Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the best way to set up a basking area and uvb light for this size habitat? Wattage, length of uvb bulb, what about the powersun bulb with uvb and heat. Thanks.

well do you know how tall the tank is? that could play into its set up. if you just have the lights on top of the tank's lid and the tank is 18 inches high then you would need to have a higher basking spot. i think the lizards have to be at least 12 inches within the UVB light for it to be really effective. i just have UVB strip lamps and then have flood lights from the home depot for their basking bulbs. i think that they are 100 watt. the biggest thing is to play around and see what gets the optimal temps. sorry i could not have a more definitive answer
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

I hadn't even thought about the height of the tank. Thanks. I will have to play around with sculpting some terraces out of styrofoam and paste. I just wouldn't trust a lot of heavy rocks.

yeah i think my story about milly scared everyone with the whole rocks thing. however she did not burrow under one of her basking rocks, it was an outlying rock. just extra decoration to walk on and file their nails.
ideally i would love to find a 9-12 inch rock so i could plant it all the way to the bottom and still have 6-9 inches of it above the sand. however, it would be really heavy and i don't know of any areas to get a rock like that and be able to bring my car along. a mile hike on a trail with a heavy rock would not be much fun! and then again i would need like 3 of them for all of my lizards
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

I got some nice flat rocks at a rock shop where they sell gravel and rock for walls and footpaths. they were about 12 cents per pound. Some of the rocks are broken at the edges leaving a ledge of about 2" to 3".Mizzy seems to like these. she can dig the sand away fromthe ledge and the rock will not fall. She really likes tight places for sleeping. She has scared me a couple of times. These rocks can really get heavy though if they are piled too high. I could see the glass floor breaking under the weight.

most lizards are funny that way, they just want a place where they can wedge themselves in and sleep in the most bizarre way. but i guess humans tend to do the same thing. i remember when i was little, i could not sleep if my feet were not covered for fear that something would grab my toes and pull me away while i slept. i think that there are some rock places around here that i could go check out. i need to rearrange the lizard area before i get all these heavy things.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

I'll second that. I don't know how many times I've seen my lizards sleeping and wonder how they wedged into such a small area. Last night, my little male decided to dig under a rock right next to the glass. He then backfilled the hole to seal himself in (I'm guessing to keep in the heat). It was definitely intentional, as the sand sloped down from there and couldn't have caved in.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the weight of the rocks crushing the glass. As long as the base is properly supported, glass is very strong. Think about ceramic floor tiles... very brittle until you set them into the floor. It would be more likely that a stand would collapse under the weight than the glass break.

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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle (Goliath)
1.0.0 Brown Anole (Anubis)
1.0.1 Green Anoles (Baal, Hathor)
1.1.0 Great Basin Collared Lizards (Amon, Amaunette)
0.1.0 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (Spiega)
0.1.0 Spoiled Mutt (Storm)

ha ha, my guys "close the door" on their caves by pushing up the sand, or in helga's (my uro) case she pushes the paper towels up to close the door. they really are inventive little beings.
oh yeah, don't let your little guys dig under the rocks. they could shift and something bad could happen.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Oh, don't worry.... I am well aware of the dangers rocks pose!

The stack of rocks in my tank all interlock so they can't move, and the base rock is sitting on top of bricks that rest on the bottom of the tank. No movement allowed!

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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle (Goliath)
1.0.0 Brown Anole (Anubis)
1.0.1 Green Anoles (Baal, Hathor)
1.1.0 Great Basin Collared Lizards (Amon, Amaunette)
0.1.0 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (Spiega)
0.1.0 Spoiled Mutt (Storm)

As far as the weight of your rock breaking the glass bottom, it would only do that if you leaned down on it, or tried to pick the tank up with it in there.

But while its resting and stable, its pretty amazing how much weight they support.

When I use rocks I usually use large heavy rocks and lean one onto another flat one. And I use stacks of slate on bricks for basking, which is super heavy.

But the heaviest thing I have in a bearded dragon tank is a long rectangular cinder block, and it supports it.

I use patio cinder blocks split in half in the collareds tanks also. Well I guess you see my point. LOL the glass will support as long as their is no added pressure pushing down on the rock. And NEVER try and pick up the tank before taking rocks out,
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Eve / PHEve