New owner seeking experienced suggestions

[Teleste]

Greetings~

My new friend will arrive Tuesday, October 15. I'd like to share with all of you great people my current setup and options for my little bearded man.

I have two sets of lighting solutions ordered and scheduled to be here by Wednesday, October 16 (or sooner).

Set 1:
100w incandescent bulb
100w CHE (if needed)
30w Reptisun 10.0 UVB

Set 2:
100w MegaRay UVB SB
100w CHE (if needed)
30w T12 Fluorescent Non-UVB

Current (emergency) setup:
60w incandescent bulb
100w CHE
Zilla T8 UVB (I know this is not a good solution)

Temps are reaching 110 degrees F with emergency setup (reading taken after 10 hours)

My terrarium is an Exo Terra 40 gallon breeder 36x18x18.
By choosing this terrarium, I have really limited my self on lighting options because I cannot mount my Zilla 36 inch light fixture within the tank. I have seen people mount the light fixture outside the tank (on the back glass), but then I would not be able to use my Exo Terra foam background (which I have setting outside the tank).

My first question:
Will using the 100w MegaRay through the screen top be enough for my little man? Currently his basking rock is about 11-12 inches from the screen top.

Suggestions? Tips? Tricks? Comments?
Thank you

P.S. I have baked all of my rocks and driftwood at 275 degrees for 30-60 minutes.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. The uvb needs to be mounted in the tank. The screen blocks 50% of the rays. Other wise looks good.

 

[PintoBeanDragon1000]

You should either mount the strip light in the tank OR cut the screen where the UVB is. The normal UVB/heat bulb is NOT an appropriate UVB source.
You beardie should be able to get withing 6 inches of the UVB at the least 8.
Everything else looks good.

 

[saiyan25]

The screen blocks about 30%, to be more precise. I made a post about this awhile ago.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=193982

 

[Teleste]

Thank you everyone for the replies! The link you [saiyan25] posted is extremely helpful.

I realize many of you haven't read the entire OP, so I'd like to post my main question here:
"Will using the 100w MegaRay through the screen top be enough for my little man? Currently his basking rock is about 11-12 inches from the screen top."

 

[Doug2013]

Newbie here. I have the same tank as you. I took out the mesh and built a simple support to suspended the uvb Reptisun 10.0 below the top of the tank to get it closer. It is about 11 inches from where he likes to sit.

 

[Goonie]

[Moved from General to Enclosures (more fitting than Introductions)]

************************
Welcome to bd.org and congrats on your soon-to-be baby beardie!

What are you using to measure the temps? If you're going to use the probe type, be sure that the probe is sitting on the actual spot where your baby will be basking on.
Be sure to have the basking temps to be in the range of 98-103°F.

 

[Teleste]

Thank you again for the replies! I'm using a digital thermometer with a laser dot. Having trouble getting my temps up with the new MegaRay bulb and 100w CHE... Going to try replacing the CHE with a 50-75w halogen bulb. I'm thinking a 75w halogen on a dimmer will save me some money. We'll see!

:mrgreen:

 

[Teleste]

Update: I'm using a 100w MegaRay and 60w halogen flood lamp and currently only peaking at 103 degrees. It takes 4 hours to produce 94 degrees and peaks at 103-104 around the 8th hour. Should I upgrade my bulb? Is it okay that it takes so long to heat up?

 

[Goonie]

4 hours to reach 94°F? Yeah, that's too long, because by the time it heats up enough, it'll be time to turn it off and your beardie will never have the optimal basking temp.

 

[Doug2013]

I see you have the artificial grass. My guy took 3 weeks to settle into his new home all that time his poop was very soft and watery/smelly it will be quite a chore to wash and dry the grass. I used newspaper, very easy to swap out the soiled part.