Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Right now I have Giblet in a 29gal tank and she 15". She definately needs a larger home and I am having trouble deciding between a 40 Breeder and a 65 gal. They both have the same footprint but the 65 gal is like 24" tall compared to 17". I know that Giblet likes to climb, but is the height an overkill. Also, the 65 gal is $120 at a local pet store, are there any places that sell aquariums cheap or used?

Two things to consider. With a 24" tank, will you be able to easily reach in to the bottom? (short persons perspective lol!).
With a 24" you can create more space by having different levels. You can do the same with the breeder, but ultimately, it's less space for climbing around.

If you have any herp shows near, you may be able to find tanks for much less.
Check pet shops, sometimes they sell cracked ones for less too. If the crack is in a place where it is not noticed it doesn't matter, you aren't holding water in it.
Check your local paper's "for sale" ads.
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TheClassyLizard

and it seems to work pretty well. The only thing I don't like is that he is not as close to the UV bulb, but you don't really have to worry about that as long as your dragon's food is dusted regularly (if it eats crix every day, dust every other feeding, if it eats every other day, dust every feeding, and if it is mostly vegitarian, dust it's greens every other day). I think I might adjust his basking spot anyways in a few monthes or something. Probably once he comes out of brumation. There should be a pic of his setup in this post (if it works), and you can see that the spot he is at in the pic is about 18"-20" from the UV tube. This still allows some benefit from the light, but not as much as when he's up near the top on his branch. He has a good basking site right now because it is setup as levels. The part where he's at in the pic is about 105 degrees and the hotest spot, and as he goes up the branch or on the cork bark it gets cooler.

Really the only thing is that with only the 3 foot tank, it's still a little harder to keep temperature gradients on the ground, because he has to go to the corner where his food bowl is at or two under his cork bark to get under 80 degrees. Of course right now it's winter and he's brumating (hes a first timer for the, only a little over 1 1/2 years old), so I added a hide made out of a shoe box on the cool side (which he hasn't touched) and cooled the tank so that the basking spot is only 95 degrees.

So it can work out well. As for the height thing, I'm 6' tall (and supposed to grow taller), and if I was any shorter it would be a stretch, but it's also sitting on top of a desk which is about 30" tall or something. I'm not sure you'll be able to find a lower price unless you really look around a lot. Mine was something like $300 with the trade in of my old tank, but that's because it's a special tank with vents and a special glass top (with a couple vents on the top, a heat lamp, and a screen section for the matching flourescent fixture). I use a 100 watt bulb only turned up half way to heat it, but I think if I had a screen top I would have to get a much more powerful bulb or a much higher basking spot.

I hope I helped a little.

Here's a pic of the top I was talking about.

I like the design, except for the small door, but with a docile beardie it's not a struggle unless he doesn't want to go inside. You might be able to fashion something like this out of acrylic, screen, and probably a wood support or two (since acrylic bends easier). I actually have plans for something like that incase mine breaks, but with a standard glass aquarium you'd probably have to mod it a little (a screen section for ventilation would have to be larger). I also have plans I made up to make one if you wanted to use standard dome lights. You would have enough space for 1 or 2 dome lights of 10" at the most, and the flourescent would be on a screen section on the door. The only downside is that you'd have to move the flourescent everytime you wanted to get in, but with a standard screen you'd have to move everything. If you're interested in some of these plans, ask and I'll draw them out and send them to you.

Here's the pic of the one that came with my tank:

It's not mine, and it's setup for a frilled dragon, but I thought I might show you it anyways because it gives you an idea of how high up you can make the basking structures if you want to. For a bearded you would probably only want one branch, and it would have to be thicker. The hammocks I hear are okay to use, but you might want to get one of those "classy lizard hammocks" or whatever they're called. I know one of the people on this message board makes them.
here it is

I really like the way that tank looks. I think that pushes me to get a 65gal. I would probably put a couple more branches as well as a hide. My beardie spends the whole day on her branches.

Ryan, just wanted to let you know that even if you supplement calcium without adequate exposure to UVB (he needs to be within about 8" maximum distance from the bulb itself) your dragon will not be able to fully utilize that calcium you feed him. Cute dragon by the way!

Stacey

or you could go with a MVB bulb, that's what I use now and it works very well.

My apologies! I didn't see it the first time I looked at the picture.

Stacey

I use a repti sun 5.0. I think this summer I'm going to make the basking spot a little higher so that I need a less powerful bulb and he can get closer to the UV easier. I was thinking about taking the branch I have in there, and setting the base of it up on some bricks (with sand over it so it's just like a hill). Then I'll probably have to cut off the upper part of it so it will fit in the tank still, but it should work out well.

I'm not really that worried though, since as long as he gets calcium w/d3, he's getting what he needs to survive. The UV light is a necessity, I'm not saying don't get one because you really have to. But as long as he normally gets within 24" of the light he's getting some UV. I saw a chart on it and the levels are greatly reduced but still there. Usually he's between 8-16" from it when he's basking.

I think I'll still work on the cage setup though. I would like to make the tank have more than just flat ground and a branch. a hill would be pretty cool.

later