Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone can help me? I am goin to start putting together my enclosure for a BD. I know BDs need 12 hours of night and day but if I am using a all in one bulb such as ReptiSun, how do I have it controlled with a thermostat to completely shut off at nite? I am going to run the bulb as the only source of heat and uvb and it is going to be controlled by a herpstat. If anyone has any suggestions let me know thanks.

Hi i'm afraid the only bulb that produces uvb and heat in one are the mercury vapour bulb. The reptisun only produces uvb no heat. So if you only want to run 1 bulb go for the mercury vapour bulb.

I use Helix proportional thermostats. They dim the bulbs as the temps. reach the set temp. I'm not sure if the one you mentioned does the same thing. Some thermostats are just on/off.

Neither Mercury Vapor nor fluorescent bulbs can be dimmed. You wouldn't want to anyway. If you did, as the temp. in the enclosure increased the enclosure would get darker. I use Reptisun 10.0's and then use regular bulbs controlled by my thermostats. That way even if the room gets real hot the enclosures are still illuminated by the UVB's.

Ok that makes sense. So how do you control the light? Do you just turn off the light when it is time to turn it off or do you have it controlled by something? So your saying I am going to need to two lights? One for heat and one for light and uvb?

Yes, you'll need 2 lights. I have my thermostats plugged into timers. This time of year they are on 14 and off 10.

Ok...I have a SolarGlo from exoterra that I purchased before when I had a iguana. What else would I need considering that bulb provides everthing? Could I just use any light to provide light for 10 or 12 hours?

I don't understand your question. Light should be provided about 14 hours this time of year.

I would not use a thermostat with a mercury vapor bulb regardless of whether it is a proportional (which won't work anyway) or on/off. On/off thermostats are designed for use with heat tape or mats not bulbs. Keep in mind Mercury Vapor Bulbs should be replaced every year since the UVB produced diminishes over time.

I googled Herpstat and it seems to be a proportional thermostat made by Spyder Robotics. Right?

It can't be used with a Mercury Vapor Bulb. Murcury Vapor bulbs have ballasts like fluorescent fixtures and must have 120 volts all the time to work. A proportional thermostat will only work with incandescent bulbs.

You can't control both light and heat at the same time with a thermostat. Bearded dragons need a bright light all day (12-14 hours a day) and a UVB producing bulb. You can buy a mercury vapour bulb that produces both bright light, UVB and heat, but you can't regulate these with a thermostat. (I think it burns out the bulb or it just doesn't affect it at all, either way, just won't work).

Best setup you can have is a heat bulb (most flood style household bulbs work) which can be set up on a theromostat to regulate heat (really, don't much need this, as wattage of the bulb can indicate peak heat, if your room temperature is consistent). Separately, have a UVB tube.

Without any thermometer, just have both lights plugged into a standard household interior timer. This will turn your lights on and off at set times during the day (say 7am in the morning then 9pm at night).

As you need a basking spot ranging between 100-120F, its hard to use at thermostat to determined the temperature, as you will have to set the probe right on the basking spot and if your dragon lies on it, then it throws off the temperature..and the bulb will be on full blast. Or if the dragon knocks it off the basking area, the cage could get too hot and if the cool side gets too hot too, your dragon won't be able to cool down and over heat.

Setting up a cage a few days or more before you buy a dragon is the best thing to do. You can use a thermometer or temp gun to check surface and air temperatures during the day to see how hot it gets under the basking light, and the temperature of the cool end of the cage. Night time temps can fall to whatever your room temperature is, as long as its not below 60F. Good nighttime temps range between 65-75F
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the info. I have done research but many books and webs seem to not include the thermostat or any other details regarding how to regulate both light and heat. I guess the only thing I really need is a dimmer or timer for the uvb bulb and heat bulb.

Thermostats do work but you definitely can't put the probe on the basking spot. They are a great safety net especially when you have a lot of enclosures that heat up the whole room. They just take a little experimenting and testing to set up. Every enclosure I have (24) is individually thermostatically controlled and I couldn't imagine not using them.

Would a mercury vapor bulb work as the only source for light, uvb and heat?

Not with a proportional thermostat. Personally I don't like them at all but, it really depends on your setup. I think some temp. adjustment is important to have since room temps. change from season to season and you will need to be able to adjust for that. Why are you so set on one bulb for all things?

Another downside of just using a Mercury Vapor bulb is that the enclosure will only be bright right under the bulb. The rest of the enclosure will look dark.

