Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby beardie isn't eating well and i believe it is because of his heat lamp. What light bulbs are you using and have found the best?
-----
*~*Erin*~*
0.1 Jazmin -leopard gecko- April 17, 2004
1.0 Blaze -bearded dragon- March 20, 2004
My Web Page! Check it out!

We use regular house bulbs that are 40w, 60w, or 100w depending on the size and type of enclosure for the dragons.

Hatchilngs need bright light and high heat to properly stimulate their eating response. They also need in my opinion small cages to do well.

Make sure they have a proper basking spot of around 105 to 115 degrees in a very small area only. The ambient temps should be in the mid to high 80's and a cool zone in the low 80's or so.

Make sure it's bright in your cage too and there are also things such as UVB, supplements, and so on that are good for your dragon. Do a search here and you will get lots of opinions/advice on what to do.

brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature

I use the halogen indoor/outdoor floodlights by GE. I have found personally that I get better concentrated heat and they use a fraction of the wattage I needed with a regular bulb. My tanks have a lot of air circulation, so I had to use 250 watts with a household bulb to get the right temps, and I only need 60-75 watts with the floodlight. That kind of thing will vary depending on the enclosure, I think.

Really, any heat bulb is fine as long as it's creating the proper temps. Maybe you shouldn't be blaming the bulb, but looking at the temp guages. If you are using a strip thermometer or guage that sticks to the glass, like what you find at pet stores, those can be off by up to 20 degrees. A digital thermometer or temp gun is far more accurate, and allows you to measure the temp at the basking spot and cool spots, rather than only at the side of the cage.

And of course like Brandon said, make sure all your other husbandry techniques are in check as well... UVB, supplements, hydration, etc.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

depending on the size cage, you may want a spot instead of a flood. I find that spots create a hot basking spot without heating the rest of the cage as much giving me a good gradient.
-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

_____

Signature edited for TOS violation.

Edited on August 23, 2004 at 00:08:10 by phwyvern.

for our cages that are enclosed we use 25w spot bulbs.. just like you said it creates a nice basking spot under the bulb and the ambient cage temps remain lover with the gradient.

For the babies we use regular bulbs bc they are all open topped containers so therefore most of the heat evaporates okay.. but spots def are a great bulb.

brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature

I haven't had any problem reaching a good gradient with the flood, but like I said my cages have a lot of airflow due to screen lids. I think the heat disipates before it spreads through the whole enclosure. I even use a secondary light (plain old 60 watt housebulb) on the "cool" end of my big enclosure to keep it at 85 degrees, otherwise it goes down to the room temp in my living room which is 78.

When I build custom enclosures for my dragons (someday, someday) I'll definately keep the spotlight in mind, as I don't plan on having screen lids.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)