Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a bearded dragon. i have a heat lamp fot it and i heard that you have to have a uv light. if this is so what type of lamp and watage do i need?

You should be more concerned about having a calcium supplement w/ d3. If you already have one and are using it regularly, you are in good shape. If you do not have one, get one and use it. Concerns about UV lighting should be secondary to obtaining and using a good calium supp. w/d3.
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Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

what is D/3?

Vitamine D3 is required in many reptiles to make use of calcium. reptiles like bearded dragons cannot break down calcium without this very important vitamin. If they do not get unfiltered sunlight, UVB rays (from either a tube like repti-glo or mergury vapour bulbs) or suppliments, bearded dragons can quickly deterorate, and if left untreated, they will die.

I suggest you do a search online for bearded dragon caresheets and read them in detail. UVB and D3 are vital for your dragons' health and should be known about before you buy a dragon. Since you are unfamiliar, I suggest you research. You can search this forum for various discussions on UVB, MBD, suppliments, D3 etc, to gain a better understanding of all the basic needs for your dragon. Once you have done your homework and still have questions, feel free to post them here.

You need a reptisun 5.0 or 8.0
Or you can get a Mercury Vapor Bulb that does both, heat and UVB, they are initially more expensive, but not in the long run.
MVB's take the place of both heat/UVB, so you don't need two fixtures.
Check out www.reptiledirect.com to see the different lights, cheaper then pet store.
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TheClassyLizard

http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/day/dragon.htm

http://www.blackninjakitty.com/herps/care/pogona.htm

http://www.geocities.com/borderviewdragons/

http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

http://www.lizardheaven.com/resource.htm

http://biology.lsa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/file/BDcare.html

http://www.australianbeardies.com/care.htm

Some of these URL's may not work. This list was kind of put together on the fly. But on the ones that do go to their "links" section and it will point you towards more care sheets. You will notice Care Sheets are a common item on most Bearded Dragon sites. I started out searching for Bearded Dragon Care on the net and a ton of stuff came up.

It may take you a while to find all the info you need but it's worth the time for the well being of your animal.

There are also a lot of great people on this forum more than willing to help you out with any questions you may have so don't hesitate to keep asking them!!!

I don't have much experience but if no one answers a question you have posted email me direct and I'll do what I can to help.
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Rob

You definitely need to provide UV to your bearded dragon. You can do this a few different ways. One is to use fluorescent uv on top of you clamp lamp. The best I have used are zoomed 5.0, exoterra 8.0 and lumichrome 1xx. Another way is to use a mercury vapor bulb such as powersun which provides UV and heat in one bulb. This bulkb only comes in 100w or 160w though, its important to make sure your terrariuk is big enough for these bulbs. The third that another person who posted pointed out that there are calcium and multivitamin supplements such as repcal that are just as important as the UV. Email me if you have nay other questions.