Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, i'd just like to run a few things by everyone.

This is a picture of my bearded dragon tank, housing 1.1 bearded dragon hatchlings. They are under 6" nose to tip of tail.

On the left handside (coldside), there is a corkbark half log for a hide. You can see a water dish behind it, which i have never seen them use. The temp on the coldside is around 72 degrees.

There is a repti-glo 8.0 over the middle of the tank.

On the right (warmside)there is the elevated basking spot, which has a 150 W tight beam basking bulb over it. I thought that would be more than enough wattage, but the temperature is at 91 degrees at its highest point. Below the basking spot, there is a hide half burried in sand. To the left of the rock, there is a UTH which is bringing the ground temp to about 110 degrees. I'd rather the ground temp over the uth was the 90 degrees, and the basking spot was the 110, but it didn't work out that way!

So... what do you all think, how are all the temps? How is the set-up in general? any suggested modifications? Thanks

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PART 2
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Okay, now for the curious behaviour and questions. The 2 dragons seem to have their own favourite spots, and seem to just chill there all day. The male likes the peak of the basking log/tree thing. The female likes to hang out around the rock all day. I have only ever seen the female use a hide once, and never for the male. The male is even sleeping on the basking spot. Doesn't this suggest my temps are wrong?

The female has been sleeping standing against the glass. She has done this 2 or three nights in a row. What's that all about???
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Well thanks for your time, hopefully you can offer me some advice! Thank you

K!LOS

first of all, you don't need the undertank heater unless the temperature gets below 60-65 degrees at night. Also, you can't keep two dragons together unless they are babies (like yours) or they are both females. You will need another setup for one of the dragons pretty soon (probably by the time they are 6 monthes old). The only time you can have a male and female together is breeding season, and that's only if you want them to breed.

So you will need another tank setup, but I'll also tell you how to improve this one. As far as the temperatures go, ditch the undertank heater, and do one of these two things. You can get a different branch, one that gets within 6" of the light would probably be about right for you. You'll also need a the branch to be wider than the one you have if you plan on using it when the bearded dragon gets older. They don't like to bask on anything that isn't at least as wide as their body. If you can't get the higher basking spot somehow, then I would suggest adding another light. You could get another 150 watt bulb, and then have it on some sort of dimmer (zoomed makes a rheostat that's relatively cheap and can handle up to 150 watts). Then you can adjust that one accordingly and keep the current one at full power.

Basically tall tanks call for tall basking spots though. I have a tank that's 25" tall (and can be seen down the page, labelled something like "sidney's new tank". But I got a tank that was designed with a glass top with the heat lamp inside the tank, and the vents on the side. This holds heat in a lot better so the temperature can go up to 115 degrees 18" below the light if needed. I have a nice basking setup with multiple levels and temperature ranges. To give you an idea of what I mean, my cork bark slab is off a little to the side of the bulb, and low, with a temperature in the mid to upper 90's. Directly on the low part of my basking branch which is directly under the light (and the cork bark is leaning on it, creating a hiding spot in the 80's-90's), the temperature is around 105 degrees. Then as he goes up the basking branch, it is off to the side of the light, and it remains in the upper 90's. You have to look at the pics to understand what I'm saying, but basically it's good to have a basking sight that has different temperature zones.

But mainly, 2 dragons together is a no no.

later

I would raise the basking spot temp to 105-115 also they may not be real active because the cage is not bright enough I notice once I increased the light in my beardie's cage he became much more active they seem to benefit from really bright light.

Sand isn't good for little dragons though. Most people use papertowles but repticarpet looks much nicer. You don't want your babies getting impacted. Once they're older you can use wheat bran which looks just like sand (almost) and is digestible.
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