Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently acquired a male beardie from a friend of mine. for some reason he left the uv in the bottom of the tank, therefore the beardie used to lie on it for heat. As i don't want to be responsible for any burns, i have put the uv light at the top of the viv.
'Khan' my beardie now tries to jump up at the uv light, so I checked the basking spot to see if it was hot enough and discovered it isn't. it only reaches 37 degrees.
I'm basically wondering if i change the bulb to a 100w household one, will the basking spot be hot enough?
i know it will take him a little time to get used to the fact he is to use the basking spot for heat, but he seems quite stressed(black beard while jumping at th uv)and doesn't seem to bother with crickets.
Any help would be great.

Thanx
Kat

your friend was using UVB light as a heat source? well if this is the case, he/she is an idiot.

dragons need UVB light source, and a heat source. a regular household 60-100 watt will be fine depending on cage size. basking spot should reach 110 for adulta and 115 for babies. cool end of the cage should be around 75

he probably doesnt pay attention to his crickets cause hes too stressed out from not enough heat. dragons need their body temp around 92 degrees to properly digest food. get the temps up and make sure he has proper UVB light, reptisun 10.0 is what i reccommend.
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Beach Beardies

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

Yeah, I know. I was a bit shocked when i saw the light on the floor!!!!

Thanx for that.

Will let u know how i get on :O)

Kat

male beardie 'Khan'

37F is really low, well below normal room temperature (in fact that is close to freezing point which is 32F) .....unless that is 37 Celcius. 37C is about 98F so as a basking temp, it's not far off. Raising it to 40C will put the basking temp around 100F which is good for adult dragons. A bit higher would be better for younger dragons.

I also suggest changing the UVB bulb as well, especially if your friend has had the dragon for more than 9 months before giving it to you. Most UVB tubes loose their uvb outage after about 6-9 months. Though some UVB is still projected, the amount is very small and practically useless for the dragon. A fresh bulb puts out the full amount it is rated for but this decreases steadily over the months.

It wouldn't hurt to take the dragon to a herp vet and get a fecal done, to make sure he doesn't have a parasite load and other health concerns. Also, if you do have other bearded dragons, keep him separate from them for several months till he has three clean fecals from the vet (take a stool sample to a vet once a month for three months) and no other health concerns arrise in that time. If you don't, it still doesn't hurt to get three clean fecals spaced over three months.

If he continually jumps for the UVB light instead of basking in the normal basking spot, I suggest removing the UVB completely for about a week...give him time to adjust to his new home and learn where the basking spot is. Then return the UVB light back into his cage. Don't do this at all if he in any shape or form, appears to be suffering from MBD, hence why it is a good ideal to get him to a vet to make sure he is healthy now.

It may be possible he has grown used to basking on a warm object, so it may be necessary to put something in his cage that provides belly heat, but personally a basking spot over a pile of secure rocks or bricks, as teh basking spot, may tempt him to lay on them for heat. OR you can buy a thermostat controled heat rock (I know, heat rocks are very bad for reptiles, but newer ones with a thermostat control to monitor and adjust the heat outage, are much better and less likely to produce uneven hot spots or short out and burn your dragon).
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PHLdyPayne

I use a ceramic heat emitter with my dragon and a uv heat lamp during the day both are very hot so before you get any heat source including a regular light bulg for heat make sure its far enough so he cant jump and burn himself if not make sure there is a screen betwwen the lizard and the lamp