Meet Sid! - first ever beardie :)

[Beckio]

Hello everyone, I bought my first ever beardie yesterday! He's an 8 and half week old baby and he's beautiful

This is set up, for now.

The basking area is 110 but I'm not too sure if this is too hot or I need to move the thermometer down a little bit. The bulb I'm using is a normal house hold one which is 55watts.

That's where the thermometer is placed, does it need moving down?

The cool side is currently somewhere between 80-90, again is this too hot?
How would I balance th temperatures out properly?

Basically I'm after advice, do I need to change anything round as my dragon doesn't really sit on his basking rock he's always on his branch by the UV light and I'm worried his basking area is too hot that's why he won't go in it..

Thanks for any help!

 

[CooperDragon]

Such a cute little guy! The setup looks nice but I do have a couple of suggestions. First I would replace the coil UVB light with a tube style UVB light. Arcadia and ReptiSun 10.0 are your best options. The lighting is very important so I'd change that sooner rather than later if you can. I also suggest using a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a probe so you can read the temperatures right on the surfaces of the tank. The dial thermometers can be off by quite a bit so I'd replace those. You want to shoot for the basking surface to be 100-110 and the cool side of the tank to be 75-85 during the day. A nice gradient like that will allow him to self regulate his temperature. If you need to adjust the temps, you can raise/lower the basking site or set the basking bulb on a dimmer. Good luck with your new little buddy! Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Beckio]

Thanks very much for your response and advise! I'm gonna go with the Arcadia 12%. I've seen it at my local pet shop but it doesn't come with a bracket to attach it to my tank? Is this normal and do you have to buy your own or can you still fit it without the bracket?
And what wattage should it be? Thanks