UVB light question

[Aneddu]

Okay so I got my mother a bearded dragon as a Christmas gift this last year, as she has wanted one for as long as I can remember now and as such we are fairly new to all of this care and are still learning things we need to do. I have seen a few things here and there that I have been curious about, but usually get a pretty firm answer by looking enough but this one I have had trouble with a bit. So I wanted to see if I could get some assistance on this.

So the our beardie Nova we have now I got her back in april (unfortunate circumstances that I won't get into at this time as it has nothing to do with the question at hand caused us the loss of our first beardie Elliot.) and we have had his UVB on 24/7 since we got him as that is what I understood at the time was supposed to be done. Lately I have seen a few times here and elsewhere though, people have said that you should turn off all the lights for them so they can sleep in the complete darkness as the UVB is just supposed to help with the lack of direct sunlight. So he hasn't had any issues with sleeping and such and infact when I go downstairs at night I usually see him out cold so the light has never seemed to bother him, but I wasn't sure if this could cause any issues if it hasn't already? I recently removed the plexiglass the light was ontop of as people were saying that it blocks out most of the UVB and I wasn't aware of this as well so I got that sorted out. Anyhow though to sum this up (sorry!) I just want to make sure if leaving the light on can cause any problems (IE now that he is used to it being on if it might stress him out not having it on) or if it doesn't matter one way or another and I should just start making sure it is turned off at night because it doesn't make much of a difference anyhow

(P.S. I am fairly certain he is a bit too far away from the bulb from what is suggest for the UVB from what I have understood and am working on figuring out how to rectify that. probably will order a hammock or two online and see if he will hang out on those. I am not sure if that will affect the answer or not but should cover all the bases)

 

[kingofnobbys]

Took a bit of read to find your question.
I''ll return to it,

Here is a general guide I've cobbled together , lots of folks seem very mislead and confused about UV and beardies' requirements and it kinda just evolved into serious point/guidelines. This is contributed by some manufacturers being very vague on how their globes and tubes should be used and set up.

UVA AND UVB ADEQUATE ?
>>> is the uv rated AT LEAST 10%UVB ?
>>> is it a COMPACT (curly globe & WATTAGE ?
many folks here say compact UVB globes are bad, but this only applies to poor quality compacts and compacts that are mounted inappropriately, I have been using 26W UVB200s (10%UVB) compacts mounted in Exo Terra Nano Hoods (globe mounted horizontally) for my beardies and this works very well in my 100L rearing tubs. They are perfect for these.
>>> or a T8 tube ?
>>> or a T5 tube ?
>>> or an MVB ?
VERY IMPORTANT : what is the brand ?
(not all UVB compacts and tubes are created equal or as well , many shops sell their own brand (Zilla, All Living Things, Reptile-One, Nat Geo , Natural Selections (in green boxes) which are cheap Chinese clones made very cheaply using very poor quality quartz glass and cheap phosphors ==> very poor UV spectrum produced incl UVC band and bad parts of the UVB band)

>>> also is it covered (in a domestic fluorescent light fitting )? == BAD
>>> also is it sitting ontop a mesh top ? == BAD
>>> how far from basking spot ?
too far and the UVA and UVB WILL BE TOO DILUTE.
UVA FLUX TOO LOW where dragon is ==> a very lethargic dragon w/ a very poor apetite just in the short term , and neurological problems if this persists , not to mention MVB if UVB flux too low long enough with inadequate metabolisation of dietary calcium or inadequate intake out calcium

A very good guide from Arcadia is below

UV globe IS ONLY NEEDED DURING THE DAY when he is likely to be active , feeding and basking.
Not needed at night. If beardie takes a siesta in the afternoon or evening before lights out it's best to leave the lights on the schedule the beardie is used to as it will often get back up before bed time for another bask or in the hope of a snuggle or other interaction with you.

Also
TOO SHORT A PHOTOPERIOD (lights are not kept on long enough each day , will make beardie think it is winter , recommend at least 14 HRS PER DAY)

FEEDING SCHEDULE (I recommend at least 2 hrs lights/heat on before first live feed and after last feed of the day)
>>> when are you offering live feeder insects ? what are they ? how big are they ?
>>> when are you offering greens and other veg ? what are you offering ?
good guide is here : http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html

 

[Aneddu]

Alright so first off, sorry for it being so hard to find my question haha, I just wanted to atleast try and explain things as best as I could.

Now to answer for the bulb I am using a reptisun 10.0 24" T8 with 17 watts.

As for the basking light I'm not certain which one that is, if that one matters much as my mother picked up a different one than we were using (it kept burning out in like 1-2 months so we are trying a different brand now) and I don't know if she still has the box

As for how far away they are from the basking/UV I believe when we measured it was about 10-11 inches but I don't remeber exactly. That goes back to what I was saying about how I am fairly certain he is a bit far away from them as to what is suggested. He has never been lethargic thigh aside from when it gets around the time he goes to sleep at night. And again we are working on reworking his tank as best we can. His tank is a 75 gallon one but is long and tall rather than wide. (We have considered building our own instead)

As for the top we are not using mesh, we don't actually have a top right now. We were using the plexiglass because my step dad was worried he would somehow jump out but as stated above it is rather tall and so isn't much of a worry and so we took the plexiglass off since I was finding that it messes with the uvb output.


As for feeding, we offer him dubia roaches and veggies throughout the day. She gets up at about 6 and offers him his veggies (usually sweet potatoes) and let's then sit for about an hour and then will offer the roaches. Then when I get up around 11 I will again swap out his veggies and offer him the roaches. She gets home around 3ish and will offer them again and then offers them after dinner (7ish at night I believe. I'm usually not home)

As stated we feed him dubia roaches and we try to watch their size so that he doesn't eat too large of one, partly out of worry he will choke on it or have internal problems digesting it, but also because when he eats one that is ALL he eats and so doesn't eat much in that sitting.

Also I think I missed this sort - his lights are on from about 6am to 10 pm and his uvb has been on 24/7 but now that we know better we will start turning it off too

I think I got everything?

 

[neilkd21]

With the T8 uv bulb as a guide most should be around 6 to 8 inches away so yours as you say is a bit far away to get the full effect. You also want the UV tube covering about 3/4 of the tank so you may need to upgrade to a longer one if you have a long tank. A reflector for the tube is also good as it will focus the UV light into the tank to maximise it.

 

[EllenD]

Yes, please turn all lights out at bedtime, his sleep may be disrupted from the lights even if you don't realize it. If his nighttime temperature drops below 65 degrees then you should buy a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE), which screws into a normal lightbulb fixture but puts out only heat, no light. As long as his UVB light is on for 12-14 hours daily, which it is, he's fine.

The Reptisun T8 UVB should be around 8" inches from his basking spot with nothing in-between him and the light, no mesh, no plastic, no glass... However, something for you to consider is upgrading to a Reptisun 10.0 T5 High-Output UVB tube, which can be 11" inches away from your beardie, or if you can get it at 8" inches away from him the T5 High-Output Reptisun tube can be on top of a mesh screen, if you want to get a lid for his tank.

 

[Drache613]

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