Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking to get some feedback as to what bulb do you actually get the best results from as far as truly bringing out the colors in beardies. Right now i'm using the 100 and 160 watt powersuns and it doesn't seem like my beardies color up much...

Could you post a picture of your setup? Or, maybe some more information on it?

I would suggest a couple things...although I will say the setup doesn't look bad at all as long as you have the proper temps.

Keeping the enclosures warm and bright is what really makes them look good. Some dragons will be stressed(dark) more often than others no matter what you do. Make sure your basking spot is 110-115 and the cool end is down to the high 70's or 80. I'm not sure on that cage if there are two bulbs going, or what type they are, but here is what I would try.

Switch to a fluorescent bulb that runs a good portion of the cage. You can use a double fixture if you want as well. One reptisun 10.0 and one normal bulb. Then you could mount a metal box(electrical box that would get attached to a stud) on the side of the 1 x 2 or whatever that is going from front to back on the top of the cage. Mount a ceramic incandescant light fixture to the metal box. Use a 45watt or appropriate halogen spot to get the proper basking temp. You can do this by raising or lowering the basking platform heights, or by raising or lower the actual light fixture, or by changing the wattage bulb, or by using a dimmer on the incandescant fixture. I would then cover the top of the enclosure with something white(piece of melamine) and the two sides. You could leave an opening on the top for ventilation with screen, or on one of the sides.

If I remember you said a 100 watt and 160 watt bulb....are they both on the same cage? If so that is a lot of watts for a dragon cage. For a 4ft cage I can use either a single 2ft reptisun bulb, or double, and a 35 or 45 watt halogen spot and get great temps and good light inside a white melamine enclosure. Maybe you could eliminate one of those basking lights and just put in there a fluorescent light to brighten it up.

Also, they dragons could be stressing each other out, but I would think if you brighten that cage up some they will color up.

Just some suggestions and something to think about.

Chris

From the pictures, I can see several areas where those cages can be improved. You have all the light in one third or less of the cage, while the rest of the cage is unlight and doesn't look like its used much if at all by the dragons.

The basking spots are narrow and not really suitable for adult dragons. The dragons don't look like they are full grown yet either. Also the screen top allows alot of the heat to escape.

The Powersun UVB bulbs should not be mounted too close to the basking spot, they are designed to be about 18" or higher above the basking spot to avoid too high intensity of UVB (ie the UV:Index. If this is too high it can cause damage to skin etc. This is different from the amount of UVB exposure). It will also be better to have a light fixture running the full length of the cage, I use 4' long double fixtures, one bulb is a UVB bulb, either a 8.0 or 10.0 and a normal full spectrum bulb, which lights up the entire cage. I fixed a standard ceiling ceramic fixture to mount a outdoor style flood bulb to serve as a heat source. This keeps my cage warm and provides a basking temp anywhere between 95-120F depending on what part of the basking spot the dragon is in.

A wide flat angled basking area is best, to provide plenty of temperature zones under the basking light. Large drift wood, bricks, flat stones etc. are excellent choices to ensure plenty of surface area for the dragon to choose from to bask.

In one of your cages I did notice paving stones used as a basking area. THis is a good idea but I would add more so you have an almost stepped pyramid shape which covers the entire width of the cage under the basking spot. The exotic wood used is just too narrow and steep to really be effective.

My dragon's cage is 5'x2'x2' with a 4' double florescent fixture and my dragon uses the entire cage. Currently the resin stumps I have in my dragon tank I am not happy with and intend to replace them with better basking areas as soon as I can. In my old cage, with my first dragon I had a large piece of driftwood which was perfect. You can see it in the picture below.

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PHLdyPayne

Thanks, but i've always been taught to have one end of the cage cooler for them to be able to cool down but i would still like it if it was lit up, i'm currently using powersuns,100 and 160 watt with a 100 watt basking bulb and my temps are 95-100 and 70s-80 on the cool end.

Yes, definitely you do need a cool end..but with a screen top all along the top, half your heat is escaping. With a mostly or completely solid top you can achieve the basking temps and ambient temps you need with far less wattage. Also, 100F as your maximum basking temperature is a little low. The basking temp should be higher, around 115F. By using a wide slightly angled basking area, you make available a greater range of basking temperatures for your dragon to choose from. The very top of the basking area should be at last 115F surface temp, which allows for the lower slopes to range between 95-115F, giving your dragon a choice of what temperatures to bask in.

Needing a total of 260 watts just to get a basking temperature of 100F is a real waste. I can easily reach the 100-115F range with a 100watt flood bulb even winter. Ambient temps should remain around 85-90F (this is air temp.) in the warm half of the tank. The cool end should be around 75-80F air temp. At night its fine for the entire tank to drop around 70F or even as low as 65F (if it consistently stays below 65F, then supplemental night time heat should be used, in the form of either under tank heaters, ceramic heat emitters or other non visible light producing heat sources.

By covering the top with something solid, such as wood, you have something to mount light fixtures to and can proper light up the entire cage. Florescent light fixtures don't produce much heat due to being low wattage, but they produce alot of light. Thus they are best to use to light up an entire cage.

I find the UVB mercury vapor bulbs tend to push UVB in a cone shape, which doesn't cover the entire length of the cage. However a tube form of UVB bulb provides UVB throughout most if not all the cage, ensuring your dragon is nearly always exposed to the rays, instead of only when basking. Also, well lighted and heated cages (with low end still being cooler than the warm end) allows dragons to use the entire size of the cage, instead of being forced to bask constantly to ensure they are at the body temperatures they need.

In the picture I included in my earlier response, my dragon would bask all over that driftwood, from the highest section to the middle flat area and even lower down. She would even go underneath it when temps were higher than usual due to an increase in room temperature (such as in the summer). She also used the cooler end, and though I only have a few large rocks in the picture, I moved those out in favor of a couple slate tiles. As she would be active alot during the day, running around the entire cage, the tiles helped keep her nails worn.
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PHLdyPayne

I'm using a 160 watt powersun and 100 watt basking bulb on the one big cage, 100 watt powersun and 100 watt basking bulb on the smaller top cage and a 100 watt powersun for the smaller cage.