Sunlamps

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Hey, guys! I'm a first time bearded dragon owner. I got him from Petsmart two months ago. I did some basic research before hand but was ignorantly lulled into trusting the employee attending me. He said he had a beardie and an iguana, so I figured he wouldn't steer me wrong. Boy did he. I've been struggling to remedy things since. Hours of googling, paying for beardie kindle books and so on.

For starters, my beardie, Godzilla, is now about six inches long. He was about three when I bought him. Clearly he was way too young to sell. The terrarium set I bought (with his prompting) was for a gecko. The bulbs in the dome lamps were only 75 watts.. And were blue and red. It took me a few weeks to figure out that despite my setup matching the schematic in the beardie primer, things were all wrong.

Since then I've been trying to set things right bit by bit, as money allows. I added a second thermometer and hydrometer. Then swapped out the bulbs for a 100 w basking lamp and a 100 w red night lamp. I've been keeping his tank beneath a tall window hoping that the UV would penetrate the wire top, and have dedicated all three of the sun lamps in my study to shining down into the enclosure. This setup seemed to really perk him up and made him far more active until recently.

The basking lamp blew about a week ago so I've had to use the old 75 w blue bulb as a temp. I'll be replacing the basking lamp tomorrow.

My main concern is whether the 27w sun lamps emit sufficient Uvb.

I'll provide pictures of the setup and Godzilla later today. I appreciate and and all input!
 

Rampagingraptor

Sub-Adult Member
Hello and welcome to the forums!
3 inches as in from tail to snout? That is ridiculously young to sell to someone, especially a new owner! Also, I wouldn't really trust any pet store employees advice, as they consistently give bad advice.
Its nice that you got a better light, but I would get rid of the red bulb. you NEVER want a colored bulb for a bearded dragon, as it provides them with nothing that a regular bulb would not do better, and if you use it at night, it just keeps them up. IF you need heat at night, you need to use a Ceramic Heat Emitter, which is basically just a heat bulb. You DO NOT need heat at night UNLESS your temps drop below 65F during night time.
As for how you should be taking the temperatures, you should use an accurate thermometer, such as a gun thermometer, infrared thermometer, or a probe thermometer. You can get these online fir relatively cheap on sites such as amazon, but I would look for one with a good review. The stick on thermometers that are super cheap are not accurate at all, especially since you want to take temperatures of the surface.
The important part of the heat bulb is to provide the proper temperatures in both the cool area and the basking area. the cool area of the tank should be about ~80F or so, and the basking temperatures should be about 105F-110F for a baby bearded dragon. If you are having trouble with the temperature being too hot, you can use a light dimmer to control the intensity or just increase the distance.
As for the UVB, I do not know of that brand, but it does not sound sufficient, especially if it is a compact bulb compared to a tube light. Most compact lights are as good as they need to be for beardies. For some good lights, you can go with the Reptisun 10.0 Tube Light or Arcadia 12% Tube Light, both of which are great uvbs. Just make sure you keep the UVB within the proper distance of the basking spot, taking into account any glass or screens in the way.
There is several articles on the right side of this page for the "Care and Husbandry" of bearded dragons to help you with everything. And don't let all of this discourage you, as pretty much everyone here has made mistakes do to misconceptions or straight up lies from certain sources!
If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask!
 

Dafelsheim

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for your input! It was very helpful. It actually cemented my decision to go ahead and put out the money for a proper UVB setup. However, today turned out to be a very expensive day. 150 dollars at the Ophthalmologist and had to shell out another 200 to help my grandmother with a medical emergency. So, I ended up going to Petsmart to see what I could actually afford. I was lucky enough to hit a sale on an All Things Living 40 gallon Bearded Dragon Starter Kit for 120 bucks. This was actually 20 bucks cheaper than the 10 gallon gecko starter tank I ended up being conned into buying.

I know the UVB bulb in the kit isn't as good as the Reptisun line, but it's definitely better than nothing (especially considering I would have to buy the next tank up within a month most likely anyway.) I've been setting it up and letting it warm for about two hours now. Soon, I hope, I'll be transferring Godzilla. I'll post pictures when it's done.

In the future (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will definitely upgrade to a Reptisun.
 

