I have just bought a beardie which is 3 months old,I have had a beardie before but older than this one,ruffles has just been to vets as he/she had some shed in her eye,and vet said that the 4’ viv is to big and someone else said that it’s fine as they are born in great big environment,which one is right for ruffles please? Cheers for help
I agree with the thinking that a larger enclosure is better. It allows you to create climbing areas and hides, as well as create a good healthy heat and UVB gradient around the tank. I would keep the 4' enclosure and be sure to use a high quality T5 UVB light.
Are you referring to the Reptisun 10 T8 or the T5 high output tube bulb?
If you would like to use a reflector with a Reptisun 10 T8, that would greatly increase the UVB
output of the bulb emissions. You could mount it at 6-8 inches away, alongside of a nice bright
white basking light, too.
I agree with the thinking that a larger enclosure is better. It allows you to create climbing areas and hides, as well as create a good healthy heat and UVB gradient around the tank. I would keep the 4' enclosure and be sure to use a high quality T5 UVB light.
I'll point out that while starting a SMALL juvenile bearded dragon off in a full size tank (4ft x 2ft footprint) is a good way to go, it can be overwhelming for a small very young dragon to suddenly find itself living by itself in a large very spaceous tank and it's much easier for it's live insects (especially crickets , roaches or locusts to evade it and be overlooked by the dragon and the keeper at feeding time in the larger tank than in a smaller tank.
I recommend starting off young / small juveniles and hatchlings in a tank or converted tub of about 90L (minimum) to 150L capacity (a 149L will have footprint of W:575mm L:790mm and H:480mm which is pretty much ideal for a dragon up to about 12 months old).
The T8 10%UVB Zoomed is not very strong, will need to be mounted so
>> it's in a good quality reflector hood or has a good quality (Arcadia) slip on reflector on the tube
>> under the mesh lid (mesh will block as much as 45% of the UVA & UVB which is not good)
>> basking spot not more than 6 inches from the T8 tube (with reflector hood).
Aim is to have about 200 microW UVB / sq.cm at the basking spot and about 1/2 that under the basking spot (on the floor of the tank).