Reptile & Amphibian Forums

looking for recomendations...I have an 8week old bearded dragon in a 20gal. long tank with a 75watt basking light which is actually resting on the screen top...he has a river rock to bask on(although it doesn't seem to retain too much heat)...tghe rock is between 4inch-6inch high...finally got my temp gun which registered 94f on the rock...I tried a regular household bulb today of 100watt which was registered at 92f, although the bulb was a soft white light bulb which may have cut down on heat produced...I will have to run out tomorrow to pick up something else...wondering if anyone can suggest a better wattage amount for my set up...I plan to buy more household bulbs (though not the soft white)...hate to spend the extra on basking light till I know what watt I need...anyone have similar set up that can recommend correct watt??
thanks in advance

We used a 20 gallon for the first few months we had our male--until he grew out of it (around 5-6 months old) then we moved him to a 75 gallon.

We used a 75watt basking bulb. Because your temps are a little low you have 2 options...a bigger bulb OR to raise the height of his basking area. I think that raising the height--by placing something under the current rock or by getting a new rock would be the easiest thing to do. A higher wattage bulb will increast the temperature in the whole tank...

To raise the current rock you could place a board (I'd cover it in shelflinner first) under the rock...it is amazing how just an inch of height can raise the temperature.

We chose to use a basking branch--but we had to fill in all of the little holes so crickets couldn't hide inside... The branch gave our guy lots of options heat wise.

Good luck with your little guy--sounds like he found a good home.

DM

thanks...think I'll try the board...I've been worried, although he seems healthy and eats welll...thought maybe he'd be eating even more if the temp was right...

if just a 1" board doesn't get the basking spot in the 100's, I would make one level of a retes stack and set the rock on top of that...it will give you the extra height, and it will give your beardie an extra place to hide.

To make a retes stack, just take a piece of 1/4" plywood (or basically just any flat would you have around...thinner is usually better though...just make sure it can support the weight of the rock). Attach strips of 2x2 or 1x2 (so that it's 2" high) on the plywood. Here's a pic of my fat uro enjoying a stack made out of two of these. You might even want to just eliminate the rock and use a full stack.

Also, with my uro, I have the retes stack setup so the top is about 5-6" from the heat lamp, and I use a 50 watt halogen bulb. This gets her surface temps up to around 140 degrees in the center of the basking spot. Reptile-specific bulbs are usually horribly inneficient and way over priced. Plus, they tend to stop working much much faster.

I'll think about that...I bought a spot light at the hardware store today, it's too hot so we've now tried moving it away a few inches and will re-check shortly...I also bought tile, so possibly with the old lightbulb the height adjustment will work...

Try a 125 watt infrared heat bulb. Use a dome clamp so you can get the best angle for the proper heat. Also black slate can retain heat very well. Don't depend on cheap thermometers to measure.

I just purchased a temp gun so that's how I now know the temp is too low...I'm also buying tile today to replace paper towels so that may help...thanks for the suggestions...I'll get it right somehow...