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I would like to put the basking lights in my beardeds' 48x24x18" cages on proportional thermostats to maintain consistent temps. I am hoping that the cool end will fall naturally into the proper range and will use digital thermometers to monitor this. These are Showcase Cages, stacked 3 high, enclosed but for the sliding glass fronts. I will provide a low basking ramp, and I desire for the highest basking spot to hit around 110-115 F. Is this a good idea? Have you tried it? How should I position the thermostat probe so that it cannot be covered by the animal (which could drive up the temp to dangerous levels)? What wattage spot or flood should I use to start? What other advice would you offer? Thanks.

No need for a thermostat control. Start with a 45watt and play with the distance of the bulb from the basking spot. No matter how hot the basking spot gets a healthy lizard knows when to move from the basking spot.

Thanks. I'll start low and go slow. I want to get this right. I think the top cage of the stack will require less.

I have a showcase too and their great cages. I own the 60"x24"x24" for two adult male dragons.

Here's a few tips on maintaining good temps for these cages:

Buy different wattage bulbs to make adjustments. Sometimes you will need to adjust to combat different ambient temps in your home. I like to use reptile halogen bulbs for the amount of intense light they produce. They really brighten up the cage quite a bit too. I have also had some bulbs last over a year. Usually I switch from the 100-watt to 75-watt models. I have a fixed digital thermometer on the wall very close to the highest basking point they can get to. The 100-watt will usually get the basking spot between 95-105 and the 75-watt is good between 90-95. Make sure to get a long enough UVB fixture and bulb(10.0) to span the length of the cage.
Do not let the temps exceed 105 degrees at the basking point. There's a lot of speculation on this topic but I'm advising from experience. Anything over 105 usually leads to dehydration.

Curious, what color did you order? I have the "terra cotta" kind of a burnt orange color. It's nice for creating a desert scene.

-Kevin

Thanks for the response. Interesting the range of suggested temps for basking. I have found that over 105 a mouth is often agape, though they remain in place for some time. My cages are the Sandstone color. I chose that for the least reflected color influence, though I agree that the terra cotta is a better looking cage. It's frustrating that I have too many home improvement projects right now to keep me busy, so I had to buy ready made cages even though I have the woodworking skills to DIY. When it comes to the well being of my 3 dragons money is no object. I recently lost a baby Greek tortoise due to inadequate housing and environmental control, and am feeling bad, and rightfully so. It was a rescue, but I still think I could have done better. These beardies are going to live like kings and queens. For lighting, I'm using 2 - 18" strip lights per cage with Reptisun 10's. My winter ambient temps here in northern Indiana will range form 68-72.

I think the sandstone would have been a better choice for the dragons. You can get some darkspots with the terra cotta. I ran an additional 18" fluorescent between the two basking wells on my 60" to keep it bright. You made the better choice on the color Crud.

Have you had an issue with crickets climbing up the textured walls and escaping through the top vents? Adhering white UHMW sheeting to the interior walls would prevent that and brighten things up considerably as well.

Not really an issue with the crickets. They climb a little but never get too high on the wall. I don't think they could get out of the aluminum venting either.

If I've had one issue with the cage it's the glass doors not hitting the side walls on the track. There's about 1/4" of open space on either side and that's plenty enough for a cricket to escape. Some aquarium silicone will fix this but I don't want to that. Also, if your using sand as a substrate, keep a shop-vac close to always make sure the door-track is free of debris.

If you would be interested, I can send you some photos by next week of my set-up. I have more than a year experience with the showcase design.

I would like to see pics of your setup. I should recieve my lights in a day or so. Can't wait to set up my new enclosures.

Hey Crud,

I'll get you detailed pics of my 5x2x2 hopefully later this week. Waiting on delivery for a new digital camera.

The basking lights in my enclosure are regulated by individual Helix proportional thermostats. In the picture you can just see the probes taped to the left side wall above the seam between the 3rd and 4th tile from the glass. I then had to experiment with bulbs and venting to get the right basking temp. since the Helix is actually controlling the ambient temp. Currently I am using Par 20, 50 watt narrow floods.

That's a great setup. I don't see the probes. Are they positioned at the approximate height of your lizards' backs? If your stats are measuring ambient temps, did you have to calculate the relationship for each enclosure, as in: 95 ambient = 105 basking? Also, to get an accurate bask reading, should I temp gun the basking surface, or the head/back of the basking lizard?

Many here would probably enjoy a brief description of your enclosure design. The functions of some of the features that I see in your pic are not readily apparent. Thanks.

Here's another pic. of the same cages in summer with the hides under the basking platform open.

I have also attached a picture of another cage of the same design. Your should be able to see the probe on the left side wall between the 3rd and 4th tile from the glass.

Between the 1st and 2nd tile you may be able to see the wire for a digital thermometer. The probe is between the 1st and 2nd tiles from the glass and the basking light points right at it. In the picture with the 9 cages you can see the readout on the left cages. It is mounted on the board below the vent opening on the left side.

The helix are set about 90 degrees give or take a degree or 2 depending on the cage. With the right bulb this gives me (2)105-110 basking spots. I change bulbs to lower wattage and increase the front venting in the summer.

BDlvr, I know you've been asked this before, but do you have written plans for your cages? They're so great. And it's obvious to us now that beardies are continuing to be a big part of our family (we have 5 in our house now--one is ny 19-yr old niece's...she "caught the beardie fever" after moving in w/us lol), and we need a more efficient way to house them.

