New Wooden Enclosure Questions

[kjbolanos]

Our Beardie is about 4 months old and his original home was in a glass terrarium (20 gal). Recently, we bought wooden enclosure (sliding glass doors, 2 vents in back) which is about 3-4 times the glass terrarium. We hope this will be a permanent enclosure for our beardie to grow up in. I just had a few questions about the enclosure.

1. Will the enclosure trap moisture? I have a small water dish in there and I heard too much moisture is bad for Beardie Lungs.

2. Is a simple dish-soap-and-water mixture safe to use when cleaning out the wooden enclosure?

Any other advice about our Beardie's new home is appreciated

 

[Rankins]

Could you post pictures of the enclosure?
It will help us a bit answering your questions.

 

[kjbolanos]

As you can see, it is quite large.

 

[Rankins]

Nice set up!!
Doubtful it would hold a bunch of moisture. But you don't need to put water in it anyway. If your dragon is eating veggies he will get a lot of water from them. But even if you do put water in there it seems like the enclosure is big enough that the humidity probably won't get too high.
It doesn't look like the wood would absorb water. So soap and water for cleaning will work. I clean my enclosures with diluted 33% hydrogen peroxide, it evaperates as hydrogen and oxegen because its H2O2. Its really dangerous to use even diluted though. Eye protection and gloves are mandatory. Once dry its perfectly safe though.

 

[Rankins]

Forgot to mention you should find a way to get the dragon closer to the florescent UV bulb and monitor temps below the basking bulb, the clear ones are better than the red ones. More natural light.

 

[kjbolanos]

Forgot to mention you should find a way to get the dragon closer to the florescent UV bulb and monitor temps below the basking bulb, the clear ones are better than the red ones. More natural light.

I have a little digital thermometer dangling on the UV thing on top and I occasionally take temperatures. Right now its perfect.
Well, I'm actually concerned about that UV tube light. My Beardie doesn't move that much from.his basking spot and if I arrange the so that the spot is higher, it gets too hot for him to bask. He actually avoided that area before. My local reptile shop had only a limited amount of adequate branches. :/ But the major thing is that my bearded just doesnt wanna move from his basking spot.

 

[Rankins]

What are the temps on the cool end?
Maybe ambient temps are too cold?
Yeah, don't raise the basking area closer to the heat lamp if temps are perfect.

 

[Rankins]

You also could buy a mercury vapor bulb for basking. Taterbug knows quite a bit about lighting and bulbs, so maybe PM her to get her to see this thread. I use a mercury bulb and a 10.0 florescent.

 

[kjbolanos]

What are the temps on the cool end?
Maybe ambient temps are too cold?
Yeah, don't raise the basking area closer to the heat lamp if temps are perfect.

The cool end of the tank is like 80-90F, I actually took a reading a few minutes ago to check. He did just move in into his new home like 2-3 days ago. I hope he starts moving around more to explore. Previously in his glass enclosure, it was quite cold in the cool side of the tank like 70-80F or even lower. Thats primarily the reason why we bought him a new enclosure to maintain a warm enviornment. I wonder if he has this mind that the rest of the enclosure is cold as well?

I actually keep the red light on 24/7 for the winter only just so it doesn't disturb his sleep. I do have a 75 Watt white bulb I used before until the nights became colder. I guide him into a small cave every night so it is dark enough to sleep. I know a lot of people would find this unnecessary since others have told me they can tolerate temperatures down to 65-70F, but it gets cold in our house. I used a 100 watt heating bulb in our glass tank for heavens sake in order to keep the 95-110F range. I live in California near the Bay Area and our house doesn't maintain much heat thus cold nights can't be helped. It's just for the winter until the spring/summer when temperatures start rocketing. :/

Of course, I have not tried to turn off all lights like people reccomend in order for my beardie to get a good nights sleep. But I am very scared if it gets too cold. I had this one time where the red light went out in the middle of a cold night. when I got him out of the cage, he was ice cold!! (>.<)(;- and looking at me like "im so.... Cold...."

 

[kjbolanos]

You also could buy a mercury vapor bulb for basking. Taterbug knows quite a bit about lighting and bulbs, so maybe PM her to get her to see this thread. I use a mercury bulb and a 10.0 florescent.

I use a 10.0 Florescent as well by Repti Glo. I used to have a Reptisun florescent for his glass enclosure but my local reptile shop didn't have a 24" (? I think) Reptisun but they said it should do the job for now.

I hope I can start upgrading more, like the mercury bulbs. I have heard of those before. But it may need to be more in the future since our budget is tight right now. I do hope he is getting adequate UVA/UVB light. (;- he had an acute case of MBD before that we completely cured. But since here in the Bay area, its been cloudy I havent been able to give him his daily "dosage" of pure sunlight to prevent his illness from coming back. (Yes, I do dust his crickets and yes I do dust his veggies).

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

 

[Rankins]

A couple areas of concern...
The red light being on 24/7 is one. The dragon needs to rest, the red light may disterb that. But if he's sleeping in his hide it might not disturb him much. I would consider putting another socket in the enclosure for a ceramic heat emitter. They are not very expensive, amazon has plenty around the $8 range. I would buy a 150 watt and run it through a lamp cord dimmer. That way you can adjust temps with it...I have been doing it for a long time and it works well. The mercury bulbs are expensive, about $50 on amazon. I actually broke one the same day I bought it....I wasn't happy. But they are a good investment.
The cool end of the enclosure should be about 80°F, the 90°F temps are a bit too high.

 

[kjbolanos]

Sorry I was typing a lot and did a typo on info. The temperatures in the cool side was 80-85F (>.<) not 90.

But yes, I do put him in a small cave every night because I know some pet stores says it wouldn't disturb their sleep but a lot of people says it does.

But wouldn't a ceramic heater give out too much heat? I think the tank heat is optimal and it WILL get warmer pretty soon during the spring and summer. Like 90-105F outside sometimes.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great looking tank for your dragon, lucky boy!
A ceramic heat emitter only put out heat so it shouldn't disturb his sleep at all. Since your tank is large I don't think it will get too hot. If you are using a digital probe you can keep track of it easily to be sure it doesn't get too hot. You could also get a rheastat to help maintain the temperature at a certain degrees.

Tracie

 

[Rankins]

If you use a lamp cord dimmer you can adjust the output of the emitter. You don't have to run it 24/7...just at night. You can use a timer or turn it on manually every night. The dimmers are about $15.