UVB with terrarium

[Lakerlife24]

HI all =)..first off I waant to say that I am a bearded dragon owner for about over a month now. My beardies name is Rex haha. I have a repsitun 10.0 for his uvb and also a basking light that reaches great temps for him. But now I have a doubt in my mind so I really need the answer to one of my questions. I have a screen on top of my tank. Mostly because I leave the door closed to my room but my parents sometimes dont and we have a cat in the house. He is growing great and is almost 4 months now. He is 3 and a half months old and is about 10 inches long. I was sonwering if its okay to have my uvb in its terrarium sit on top of the screen. There is no plastic interfering. But im just curios if this is OK for my beardie. The terrarium is special for the tube its a zoo med terrarium. He is in a 40 galon tank and the light covers the whole tank. Plz let me know so I wont b so paranoid about it...thanx!

 

[Goonie]

[Moved from General to Enclosures]

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It's ok to leave the screen on (especially if you have a curious cat) and have the UV sitting on top of it. But keep in mind that the screen does break down some of the rays, so it wouldn't be as effective.
Would it be possible to move your beardie's basking spot a little higher so he'd get more of the rays?

 

[randommonks]

Also check to see if you have a reflector behind your holder. It'll reflect back a lot of UVB so it might negate some of the effects of the filter from the screen.

 

[Lakerlife24]

His basking spot is actually really close to it. Not directly under it but pretty much. Sometimes i was afraid he was too close to it. He basks a lot but also runs around nd hes very active. The reflector should b inside the terrarium behind the bulb? What cud b another way for me to put the uvb inside the tank? What would i need? And where should i pit it? Thanx guys for all the help

 

[randommonks]

It is possible to mount the UV light inside the tank. Some models are easier than others because of their design. I have a ZooMed one that makes it almost impossible for me to mount it inside, but it does have the reflector behind it. Do you have a picture of your UV fixture?

 

[Lakerlife24]

Thats the one i have. The zoomed one. I paid a good amount of money for it as well it wasnt too cheap haha. Yea actually i can just post one of my entire tank and its steup so u can take a look at that. Im sorta new to the website so how do u post a picture? Sorry i seem annoying haha just trynna learrn the best for my beardie

 

[randommonks]

Here's a good explanation for posting pics :wink:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=152184

Yeah the Zoomed one was expensive, but if you look behind the bulb, you'll notice the reflector (silver looking thing). With that on there, you don't really need to worry about the amount of UV getting filtered by the screen (well...worry as much I guess ).

 

[Lakerlife24]

Really?? SWEET!! haha. thanx for all ur help. Im gunna upload a pic. Maybe you can help me on my setup or anything different that I should do. Gimme 2 minutes hha

 

[Lakerlife24]

http://s1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff497/Lakerlife24/

 

[Lakerlife24]

This is my tank...is it a good setup???

 

[randommonks]

As long as those branches are totally secure looks like a fun setup for a baby. Watch those stones as he gets bigger, and you might end up replacing those branches (they get FAAAAAAAT), but as long as your temps are right it should be good. What size tank is that?

 

[Lakerlife24]

Yea I was actually going to remove the rocks yesterday I jjust use it to look nice but ahh haha...He use to sleep on the branches but he got too big. Now at night he goes around looking for a sweet cool spot. Yep there secure. and right now he started digging into his phoenix worms I just put out for him haha. Its a 40 gallon tank..I will be purchasing a bigger one once he gets bigger though. Also I had a question. Its starting to get really chilly over here do u reccomend anything for the other side of the tank?

 

[Lakerlife24]

Sorry for bothering you once more but I heard beardies will also eat a lot when they are growing. Mine tho eats around 80-100 phoenix worms medium sized almost large in 1 day. is this okay? There expensive those little squirmy worms haha

 

[randommonks]

As long as your cool side is around 80F, it should be fine. If it starts to drop below 75F, you might want to look into putting a ceramic heat emitter, which will produce heat, but not light.

Babies, up until they're about a year to a year and a half, should get as many live feeders as they want, while they'll nibble at veggies. After that, they should switch or be switched to mostly veggies with feeders every other day or so. If he's under the year mark, eating that much should be encouraged to get a healthy, happy beardie who will have optimal growth. They do get expensive I've heard. I use dubia roaches myself, which, once you start a colony, you will never have to pay for again. It's taken me a bit more time than I wanted to get my own colony going, but after battling numerous nasties other than roaches, it seems to be finally taking off.