Thanks!
~J

>>Here's another pic. of the same cages in summer with the hides under the basking platform open.
>>
>>I have also attached a picture of another cage of the same design. Your should be able to see the probe on the left side wall between the 3rd and 4th tile from the glass.
>>
>>Between the 1st and 2nd tile you may be able to see the wire for a digital thermometer. The probe is between the 1st and 2nd tiles from the glass and the basking light points right at it. In the picture with the 9 cages you can see the readout on the left cages. It is mounted on the board below the vent opening on the left side.
>>
>>The helix are set about 90 degrees give or take a degree or 2 depending on the cage. With the right bulb this gives me (2)105-110 basking spots. I change bulbs to lower wattage and increase the front venting in the summer.
>>
>>
>>
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1.2.1 Beardies: Albus, Minerva, Bindy,& baby Abby or Gibbs!
0.1.0 Furball (aka a cat): Smudge
1.0.0 Hubby: Travis
2.0.0 Rugrats Kyler, 8 and Collin, 5

Here's some instructions I wrote a while ago. I actually have (6) 5' and (6) 4' of this design now, plus 4' x 2' and 5' x 2' terrariums and 4' x 2' enclosures. Not including my 8' x 9' x 7' tall Iguana enclosure. Here's instructions for the ones in the pic.

Three of mine are 5’ long and the other 6 are 4’ long. I have a case of 36” Reptisun 10.0 bulbs so I wanted to use 36” fixtures in mine. That meant that it would have to be at least 36” deep to run the fixtures from front to back. If you build a 4’ cage you can just run 4’ fixtures left to right. Just make sure your inside measure is at least 4’ that means the outside measure will be at least 49 ½ wide. Melamine is ¾” thick.

Here are instructions for a 5’.

Melamine is available from Home Depot in a variety of sizes including 4 x 8 sheets. To cut melamine I use masking tape to reduce chips and you will need a circular saw blade with the most teeth possible. Home Depot sells like a 140 tooth blade for about $6 it’s marked as a plywood blade.

It’s best to start with the sides. Home Depot sells pieces of melamine that are 48” x 23 5/8. I decided that these would be my sides. I decided to play it safe (for 36” lights) and make mine 37” deep at the top. I then marked a 75 degree angle. It comes out to about 43 ¼ at the bottom. I taped where I was gonna cut and clamped the boards together, that way cutting both at the same time would make them exactly the same.

For the bottom, you will need to set the tilt on the saw at 15 degrees and cut the width to 43 ¼ on the long side. It’s easiest to just hold the sides up to it to mark it. The length of the bottom is 58 ½ to make a 5’. Melamine is ¾” thick. The sides are on the outside of the bottom, back, and top to hide the unfinished edges of the melamine. The back is 58 ½ by 22 1/8 and will sit on top of the bottom.

I bolted these pieces together with 1 5/8 course thread drywall screws every 4”. 5” is fine but I believe in overkill. Lol. You will need to drill a small pilot hole and a larger one slightly to countersink the screw heads. HD sells screw covers. I then cut the top at 58 ½ long by 37” on the short side of the 15 degree bevel. I then mounted the lights. Lot easier to do it before the top is on than working upside down in the cage later. HD sells an outside spotlight kit (white) with 2 swivel/adjustable angle sockets. I bought an extra socket to put a night bulb in too.

The top rests on the back but not the sides so you’ll need to cut some boards to hold up the front of the top while you screw the sides to it.

HD sells PVC Composite boards. On my cage the top is a 2 ½ board, the bottom is a 3 ½ board and the rest are 1 ½ boards. I attached mine using a finish nailer but you could use screws. I beveled both top and bottom boards but you don’t have to. I cut a scrap to 1 ½ and attached it to the center of my top board. This will create the space for ventilation. I then attached the 1 ½ board to this. This will hold the glass track. It’s important to attach the top glass track board to the center first because there will be some bowing of the top depending on how long the cage is. Now square up the glass opening and attached the board to the sides. Cut 1 ½ boards to fill in the remaining spaces. Then I filled the holes and painted the outside of the front boards. Then attach the glass track.

In my final product I added a 1 ¼” dowel in the center of the front to reduce stress from the weight of the cage above. A 5’ cage holds 200 lbs. of sand so the bottom cage will need to support over 500 lbs. including the weight of the cages above and sand.

The basking area is made with scrap melamine and finished with the PVC board. It has 4 built in hides. I made mine to fit 12 x 12 slate tiles. I had to cut 2. The ramp is a 16” slate tile cut to 12” wide. The “cricket corral” is 2 ½ boards screwed from the bottom up and covered with aluminum tape.

The summertime extra venting is as described below.

http://www.dachiu.com/care/venting.html

Nicely done, BDlvr. Your work has inspired me and the description is quite helpful. I see that your dragons are treated with the respect that they deserve.

Let's all give some credit to BDlvr. Excellent herper and always willing to share the knowledge.

Thanks, Kevin. My 3-stack is set up and I'm trying to regulate the temp gradient using digital thermometers and a heat gun. I'm still thinking that I'll find a way to regulate the basking lamps with thermostats. I'll shoot you a pic soon as well.

Thanks for the compliments.

Steve