New Enclosure Help (Pics)

[hiTimothy]

I recently built a new enclosure
48" L x24" W x18" H

It's almost winter here in Boston, MA and we get extremely cold winters and I am unsure of the wattage of the basking light I should be using to maintain adequate temperatures during the day and at night using a CHE.
What wattage should I use to keep his enclosure above 55* at night?

He is 5-8 inches away from his 100 watt basking bulb when he is on the top platform

Also, I would like to know if a 10.0 UVB is too much considering the distance from it to him?
He's about 10-12 inches away from the UVB when he is in his basking area

 

[getgab92]

He should be able to get at least 6-8 inches from his UVB to be able to absorb it properly. I love your set up! It looks beautiful!

 

[hiTimothy]

He should be able to get at least 6-8 inches from his UVB to be able to absorb it properly. I love your set up! It looks beautiful!

If he walks away from his basking area towards the back, then he's super close to it! I hope that is okay
And thank you! It took me longer than expected LOL

 

[AHBD]

That is a very beautiful enclosure, great job ! The distance of the Reptisun bulb is just right, 6" is actually the closest you can have it, so 8-12 is fine.

 

[hiTimothy]

That is a very beautiful enclosure, great job ! The distance of the Reptisun bulb is just right, 6" is actually the closest you can have it, so 8-12 is fine.

How about my question about lighting and CHE?

 

[AHBD]

You will really have to experiment. I think a 100 watt CHE, and you might not want to let the temp. get down to 55, that's pretty cold. I know they CAN tolerate lower, but 60 - 65 is the lowest I like to have in the winter. My beardies brumate at about 62 in the winter and they sleep hard. The one time I let it get below 60 [ about 15 or so years ago ] one of them came out of brumation with a respiratory infection. They were asleep for about 5 months, too so I never let them sleep longer than 4 now. I think 3 months is plenty, then I start raising the temps.+ keeping lights on to wake them up. Although it was only one out of about 5 dragons that got sick, I still think that cold affected her. [ She did recover ] As for daytime bulbs, you might have a 100 watt on the basking side and a 40 - 50 watt on the cooler end. If the temps. are too high, just stick with the one bulb.

 

[hiTimothy]

You will really have to experiment. I think a 100 watt CHE, and you might not want to let the temp. get down to 55, that's pretty cold. I know they CAN tolerate lower, but 60 - 65 is the lowest I like to have in the winter. My beardies brumate at about 62 in the winter and they sleep hard. The one time I let it get below 60 [ about 15 or so years ago ] one of them came out of brumation with a respiratory infection. They were asleep for about 5 months, too so I never let them sleep longer than 4 now. I think 3 months is plenty, then I start raising the temps.+ keeping lights on to wake them up. Although it was only one out of about 5 dragons that got sick, I still think that cold affected her. [ She did recover ] As for daytime bulbs, you might have a 100 watt on the basking side and a 40 - 50 watt on the cooler end. If the temps. are too high, just stick with the one bulb.

Yeah I said I wanted the night temps to be above 55* I don't want him to freeze haha. And I don't want mine to brumate because Im not experienced and I can't handle not being able to hang out with him everyday lol
But okay I will try out your advice and I hope it will work out
Thank you so much for your story and advice