Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have just read from one website that did not recomend useing a heat rock with bearded dragons. The reason given was beacuse beardies where not able to sense temp from their undersides?
I have a 100 gallon tank that my dragon lives in and his difficult to keep one end warm so i have an undertank heat mat, heat rock and a basking light. Should i unplug the heat rock ? I would realy love some feedback on what people do? I was also thinking of a reptile aproved mecury vapor bulb or atlest hang the uvb lights a bit lower (with in about 9-12 inches from his basking spot)
I know one thing, since i added the uvb Bob has realy brightened up in color and now know he is a sunfire morph, when i rescued him he was grey!

I've heard (I don't have a beardie yet) that heat rocks can cause severe burns....their really not recommended for any kind of reptile.

Yea, heat rocks are a no no. In fact i dont think that they should be sold!! Unless you have some sort of temp control hooked up to it (whuich would be exptremely hard to do) you should definitly not use them!! Like you said b4 lower your lights or buy a higher watt bulb that will get your basking spot to the temp you desire! The UTH is also another good thing you have! Maybe you could offset it so that it is not right under the lamps to try and help bring up your ambient temps in your tank. You can also try covering the sides and back with some sort of insulation, styrofoam, decorated cardboard anything to try and help the release of heat through the sides. Another idea is to put the heat pads on the side of the tank near the bottom!! All good ideas to try to help keep those temps up!

Good luck and keep us posted!!

M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

heat lights on hte side is a bad idea, will cause a localized expansion of the glass, causing it to crack or shatter

you can buy an insulating foam board, and put it on the non exposed sides, use urethane it is more efective per inch of thickness, and if you dont like the look, get an aquarium backing or poaster and stick it between the glass and the board
dont forget to tape the edges of the board down, it wont insulate properly otherwise

if you have a grill cage cover, cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the inside rim of the tank opposite your basking light this will hold some heat in as well

I never said to put a heat lamp on the side.
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I bearied the heat rock in the substrate and unplugged it and compensated by adding a higher wattage basking lamp, I think light from the side would also be bad because beardies are used to the light comming from above.

As a 100 gal tank is quite large ,putting multiple basking bulbs in would be a better ideal. This way you don't have a basking spot that is too hot for your dragon and the rest of the cage too cool.

Heat rocks in the past were very dangerous for bearded dragons and many other reptiles due to their tendancy not to heat evenly and risk of them shorting out. However, some of the newer brands have built in thermostats or temp controls which make them much safer to use. Even then, it probably isn't best to rely on them to provide heat for your dragon. They are geared to seek bright sunlight as a source of heat, instead of warm rocks.
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PHLdyPayne