Need Help Getting Heat Right for 8x2x2

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ZiggyDust

Hatchling Member
So I finally got my two 4x2x2 Zen Habitats put together using their extension kit. I haven't moved my bearded dragon (~5 months old), Ziggy, in yet as I am trying to get the heat right. It has proven extremely hard to heat an 8 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot habitat.

The habitat is in my finished basement and while it is finished, it still stays 2-4°F cooler. I got the gradient pretty much nailed down. The issue is, everything else is dangerously hot. I had to use 6 different heat bulbs to get the air temps right as the temps plummet considerably without it. Say for example if I remove the two 100 watts bulbs, not only does the cool side drop the hot side will go from 96°F to 92-93°F at the far left and about 89°F in the middle. This my dilemma, I can't find a way to get the air temps right and the basking spots along with the tile floor. I can remove the ceramic tile, then the issue is the heat it keeps will lower the air temp. The tile in Ziggy’s current habitat gets about 103-106°F and Ziggy will lay on it no issues.

I wold love some guidance or ideas. I am all ears.

I have attached a picture with arrows showing the items and temp. I would love some help and guidance.

Surface temps taken with a temp gun.

111468-5959004750.jpg
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You should have 3 temps in the tank basking area 105-110 for a baby-- 95-100 for a juvie / adult - middle of the tank 90's -- cool side 80's --- where is the UVB? You need a long tube fixture 24" like a Zoo Med -- Sunblaster Nano or a Arcadia Pro T 5 -- w/ a reptisun 10.0 T 5 or Arcadia 12% bulb -- I would get 2 digital probe thermometers one for your basking side and one for you cool side --- you can use the one on the basking side to get temps on the basking decor pieces -- I am going to show a pic of one of my tanks like yours they are both set up the same way
97951-9216919131.jpg
The back is the basking area hot side right now I am using a 100 watt and a 50 watt again I haft to watch temps in the summer time --- the middle is the 90's area I have a 75 watt basking bulb placed on the top behind the UVB -- that bulb is usually turned on for a little while then when the middle of the tank gets around 95 or so I shut it off cuz it tends to get to warm then I haft to watch it on really hot days - --- that is on the back of the center of the tank --- I am using a stick on for ambient temps a digital probe and temp gun to get the temps -- its going to be trial and error w/ bulbs --- some spots in your tank are too hot --- I would start w/ one basking bulb 150 watt on the hot side one bulb in the middle of the tank and cool side during the day 80's --- but you need to get a UVB -- that is a priority--- you need to watch and see what your getting for temps then go from there
 

ZiggyDust

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":njp9k83x said:
You should have 3 temps in the tank basking area 105-110 for a baby-- 95-100 for a juvie / adult - middle of the tank 90's -- cool side 80's --- where is the UVB? You need a long tube fixture 24" like a Zoo Med -- Sunblaster Nano or a Arcadia Pro T 5 -- w/ a reptisun 10.0 T 5 or Arcadia 12% bulb -- I would get 2 digital probe thermometers one for your basking side and one for you cool side --- you can use the one on the basking side to get temps on the basking decor pieces -- I am going to show a pic of one of my tanks like yours they are both set up the same way
97951-9216919131.jpg
The back is the basking area hot side right now I am using a 100 watt and a 50 watt again I haft to watch temps in the summer time --- the middle is the 90's area I have a 75 watt basking bulb placed on the top behind the UVB -- that bulb is usually turned on for a little while then when the middle of the tank gets around 95 or so I shut it off cuz it tends to get to warm then I haft to watch it on really hot days - --- that is on the back of the center of the tank --- I am using a stick on for ambient temps a digital probe and temp gun to get the temps -- its going to be trial and error w/ bulbs --- some spots in your tank are too hot --- I would start w/ one basking bulb 150 watt on the hot side one bulb in the middle of the tank and cool side during the day 80's --- but you need to get a UVB -- that is a priority--- you need to watch and see what your getting for temps then go from there


Thats my issue though. Given the size of the take its not that simple which is why I am having a harder time getting all the temps rights. In Ziggy’s Current 3 foot by 18 in by 18 in it was simple and easy.

There is a 48” T5 10.0 UVB bulb on the left side mounted under the screen and at the back of the habitat. I have Solar Meter 6.5 to measure the proper UVB expose to insure optimal levels. The right side will have a 24” T5 10.0 bulb once I take it out of Ziggy’s current habitat, which is when they move in. This will leave a non UVB area of ~ 2 feet on the cold side.

Since it is so large there is two basking spots. One in the left corner, which will be replaced with a Zen Habitat Corner Basking Platform once it has arrived and the middle Zen Habitat Basking Platform.

I didn’t just put all these bulbs on at once. If I only add three like you’re suggesting, the temp on the warm side will not get over 85°F.

The bulbs in my picture, I added them one at a time until the warm side reached ~95°F and the cold side reached from 90°F in the dead center of the entire habitat to 86°F in the middle right to 77°F on the far right. This has been an ongoing 3 day event to get this semi-right.

