berasmommy
Member
We recently lost our baby beardie (RIP little buddy) and are looking to start a new. First let me say that we don’t believe our husbandry to be the cause in our beardie’s passing (we think it was ADV, we’d been to the vet and had testing done but he passed before we could do the ADV test but the vet was 80% sure of it) but regardless we want to go back and reexamine everything we did and make some modifications if necessary.
So previously we had a 40 gallon tank with a 22” Resptisun 10.0 T-5-High Output bulb mounted under the mesh. We also had two Zilla 100watt black light heating bulbs. On the hot side we were able to maintain about 90-95F ambient temps with a basking area of 105-110F. The cool side of his tank when the heating bulbs were on was about 80-85F, dipping to 67F at night when everything was off.
Our previous food was dubia roaches (gut loaded on alfalfa and veggies) and dusted with Repti Clacium w/o D3 and with D3 on the weekends. Greens such as collards, mustards, turnip, parsley and other fruits and veggies were offered. We don’t plan to make any changes here and impaction was not an issue on our previous beardie so our sizing was correct.
We are considering making some changes to the lighting and heating of the tank. First we were thinking about switching to the 22” Arcaida 12% D3 reptile bulb (http://www.reptilebasics.com/arcadia-desert-12-uvb/arcadia-d3-12-uvb-t5-bulb-22/), our current Reptisun one would be about 5 mths old by the time we are ready to purchase a new beardie. We were also thinking about getting rid of the Zilla black light bulbs and switching to a 70 watt PAR38 flood light as we read that the black light can actually cause the beardies to be more sluggish and hurt their eyes. We also read that the flood light can help deter the UVB rays from the beardies eyes and not be as harsh on them.
One other change we are considering is to add a 60watt Ceramic heating bulb to only be turned at night to keep the tank closer the 75F range during the night. This will be especially important as we are heading into winter and the house temps at night sometimes reach 65 (my husband likes to keep it cool).
We also intend to purchase reptile timers for the UVB bulb and basking light as well as a thermostat for the ceramic heating bulb.
Our plan, once we are ready, is to thoroughly disinfect the tank and clean all necessary supplies by soaking them in a light bleach solution and then running them through the sani-steam cycle on our dishwasher (without detergent of course). Some supplies we are pitching all together in lieu of new ones. Once the tanks is clean we plan to get it all set up and then basically monitor the temperatures for a week before looking/purchasing a beardie to put in it. That way we can detect any heating or lighting issues before the beardie gets there.
I would appreciate any feedback regarding how we plan to move forward and any recommendations on timers and thermostats.
So previously we had a 40 gallon tank with a 22” Resptisun 10.0 T-5-High Output bulb mounted under the mesh. We also had two Zilla 100watt black light heating bulbs. On the hot side we were able to maintain about 90-95F ambient temps with a basking area of 105-110F. The cool side of his tank when the heating bulbs were on was about 80-85F, dipping to 67F at night when everything was off.
Our previous food was dubia roaches (gut loaded on alfalfa and veggies) and dusted with Repti Clacium w/o D3 and with D3 on the weekends. Greens such as collards, mustards, turnip, parsley and other fruits and veggies were offered. We don’t plan to make any changes here and impaction was not an issue on our previous beardie so our sizing was correct.
We are considering making some changes to the lighting and heating of the tank. First we were thinking about switching to the 22” Arcaida 12% D3 reptile bulb (http://www.reptilebasics.com/arcadia-desert-12-uvb/arcadia-d3-12-uvb-t5-bulb-22/), our current Reptisun one would be about 5 mths old by the time we are ready to purchase a new beardie. We were also thinking about getting rid of the Zilla black light bulbs and switching to a 70 watt PAR38 flood light as we read that the black light can actually cause the beardies to be more sluggish and hurt their eyes. We also read that the flood light can help deter the UVB rays from the beardies eyes and not be as harsh on them.
One other change we are considering is to add a 60watt Ceramic heating bulb to only be turned at night to keep the tank closer the 75F range during the night. This will be especially important as we are heading into winter and the house temps at night sometimes reach 65 (my husband likes to keep it cool).
We also intend to purchase reptile timers for the UVB bulb and basking light as well as a thermostat for the ceramic heating bulb.
Our plan, once we are ready, is to thoroughly disinfect the tank and clean all necessary supplies by soaking them in a light bleach solution and then running them through the sani-steam cycle on our dishwasher (without detergent of course). Some supplies we are pitching all together in lieu of new ones. Once the tanks is clean we plan to get it all set up and then basically monitor the temperatures for a week before looking/purchasing a beardie to put in it. That way we can detect any heating or lighting issues before the beardie gets there.
I would appreciate any feedback regarding how we plan to move forward and any recommendations on timers and thermostats.