Newbie here with questions....

[Lynsie]

I just got my beardie about a week ago and am trying to vamp up his viv. Tonight I made him a wire lid to replace the old plywood one. I made it out of 16 gauge galvanized wire and I now have the lights sitting on top of it. He came with a Repti-Glo 8.0 UVB bulb but I hear that those aren't the best so I want to get him a better one. I heard that the ReptiSun 10.0 are the good ones, is that what I should get or is there something even better? The fixture that the current bulb is in is one of those white kitchen flouresent light fixtures, are those good enough?

A MVB bulb is like a two in one for heat and the UV right? Would one of those be better than a ReptiSun 10.0 and a heat bulb? If I would choose to go with the MVB should I get a 100 or 160 watt for a 40gal viv?

Right now his cage is pretty bare and I want to get more stuff for it. Right now he has a ceramic tile bottom that I just installed tonight, a large branch and a large cave. I saw these magnetic ledges that are made for reptile cages, are they safe and do they work well?

Where is a good place to buy a probe thermometer and what do they look like so I know what I am looking for?

Here is a pic of his cage as of tonight:

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement.

 

[Seven65]

Some people say MVBs are better, I wouldn't know myself. If you already have your Reptisun tube I wouldn't bother changing everything. The Reptisun 10.0 tube is the best non MVB on the market by far and works perfect for most of us.

 

[Lynsie]

What I have now is a Repti-GLO which I know is bad, that's why I am wanting to order a new light ASAP. I kinda like the idea of only having to have one light fixture on the cage so I am leaning towards the MVB but I want to learn a little more about it first. My cage is 36x18x24 which is a bit larger than the normal 40gal if I am correct. Would an MVB be okay for his cage? Would I be able to safely place it on top of his cage? And would it need to be in the middle or above his basking spot?

 

[Seven65]

You'd want to put it off to one side of the enclosure so there is a varied temperature. 105-110 degrees f on the basking spot and 75-80 degrees on the cool side. Make sure to check your temps with either a temp gun or a digital thermometer witha probe.

You should be alright putting the lamp directly on top of the metal mesh. MVBs have a burn in time which means you'll have to let it run for a bit before it willg et to a point that the temperature will stop changing, preferable not in the enclosure with your dragon during burn in from what I hear.

It seems the best MVB is the Mega Ray which can be found here http://www.reptileuv.com/megaray-sb-100-watt-self-ballasted-flood-uvb-lamp.php looks like they're out of them right now don't know how long that will last. Some people have been having problems with powersun bulbs causing eye problems recently so for now I'd aviod those, and besides they stick pretty far out of fixtures and would be hard to fit on top of the tank without a really deep fixture. Another popular bulb that seems to be trouble free is the T-Rex MVB sorry don't have a link for that one.

 

[Lynsie]

Thanks, I'll check around and see if I can find a Mega Ray somewhere on the net. Do you know what size dome fixture I will need?

This is the heat probe that came with him? Is it a good one to use? I gotta get batteries for it still, I hope it works.

 

[Lynsie]

I found some of the Mega Ray here,http://randallsreptiles.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65_46 but I'm still now sure what wattage I would need?

 

[GoFast]

100watt will do just fine with your tank

 

[Lynsie]

100 will do fine, but would a 160 be better? They are the same price.

 

[lillybd2008]

The 100 is great! the 160 would run way to hot for your size tank.

 

[Lynsie]

Okay, thank you.

 

[Seven65]

As for a fixture make sure you get one that has a dome big enough to support the bulb sot he bulb doesn't extend out the and and that the part that holds the bulb is ceramic, not plastic. The plastic ones don't last long, they have a tendancy to melt. And that thermometer will be fine, I'd suggest getting another one too so you can monitor your basking and cold side at the same time.

Edit: I almost forgot, if you want to get a MVB you're going to ahve to change the setup of your tank so that it's at least 12" away from your dragon at any point in your tank to prevent burns and eye problems. If you want to keep it the way it is now I'd suggest going with the reptisun, but that's up to you.

Also If you get the MVB make sure that you set it up facing straight down, if it's tilted it can be hard on the dragons eyes and wreak the bulb.

 

[Lynsie]

Thanks for all the help, I'll be placing an order for my MVB soon.

Now for the other questions:

1. I saw these magnetic ledges that are made for reptile cages, are they safe and do they work well?
2. Where is a good place to buy a background? All the ones I have found are WAY too expensive or not big enough. I need one 24x36.

 

[Seven65]

I don't know what you mean by magnetic ledges, could you maybe post a link?

Can't help you with the background, I've never found one that woudl fit my viv, though I haven't really tried looking hard for them I don't really care for them (but my girlfriend does). I've seen them in petstores on rolls that can cut to size for width but the hight is a fixed size usually sized to regular sized glass tanks

Also I just added a bit of info on my last post in case you didn't see it.

 

[Lynsie]

I think if I flip the branch around the way I had it in this pic:

But put the taller peice on the cooler side that I could make that work. I don't know how happy he'd be about it though, lol.

 

[Lynsie]

Here is one of the ledges I saw: http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-basking-platforms/515990/pet-tech-magnetic-mushroom-ledge.html