Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone I am still new here. I don't have a beardie yet but I am looking, I want to have everything ready in advance. I was wondering what types of lights all of y'all use for your beardies? I am going to build my own enclosure, it will probably be around 5' by 2' by 2', and it will have basking lights on both ends with a large flourescent running the whole length. I was looking at light fixtures and I figured I could just use a shop flourescent fixture, is that ok? And does everyone use a Repti-Sun 5.0 or 8.0 or what? Do you know how long they make those? Also for the basking lamps, I have heard different things about what bulbs you can use? I have always used special reptile basking lamps but someone told me that is a waste of money, they said to use a regular light bulb for heat. What do y'all use? If you could post pics of your enclosures and lighting arrangements that would be awesome!!! Thank you!!

Logan Mills
USMC

The tube lights come up too 48 inchs, I use the 8. but will be going to the 10. The basking light can be a house hold bulb or you can get the reptile baskig bulb that puts out uvb also. I have one it cost me $28.95. Just make sure you get the basking spot to between 100 and 110. I really like the way your researching every thing before getting into it., Bubba

Logan,

I wouldn't put basking lights at both ends of your enclosure, just one end so the dragon can heat regulate as needed. We just use household bulbs for heat, no need for the expensive stuff for just heat. Start with 40 watt and go up from there, 95 to 105 works. Some caution on heat during the summer. Stay towards the cooler side just to be safe as a sudden heat surge will overheat your beardie and if your not around at that time you could loose your animal. Make sure when you build your enclosure you use enough wire/plastic mesh to allow for good air flow. Window screen doesn't work well as they can get their nails caught in the fine screen mesh.
As for UVB bulbs we have tried them all. We prefer the screw in compact bulbs as they seem to last a little longer and they don't require the long fixture. If you choose to use the florscent tube lights they can be had in sizes up to 48 inches.
Make sure they are the 40 watt fixture as all the bulbs we have tried were 40 watts. Many of the shop light fixtures are only 36 watt. The 36 watt fixture will work on some bulbs but not all and they shorten the life of the 40 watt bulbs.
Sun light is your best sourse of UVB. If you just have your beardie out in the sun for 15 minutes a day, it will get the same benefit as 10 hours under a UVB lamp.

Yosemite
Reptayls Ltd.

good job on doing your research before getting your beardie. alot of people dont do that and then go crazy when they have a problem. anyways im going to just repeat what everyone else has told you already, heat bulbs can just be household bulbs. wattage depends on the size of the cage. of course the bigger the cage the more wattage you will probably need to get the temps right. you want the basking spot 105-115. you only need a basking spot on one side of the cage. if you are doing a longer cage, like 5 feet long, you can do 2 basking spots, but do one at one end and one towards the middle. and i would make the one in the middle a little lower in temp. then leave the other end as your "cool down" side. as for UVB bulbs i used reptisun 10.0 florescents or reptiglo 8.0. be sure to change your UVB bulbs every 6 months or so with florescents. and of course take your beardie outside to get real sunlight when you can. once a week for about 30 minutes to an hour is good.
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Beach Beardies

3.3.0 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Thanks for all the input. That is a great idea to have one end the hottest basking area then in the middle a little cooler. I was wondering though, I know they say that if your house doesn't get below like 65 degrees then you don't need a heat source at night but what do y'all do? I always thought that it doesn't hurt to be safe right? I mean would it hurt if you just left a night light on for the beardie? Also I have been searching high and low for cage plans and have gotten only a few bites, do you think that y'all could help there? One last thing, I am looking for a breeder who is close to arizona/so. cal area so that I could get to know them and see their facilities before I buy from them. So if y'all could help there too!!! Thanks so much!!

Logan

For UVB lights, best thing to do is get a 4' double florescent shop fixture. To simplify things, make sure it already has a plug attached. Otherwise, you have to wire it yourself to your home power or a power cord. The wiring itself is easy, all you do is connect color to color (ie red to red, black to black, white to white) but it's better to have the plug as you can connect it to an indoor/outdoor timer so the lights go on and off automaticaly. (this si really nice if you want to sleep in and not have to worry about turning the lights on for your dragon, or the heat).

How I set up my two tube fixture was a Repti-glo 8.0 UVB and a full spectrum normal light tube. This I found ensured good light intensity in the cage and provided more visible light to enjoy your dragon. You can also jsut put in two uvb 8.0's in the fixture, increasing the available UVB for your dragon, but teh cost of these bulbs does add up when replaced every 6-9 months.

I suspended the dual florescent light fixture about 6" from the roof inside the tank. IT was still high enough above the basking light the dragon couldn't reach it but low enough to give her the best explosure to UVB rays.

For a basking light I used an outdoor flood light bulb, 125 Watts. I attacked a ceramic light socket (had to manually wire this to a plug, which was a bit of a pain but not overly) and mounted it so it was attached to a hole in teh wire mesh covering half of the top of the cage (in retrospect, it would have been easier to mount it to the wooden side, but the florescent fixture took most of the room. Next time I build a cage, teh top will be solid wood, with the front and sides screened or a smaller screened area on the roof so I could mount the lights to wood instead of wire mesh).

The basking spot itself was a large wide piece of driftwood. This allowed for a nice gradiant of basking temps, from about 120F down to about 95F. I think it's very important to have large wide basking areas under a flood light, so the dragon can choose how hot he wants to bask. They take the higher areas during morning, and right after feeding, then move to cooler areas later on in the day.

The tank should have a cooler end, dropping to about 75F during the day and as long as 65F at night. Nighttime heating really isn't necessary unless your home is prone to getting much colder than 65F at night regularly. If it does get cooler, you can either add a ceramic heat emmitter for nighttime temps (still should not raise it above 75F though) or an undertank heater. Night time heat should be set on a different timer than the day time heat/lights, so they only come on at night, and are off during the day. Visible light should not be used to provide heat at night, there are night time bulbs available, usualling red or blue, but not 100% sure these actually are not seen by the dragon. It is very important to have a solid photo period of roughly 12-14 hours daylight during teh summer, and shorter perods during the winter (especially if you want to brumate your dragon, though this isn't necessary. Dragons often go into brumation without any change in lighting or temperatures, I think in this case, they are getting cues from the windows within their line of sight).

One last thing, if you are getting a baby dragon to start, don't put it into the adult cage, this can really stress them. Better to house them in smaller tanks till they are around 15" long then move them into the adult sized tank. I used a 35 gal long aquarium for the first 4 months of owning my dragon (she was about 3 months and 8" when I bought her, and was 15" and around 7-8 months when I moved her into her adult cage).

I have attached a picture of my bearded dragon's cage, don't have the plans for it anymore...I didn't build it myself but drew the basic layout and dimensions on paper which I gave to the family friend who built it for me.

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PHLdyPayne