New to this... Am I doing it right?

[Sonogirl8]

Hi guys
So we bought our teenager a bearded dragon last Christmas. I don't think she's been caring for him as well as he needs so we just took ownership of him and set him up in the living room.
He probably has Metabolic Bone Disease... His legs are all like rubber bands. I don't think he was spending any time on the side of the tank that the UVB coil light was set up (and I just found out that bulb is no good for him). We went out this weekend and purchased the repti-sun 10.0 linear bulb and mounted it inside his tank. Previously his set up was this: 100 watt basking lamp (12 hours a day), 100 watt infrared lamp (24 hours a day- we tried only at night but he was too cold during the day) and compact coil lamp (12 hours a day). Now we swapped the coil for the linear and we replaced the infrared lamp with a 100 watt ceramic heat emitter. The CHE is new today. The temp went up to over 100 degrees (it had been around 85) . The past few days he has been hiding more than usual during the day and is most active from 6pm-9pm. I turned off the CHE- thought it might cook him! As the temp dropped a bit he came out a bit more and now he's basking for the first time in about a week. I also moved his basking rock a bit away from the basking lamp because I think the rock may have been getting too hot.
Is it safe for me to leave the CHE on tonight? It gets pretty cool in there at night- and I think the reason he has been hiding and sleeping more during the day might have been because he was too cold- he was fine before and about a week ago our temps up in New England have taken a nosedive- it was 26 degrees outside this morning and our house probably goes into the low 60's.
Can you guys take a look at my set up and tell me if I'm on the right track here? What should I change? Should I swap the 100 watt CHE for the 60?
Here's Malcolm... Isn't he adorable??

Here's his set up:

http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0093009/photos/107788017@N03/10698713215/
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0094009/photos/107788017@N03/10698955993/
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0093009/photos/107788017@N03/10698719075/
Thanks in advance!

 

[Sonogirl8]

Here's a better look inside at the UVB set up
http://www.flickr.com/photos/107788017@N03/10699383664/

 

[DixonFromCleveland]

Hello there
It's so sad to hear you beardie is poorly with MBD Your set up looks fine.

A few key points I would like to suggest are:

The basking LIGHT bulb which you have, the temperature under this should be between 100-105 Degree Fahrenheit for babies and juveniles. Adults like around 95 but I don't know how old yours is.

Both the Basking bulb and ceramic heat emitter should not be on together until you work out the little guys ambient temperatures. As long as the air temperatures are between 75-85 then you should be fine. However most people have their basking bulb on one side alongside the UVB light so one side is hotter than the other, so that beardie can go and cool down.

At night time the Air temperatures shouldn't drop below 60 Fahrenheit. This is the time to use your CHE

To give you an understanding.
My tank is 4 x 2 x 2 feet.
I use 2 bulbs to heat the tank, 60w, and 40w, and they are both my beardies basking spots as one is 103 Fahrenheit and the other is 96, so he can choose which he wants. I have the UVB on the back wall as you do towards the warm end.

2 thermometers or more with probes on the end, one at one end, and the other at the other end, will tell you the temperatures perfectly, and you should have a dimming thermostat plugged into your MAIN heat source so the temperatures don't get too high.

I hope this helps and I await your reply

 

[Sonogirl8]

Thanks so much for the great info!
He seems to be doing great today... It's just that he doesn't seem to become active until the early evening. Around 4-5 pm he climbs on his branch, basks a bit, eats his veggies. Between when he wakes and around 4pm he hides a lot though. I'm assuming this behavior is ok because otherwise he seems fine. I will definitely invest in better thermometers. I know the one I have is terrible... I'm replacing all this "starter kit" junk as fast as I can but it is all pretty expensive.
Thanks again for your reply

 

[Sonogirl8]

Oh, and his tank is 29 gallons. He is about a year old but still pretty small. I think he's probably ok in this tank right now. I LOVE the idea of the two basking spots at slightly different temps. When I upgrade to a larger size I will definitely set up something like that.