Ok, to start off i was at Pet-co, which I hate to shop at because they are worthless when it comes to taking care of their animals. Anyways i got some food and stuff they had on sale and I walked over to the Bearded Dragon cage they had and saw they had this tiny malnourished one. I couldn't help but to get him because I figured he would die if he stayed in the store. I have 2 Beards already at home that are a few years old, so it has been sometime since i had a newborn. I set up his cage but the only UVB strip light I have at the moment is the 10 uvb 18 inch strip light and the beardy is only in a 10 gallon at the moment. Do you guys think that the way this is set up is good enough for UVB penetration? i have the light half cocked eyed over the top of the cage until my new lights come in, which may be a few weeks. His basking light is in the far corner, that corner spot is about 115-125 per infer-red guage. Since he is very very young i know he needs proper penetration right at this moment, take a look and give me any advice. thanks.
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Is this cage setup ok until it is fixed?
Replies (4)
that should be fine, for a short period of time. Make sure he has a cool side area to go to. Its not easy to keep a ten gallon tank providing the temperature range needed for both warm and cool. The basking temp is fine and he certainly seems to be using it.
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PHLdyPayne
Should i just get a bigger cage and use that same 10 uvb striplight or how should i solve the problem with the light being so long, I dont want to use coil or tubular UVBs because i have had problems with them in the past. the hottspot is in the corner and the other side runs about 80-85 so the hot/cold relation is ok i am pretty much just worried about uvb penetration at the moment because he is already unhealthy.
A 20 Long is cheap. I don't think a 10 is a good idea at all for any size dragon. My baby bins are about the size of a 10 Gal but much shorter so they don't get too hot throughout.
Short term if the dragon gets 100% healthy , then thats awesome and you potentially saved its life.
Long term, when people continue to buy animals from stores like that all you are doing is supporting that store and giving them money to buy more animals they probably wont take care of.
Its an ongoing problem in a lot of stores that shouldnt sell live animals.