Rampagingraptor

Sub-Adult Member
Hopefully everything works out with your Grandma.
Its a shame that you didn't come by earlier, as there was a sale at petco and other pet stores for 1$ per gallon, so you could have done that. That being said, I tend to get most of my stuff online as pet stores tend to sell it for much higher than what it is actually worth.
I would get the UVB as soon as possible, as it is very important to their growth. I don't know how strong the UVB you are using is, but its highly unlikely it is more powerful than just the t8 Reptisun 10.0 bulbs, which has a shorter effective range than the t5 version. I would try to keep that UVB bubl within at least 6-8 inches of your beardie's basking spot (without any interference) to provide your beardie with what he can get.
Also, if there is sand in that kit, I would avoid using it. That kind of sand is not exactly best for beardies, especially babies, as baby beardies have been known to lick everything to smell it, and thereby ingesting it. It would better if you use something such as paper towels or newspaper, which are cheap and easily replaceable. Loose substrate can be used, but its usually not suggested for baby beardies and tends to be something that is put off to the side to provide a dig spot for them.
What are you feeding your beardie, anyways? And how often?
Also, if you want to post a picture (if you don't already know how), you first upload your picture here beardeddragon.org/useruploads/#new
And then when you go to post, you press the XIMG button and select your image.
 

Dafelsheim

Member
Original Poster
Hey there!

I am feeding him mostly small crickets, twice a day. Every now and then I throw in some strawberries, celery, or bell peppers!
 

Ancalagon

Member
I'm sorry to hear about your grandma! I hope she is doing better!

I feel your pain when it comes to paying for the wrong stuff! I dropped $60 on a hooded UVB light and then realized AFTER I got home that half of my tank's ceiling is made of glass and UVB doesn't penetrate glass ???

It's almost as if we have to budget in "bought wrong stuff" into the startup costs of bearded dragon husbandry!

I would try looking in any Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook groups, Craigslist, the for sale section here, and local pet stores. Petsmart/Petco are way too expensive for stuff that is honestly subpar for a bearded dragon's care. They should stick to dogs and cats.

With that being said, is there any locally-owned pet stores in your town? I frequently visit a pet store in Tucson, which I love outside of (like a legit pet store with cockatoos hanging out in the open, sugar gliders for sale, literally any sort of fish you could ever want) and I charm the poor clerk into giving me a discount every single time! Stores like that are way more informed on reptile husbandry AND they're usually nice enough to discount stuff. Can't say that about the blue-vested teenagers at my Petsmart ?
 

Dafelsheim

Member
Original Poster
Rampagingraptor":1mwe0moj said:
Sounds good. All of those are pretty good picks, though not exactly staple worthy. You should try out collard greens, dandelion greens, and mustard greens. You should have a look at this list for some other veggie ideas as well.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Yeah, I've actually made a pretty extensive list of Dragon foods including how often they should be given. For awhile I was giving him kale, but he didn't eat it at all and the whole bunch pretty much went bad, so I kind of pulled back from greens for awhile and focused on veggies on the approved list that were household staples. Now that he's actually a little older I will start getting more greens. I suppose I could blanch them and vacuum pack them to keep them fresher longer.
 

Dafelsheim

Member
Original Poster
Ancalagon":302r6usi said:
I'm sorry to hear about your grandma! I hope she is doing better!

I feel your pain when it comes to paying for the wrong stuff! I dropped $60 on a hooded UVB light and then realized AFTER I got home that half of my tank's ceiling is made of glass and UVB doesn't penetrate glass ???

It's almost as if we have to budget in "bought wrong stuff" into the startup costs of bearded dragon husbandry!

I would try looking in any Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook groups, Craigslist, the for sale section here, and local pet stores. Petsmart/Petco are way too expensive for stuff that is honestly subpar for a bearded dragon's care. They should stick to dogs and cats.

With that being said, is there any locally-owned pet stores in your town? I frequently visit a pet store in Tucson, which I love outside of (like a legit pet store with cockatoos hanging out in the open, sugar gliders for sale, literally any sort of fish you could ever want) and I charm the poor clerk into giving me a discount every single time! Stores like that are way more informed on reptile husbandry AND they're usually nice enough to discount stuff. Can't say that about the blue-vested teenagers at my Petsmart ?

She is! Thanks!

And sadly, there are no local pet stores within forty-five minutes. :(
 
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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
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i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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