New Member saying hello

[steve1013]

Hello everyone I've been lurking on the site for a long time now and finally signed up. I found a ton of useful information here to help with my first beardie who unfortunately fell ill and after a few trips to the vet passed away. After much debate we have decided to get another, we really enjoyed watching and caring for our first one. Anyway my setup is a 54g corner tank with a tile floor and full screened top, the sided have been textured to look like rock. Lighting is currently provided by a 160w T-rex MVB on the top screen and a 100w light for basking, temps are monitored by 2 digital thermometers and checked with a temp gun.

Our new Beardie is a small one, my first baby dragon, and is very active and fun to watch, we picked him up on sunday. He has not eaten any crickets yet but enjoys his greens and drinking in his bath tub. Hopefully he will eat some bugs soon, I have 1000 phoenix worms coming in tomorrow for him also.

Thank you all for the advice you give and dedication you have to these little animals.

 

[fresnowitte]

Hello & Welcome to BD.org!

And....Congratulations on the adorable new baby!

I wouldn't worry to much about him not eating any bugs yet it's just a slight case of relocation stress most likely...but do consider yourself lucky that he is eating veggies for you that's great.

Your viv sounds quite interesting...feel free to post a few more pic's if you'd like. Hint...hint! :wink:


Again Welcome Aboard!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Aloha.
Good man intro with pics...lol

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Hello and welcome cute pooper.

 

[pudden318]

cute pooper but i have to agree with barbara more pics please.

 

[TwistedCrayon]

Welcome!

 

[steve1013]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone I have attached a few pics of my setup, once I am fully satisfied with the temps, I'll clean up the wires

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Nice setup!

 

[fresnowitte]

Sweet...but is that your beardie way up at the top left wall? :shock:
Now I see why kitty kat looks so interested. :lol:

 

[steve1013]

yes that is him on the wall. He keeps going up there and gets too close to the MVB bulb, the temp on his basking rock is 109 so I'm not sure what it is doing. I tilted the MVB a little so it is pointed away from the wall and he is not going there as often.

 

[fresnowitte]

You can not tilt your MVB or they burn out prematurely...they must sit level. :wink:

What is the distance between his basking spot and the MVB?
It should be like 12 to 14 inches directly above his basking spot in order for him to get the proper levels of UVB. If it's farther than that this may be why he's climbing up there to get closer. If your basking spot gets to hot if at 12 to 14 inches try using a different rock or wood for the basking spot...different materials get hotter than others. You could put your MVB in the basking bulb hood and might be just fine without the basking bulb. :idea:

 

[steve1013]

thanks for the tip, I'll have to straighten it out. The directions for the bulb say it should be at least 18" away, its the 160 watt one. right now it is about 19" to the rock under it but the temp only gets to the high 80s, thats why I added the basking bulb. Will it do him any harm if he goes up there? I heard if they can get to close it will do more harm then good

 

[fresnowitte]

Yes they can be over expose to strong levels of UVB an it can be harmful.
Sorry I overlooked that it was a 160watt. Does he bask on the rock below the MVB at all
or on the rock below the basking bulb? You want to try to arrange the lights so that when he is basking he's getting his UVB too. It's okay if an area of the viv is not as bright that will be your cool end.

 

[steve1013]

he seems to like it in the middle of the lights hes never really directly under either light. Due to the size and height of the tank the UVB lights up the entire tank, the basking light was added to raise the temps. Is the UVB only beneficial directly beneath the bulb? I'll re-arrange things when I get home like you suggested and see how that works. I'm considering getting rid of the MVB completely and replacing it with a repti-sun 10 fixture instead....

 

[fresnowitte]

Here's a great site to bookmark about UVB. It has charts that show the different levels of output for a large selection of bulbs both MVB's and Tubes as well as the bulbs that are not recommended for sun dwelling reptiles. http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
This is the MVB spread chart. http://www.uvguide.co.uk/spreadchartcombo.htm

The reptisun would need to be even closer to him than the MVB...with the reptisun they need to be able to get withing 6 to 8 inches of it.

It's going to be a little bit of a challenge for you because of the height of your enclosure.