and the light on the left in the silver ballast is I believe a 45w day glo heat lamp, I think thats the brand name
I'll check when I get home and post the actual names of the bulbs.
I know I should get uvb 10.0 but couldn't find a bulb in any stores so I had to get uvb 5 for now, is that ok for short term? What are the long term effects?
Also theres a digital thermometer in there on the left (cant see) i keep the basking spot at about 95-105, the food and water is on the right (where there are no lights, and theres another hiding spot)
i know the substrate is could cause impaction but it is reptilite sand and I've been watching him, he doesnt appear to be getting any in his mouth.
The best thing for you to do would to get a reptisun uvb, petmountain.com 20$, and under counter fixture, walmart 8-12$ or any hardware store or amazon.com, and mount it in the tank with 3m command hooks or industrial velcro. Definetly dont turn the compact uvb, these can do more harm then good. Thry can cause eye and health problems. The powersun has also been said to cause eye problems, although some people do use them without problems, but its up to you to decide. If you got a reptisun, you could return both bulbs you got and just get a regular household bulb for the basking bulb and play with the watts. The way i look at it is, im actually paying a little less for the best bulb, and even though its not as convient as a mercury vapor bulb, there arent any known risks with it and is reccomended by most. You could use it short term, but if you changed it now you would be able to get your money back for the bulbs, put it towards a reptisun and fixture and still have a little extra $.
As with the sand, that is also your decision to use, but i personally wouldnt, especially with a baby. Alot of people that do use sand use it for adults, since theres a higher risk of impaction in a baby, but a risk either way.
You dont want screen or anything between the uvb and your beardie, it cant penetrate it well.
your tank looks great, i love the bird ladder. 105 for basking is good, but 95 a little low for a baby, you want to aim for 105-110.
I think when I get home I'm gonna cut a hole in the screen for the Powersun bulb to shine directly on him, instead of having the screen block the UV rays.
Just keep a close eye on him and watch for signs like him closing his eyes a lot while basking, not basking or staying away from the light. As a baby he should spend most of his time basking so if he isn't doing it a lot the light may be hurting his eyes.
I think I'm gonna replace it with a repti-sun 10.0 uvb tube when I get a bigger tank.
Im looking for a 40gallon breeder or 50 gallon, or i'm gonna wait til around summer and see if he's out grown his 20 gal, and if i haven't gotten a new tank, I'm going to build a custom enclosure for him out of wood and plexiglass.
a 40 gallon breeder is the better one to go with. Also the the substraigh is the walnut stuff? If so you might need to change that out. Bearded likes to lick everthing so they could eat some of that and it could couse impaction and or cut his intestines, becouse of the shard edges, but other then that it looks Great.