One thing I don't like about the compact bulbs is they tend to produce a very high brightness in a small area with may be irritating to the eyes. Some of the UVB compact bulbs produce a too hight UV Index which is damaging to skin and the retinas (see the link BDLvr provided for info about the conditions high UV-Index producing bulbs cause. (this is the same UV Index warnings we get in the summer (maybe year around in warmer areas than where I live) which is known to cause skin cancer). Also, if I remember correctly, your cage isn't too high...18" I think you said it was. As compacts tend to 'hang' into the cage (assuming you are mounting the fixture on the inside of the top of the cage) it would be even closer to your dragon and the intensity of light may be more harmful than good. Also, if this UVB compact is of the type that produce a high UV index, your dragon is more likely to be within the more dangerous UV-Index range than it would be if the cage was 24" high.



Best to switch to a linear UVB producing bulb. These don't produce such a high UV-Index even if the dragon is in contact with the bulb (don't put them into direct contact with the bulb of course).. What I use for my dragon cages are double fixture florescent tube shop light types which come with their own plug. These come in assorted lengths and for your cage, a 3' fixture would be best. My cage is much longer than yours so I use 4' (in a 5' long cage). I use a Exo-terre UVB 8.0 bulb and a full spectrum 'grow' tube I buy at the hardware store to increase overall light in the cage. I use flood bulbs for the basking spot.



The diet you are currently using is not very good for dragons. Spring mix tends to have a high portion of useless greens (red and green leaf lettuce, romaine; which have low nutritional value), spinach which binds calcium making it unusable to the body, with a bit of good healthy greens, depending on the particular brand of spring mix you are using.) Adding additional spinach just makes the salad you are providing even more hampering. Too much fruit is also bad, leading to watery stool and nutritional imbalances.



A healthy salad should contain at least two of the following greens: Collard greens, mustard greens, turnup greens, dandelion greens. Other greens which can be mixed in with these staples are endive, escarole, beat greens, and others. A very good list of greens which can be offered (and how often they should be offered) can be found here:

www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
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PHLdyPayne

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