Terrarium isn't getting hot enough???

[Five50]

Hi, guys! I'm new to these forums, but I need some help. I've had my adult Bearded Dragon for a few months now and things have been going pretty well, except for one little issue... It's taking way too much work to get this terrarium to a hot enough temperature! Below is a list of my set up...

40 gallon glass terrarium
Zoo Med Dual Kit lamp (You know... With the 2 bulb spots...)
Zoo Med Terrarium Hood with a 10.0 UVB tube light

He has a sort of plastic rock, cave thing underneath the basking light lamp that he loves and a rope hammock thingy as well on the same side for him to bask on. I've tried so many different types of bulbs with this lamp!
Some people have told me that regular, natural light bulbs work fine, so I tried those in multiple different watts. I've tried actual Zoo Med brand basking bulbs at 100w. I've mixed different bulbs in the 2 different bulb slots... The only thing I have found that worked was having "TWO" 150w basking bulbs screwed into both bulb spots at the same time. And even then, the temperature only got to 96 degrees, max. One of the 2 bulbs blew out today, and luckily I had a 100w on hand to replace it with for the time being. But after replacing the bulb, it's now only getting up to about 90 degrees.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here??? Are two 150w bulbs the only thing that will work for me??? Thanks ahead of time for any help!

 

[CooperDragon]

Dual 150w bulbs seems like an awful lot for a 40g enclosure. How are you measuring the temperatures? What is the gradient on the surfaces across the enclosure? If you could post some photos of your setup it may be helpful as well. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

 

[Five50]

Sorry! Should have included some pictures!
Edit: I know the heating pad isn't big enough for the terrarium. I'm getting a new one, but he likes it, so I kept it on there until the bigger one comes in! ?

 

[CooperDragon]

I think you're probably close. You have a nice T5 bulb and a good layout there. I suggest moving the probe for your digital thermometer onto either the hammock or the top of the basking rock. That will give you more accurate surface readings which you adjust the lighting by. You may consider getting a second one to put a probe over by the food and water so you can get a good idea of the gradient, but first things first.

Try moving the probe and wait 45min or so and see what it reads.

 

[Five50]

Update:
I should have mentioned...
At the moment, I currently have a 150w basking bulb on the hammock side and a 100w basking bulb on the rock side. The probe was above the rock and the temperature was reading 90 degrees. I took the advice above and tried moving the probe to the hammock side, (with the 150w bulb), and it now reads 91 degrees...

 

[CooperDragon]

Is it on the hammock now? Or is it in the air near the hammock? The temps may drop off quite a bit as you move aside from the basking surface (this is good).

Here is a picture of my enclosure for reference. I don't have a closeup of the probes but you can see one is sitting right on the log by Darwin's hand and the other is on the cool side floor. They are both touching the surface I want to read the temp from. I'm getting a reading of 102 using a 90w bulb about 18'' above the probe.

 

[Five50]

I just now put the probe ON the hammock instead of on the wall of the terrarium like I had it and the temperature IMMEDIATELY jumped up!!! I had no idea that putting the probe on the wall could make such a huge difference! Thank you so much for your help!!!