Since the habitat is so large the cold side will stay at room temperature being 70°F to 74°F until the bulbs are added to where I am at now.

I am aware some of my spots are hot. Which is the issue. I can not get a gradient of 95°F on the warm side and 90°F in the middle without all these bulbs. It’s the most annoying thing. If I start removing the 150W bulbs the temps plummet. Let me remove some of them and I will show you the new temps. I truly am at a loss for words.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok and I am sorry I didnt pay attention to the size of the tank either--- so we need to get some more people to weigh in on this I am going to have Cooper Dragon take a look and see if he can give better ideas for you
 

ZiggyDust

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":zqb1dfbo said:
Ok and I am sorry I didnt pay attention to the size of the tank either--- so we need to get some more people to weigh in on this I am going to have Cooper Dragon take a look and see if he can give better ideas for you

No worries and thank you. I just turned off all the bulbs except 150W on the warm sides 150W in the middle and 100W on the cold side. I’ll report back. I promise I’m not crazy lol. It’s driving me mad though trying to get it right.
 

ZiggyDust

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":212fiu30 said:
Ok and I am sorry I didnt pay attention to the size of the tank either--- so we need to get some more people to weigh in on this I am going to have Cooper Dragon take a look and see if he can give better ideas for you

So just to report back on the temps. It’s been roughly 10 minutes since I cut off all but three bulbs and on the warm side they have dropped 3-5°F already with a steady decline. The coldest part of the warm side being 89.5°F already. The middle of the habitat is now 86.5°F. And the coldest side being 75°F

Update:
I turned two lamps back on and here are the temps now in the pic below The air temps are obviously a little low but the basking spot temps are 105-109°F. Which is great. It is just hard to get both right without sacrificing the other.

111468-72739940.jpg
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Since you have more space to play around with, I think the gradient (numbers) is less important than usual. I would focus on getting the surface temps in the basking area set to a temperature Ziggy prefers. If there is an area of basking temps that is large/wide enough to allow even basking, then the rest of the enclosure will likely drop to room temps which is fine.

My dragon is almost entirely free-roaming at this point (he has an enclosure for when he wants it) and I set up several different basking lamps around the house. I focus on UVB readings (for the bulbs that produce it) and surface temps for the lights. I have a few different temp options available and he will just move between them as he wants to. He spends a lot of time just running around the house at room temps during the day and is quite happy. He will return to a light to bask and warm up as needed, but isn't constantly near them.

I think that the larger enclosure mimics this kind of free roam setup more than a smaller enclosure, so as long as you have adequate UVB exposure and surface temps at the basking site, the rest of the enclosure can be left as it is and Ziggy will just move around the space during the course of the day.
 

ZiggyDust

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
CooperDragon":2japqua6 said:
Since you have more space to play around with, I think the gradient (numbers) is less important than usual. I would focus on getting the surface temps in the basking area set to a temperature Ziggy prefers. If there is an area of basking temps that is large/wide enough to allow even basking, then the rest of the enclosure will likely drop to room temps which is fine.

My dragon is almost entirely free-roaming at this point (he has an enclosure for when he wants it) and I set up several different basking lamps around the house. I focus on UVB readings (for the bulbs that produce it) and surface temps for the lights. I have a few different temp options available and he will just move between them as he wants to. He spends a lot of time just running around the house at room temps during the day and is quite happy. He will return to a light to bask and warm up as needed, but isn't constantly near them.

I think that the larger enclosure mimics this kind of free roam setup more than a smaller enclosure, so as long as you have adequate UVB exposure and surface temps at the basking site, the rest of the enclosure can be left as it is and Ziggy will just move around the space during the course of the day.

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I actually started worrying less about air gradient and more on basking. So that definitely made the surface temps drop from being too high to normal 93° F to 110°F. The 93° is on a real rock which stays cooler then my slate basking with even though the real rock is closer to a basking light.

Ziggy is hiding more than they ever though. They keep going into a hide. Won’t come out in the morning. I have to bring them out. I am talking like 2 hours after lights are on and still hiding. If Ziggy was an adult I would probably worry less. Being only 5 months, I just worry about getting proper UVB explore and heat to digest their food. Ziggy hasn’t used the bathroom in 2 days. Didn’t realize an 8 foot Habitat would be such a balancing act to get right.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Setup changes can certainly take quite a bit of tweaking at first, but once you have things the way you want them, they tend to remain pretty stable going forward.

As far as the hiding goes, that can happen to an extent at any age. They do go through phases in which they have changes in energy levels and appetites and it's not necessarily a sign of a problem. I usually let them be if everything else seems OK. Sometimes they'll sit in their hide with their head up looking out, or sometimes sleep. If you see a dark black beard or other odd coloring (unusually pale color along the body for example) then that may be an indicator of distress and should be acted on. I would keep a log of weight measurements to make sure that is remaining stable or increasing over time. That's usually a good indicator of overall health.
 
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