For the 10. uvb, do you use a hood? What other fixtures can I use. I was thinking of using the MVB on the basking side and using a 40w regular on the other side. I dont know yet I am still debating I need to do alot of tweeking before I get a BD. I have a 125w exoterra MVB and I tested it today and it only hit 91. I then tried a 150w clear household bulb and it only reached 98. I have a 40gallon and I dont know what is going to be hot enough or all my probes and temp gun are not reading right.

Thing is with glass tanks, they loose heat fast. Also, more and more modern household bulbs are being redesigned to be more energy efficient, thus they produce more light, but less heat...which is not good for the reptile keeper who needs both. I find often, the cheap dollar store bulbs tend to produce more heat but its hard to find them with a higher wattage.

For a glass tank, I suggest building a solid top with the UVB bulb attached to the underside of the lid (under cabinet lights are great for this, as they are designed to be mounted onto screws. Just remove the plastic cover and replace the bulb they come with, with a UVB bulb. (make sure you can get a UVB bulb the fits the fixture, before buying any given size fixture... most UVB tubes come in 12", 18", 24", 36", 48" sizes...

I never used hoods for UVB bulbs, so can't give an opinion of them.

for the basking site, a dome reflector works. This can be set against a opening cut into the wooden top that is just a little big bigger than teh diameter of the dome.
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PHLdyPayne

Here's a picture of an old setup I had using terrariums. I used combination hoods suspended from a shelf I made. Then clamped spot bulbs to the shelf for basking spots. I hate removing things to reach the animal.

You make a very good point!! I have balls and boas and before I moved them to a rack I remember having to remove the lights and screen tops to handle them or feed them. I guess for now the 40g will have to do considering I already bought one. Vision cages are way a little too pricey but I guess I can build one in the future. If you dont mind me asking around how much would you say building one like you have would cost? Thanks for the responses by the way.

For me, I built a 5'x2'x2' and two 5'x2'x18" cages for about $200 (CDN), this includes all the wood, paint, varnish, light fixtures, screws, hinges and screen I used.

The final cost really depends on what you use and the design you want. I didn't have any glass or plexiglass and I used whitewood 1/4" underlay type plywood. (designed to be used under your floor, between insulation and the floor surface (be it tile, linoleum etc). This I attached to 2"x2" frame. I painted the wood white and put a clear coat of varnish over the paint or just over plain wood, depending on where the wood was going to be used.

The doors are screen and attached with hinges. For the two smaller cages, I used a single door. The larger one, two doors. I screwed in all the pieces of wood together.

The fixtures I used are 4' long double florescent shoplight fixtures which have their own cord already attached. (some of these are designed to be wired directly into household power, which I didn't want)For the basking lights I used a ceramic fixture which has a max wattage rating of 245 (maybe higher, can't remember). I will never use a bulb that powerful, but its better to have a higher rated socket than one that is too low...put a high watt bulb in a low watt fixture, probably melt the fixture or short it out..thus a fire hazard.

The main reason I went with the underlay type plywood was weight. Melamine would have saved me alot of work (don't need to paint or seal Melamine) but it weighs a ton. I wanted to stack these cages...and I live alone. So I needed a light weight cage I can lift ontop of the other cages without killing myself...or having to round up somebody to help. Also, just was more convenient for me...if I decided to move them to another part of my apartment, I can do it on my own without too much trouble.

Because of my wood choice...dirt or other heavy substrates isn't possible. Probably go right through the floor of the cage. (each cage has a 6"x2" 'food' running the width of the cage. This provides 'space' between the cages so the wiring for the fixtures can be accessible and allow air flow between the cages. Thus this space lacks support for heavy contents. I could add additional boards so the floor of the cages are better supported..but the doors are not designed for a deep substrate.
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PHLdyPayne

That's a complicated question. The glass is the most expensive part. It costs me 90 for 1/4" plate for each cage. You could cheapen it by using stick on knobs rather than having a hole drilled, as I do. The bottom row I use tempered glass which is about 165. I use a Helix thermostat for each cage that is about 130. I always build multiples so I never priced what each would be. If I did I bet I'd take a lot less rescues. Ball park ~ 150ish/cage less glass and thermostat.

Its just that I already purchased one before and I dont want it to go to waste. I mean it is brand new and $50 isnt peanuts. I want to go with a regular bulb for heat and a 10. for uvb but I thought I give the MVB a try while I had it.