87...is that enough? The guy at the pet store told me 85 on the warm side, but I keep reading more.

Thanks!! Shannon

 

[BlackMagic]

Don't listen to people at pet stores they generally don't know much of anything haha. The hot side temps should be between 100-110, for a little guy probably closer to 110, and the cold side should be around 80-85. And you don't need a night light, as long as the temps in your house don't get into the low 60's during the night he is fine, and even then you shouldn't use a red light for sleeping because it will disturb their sleep, it is recommended to just use a ceramic heater since they don't give off any light, just heat.

 

[DWC4867]

HI, to get the temp in the basking site warmer i suggest a 100 wat basking lite rather than the 75 you have now. that should raise it about 20 degrees, thats wat i have now, a 100 wat basking lite and a 20 gallon tank, and in the basking site it averages 105-110, the cool site can be anywhere from 75 to 85 degrees. But deffenetly turn off that UV light at night, because all that essentually does is simulate the suns uv rays and as we all know theres no sun at night, so it has to be off at night. And for night time i suggest a good ceramic heater that plugs in to where your basking lite is, the best in my opinion is the zoo med. But if ur house dosnt get that cool at nite and dosnt drop below 70, you probebly wont even need it. Lemme kno how this go!

 

[~Kayne's Mum~]

THere are only very very few pet stores who actually know what they are talking about believe it or not. That is not warm enough. It should be at least 100-105 degrees or so on the warm side. Mine get all lights turned off at night. It's okay for the temps to drop at night as long as it isnt too much like in the low 60's or something. Also, what is his diet like?

 

[Catalyst]

For a baby dragon you need a basking spot in the 100-110*F range in order for him to be able to properly digest his food. To help raise that you can increase teh wattage of your heat bulb (you can use a normal lightbulb or halogen flood light, don't need a specialty heat bulb), and raise your basking spot up a bit higher. The cool side should be in the 80-85* range.

At night all lights should be turned off since otherwise they can disturb your dragon's sleep. As long as the tank temps don't go below 60*, you don't need a heat source at night - the cooldown is natural and healthy for them.

The reptiglo 8.0 is a decent bulb, how close can your dragon get to it? He needs to have a spot in the tank where he can get within 6 inches of the bulb.

Hope this helps

 

[shannond]

Thanks for all the replies. I went out today and bought a 100 w basking bulb. It is still not getting above 85 though. My little guy is on top of a branch, as close as he can get to the bulb (6"-8"), and rarely gets down. My house doesn't ever get below 68 at night. I just have the "stick on" thermometers in the tank...do you think they are OK, or should I get better ones. I also did get a 150 w bulb and that only get it up to 87. That is why I am beginning to think maybe the thermometer isn't good.

 

[Catalyst]

Thanks for all the replies. I went out today and bought a 100 w basking bulb. It is still not getting above 85 though. My little guy is on top of a branch, as close as he can get to the bulb (6"-8"), and rarely gets down. My house doesn't ever get below 68 at night. I just have the "stick on" thermometers in the tank...do you think they are OK, or should I get better ones. I also did get a 150 w bulb and that only get it up to 87. That is why I am beginning to think maybe the thermometer isn't good.

Definately get a better thermometer - either a digital thermometer with a probe or a temperature gun. That way you can make sure that the temps are good and not risk cooking your dragon because of a broken thermometer. Those stick on ones have been known to be off by as much as 20*
As far as the heat light itself goes, I'd suggest using a halogen flood light for the bulb - it does teh same job as teh specialty basking bulbs but kicks out more heat per watt. You could also use a normal household lightbulb if you wanted.

 

[specialk'sdragon]

You can get a decent digital thermometer with a probe for around $10 at Walmart. Ours carries them in the gardening section near outdoor thermometers and such. There is also a $10 model available at a lot of pet stores that is decent, though it seems to be hit-and-miss who carries them as opposed to the $30 models.