goldenboy2421
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 1
Hi all, im hoping some one can give me some insight about a dilemma I'm having. Put simply, i don't know what material to use for my basking surface for my bearded dragon. The reason i ask is because im getting confused about basking materials and the differences in how hot they get and how much light power they are going to need to reach my target basking surface temp, meaning the amount of light im giving from up top is going to depend on the basking material i use. For example, lets say:
Terrarium 1: I have a dark piece of stone for my basking light that only requires 30% of basking light power to reach 100 F since the material gets hotter faster and retains the heat for longer.
Terrarium 2: I have a piece of log/branch for the basking surface and to get that to 100F i need to crank up the basking light to 90% because the material doesn't absorb heat as well as the rock in terrarium 1 and so it requires more power to heat up
In both of these situations i have reached my target basking surface temp of 100F, but the ambient temps for both terrariums are going to be different and the amount of light coming from above is going to be different also.
To wrap it all up, I guess i'm worried about the amount of light that my bearded dragon should be getting from up top, because if i use a material that gets hotter easier, like a dark resin platform, that means he wont be getting as much light from above than if i went with something like a branch which would require significantly more heat from above to reach my target temp. Does this make sense? How important is the heat he is getting from above? is there a preference in the reptile community as to the type of basking material to use?
Terrarium 1: I have a dark piece of stone for my basking light that only requires 30% of basking light power to reach 100 F since the material gets hotter faster and retains the heat for longer.
Terrarium 2: I have a piece of log/branch for the basking surface and to get that to 100F i need to crank up the basking light to 90% because the material doesn't absorb heat as well as the rock in terrarium 1 and so it requires more power to heat up
In both of these situations i have reached my target basking surface temp of 100F, but the ambient temps for both terrariums are going to be different and the amount of light coming from above is going to be different also.
To wrap it all up, I guess i'm worried about the amount of light that my bearded dragon should be getting from up top, because if i use a material that gets hotter easier, like a dark resin platform, that means he wont be getting as much light from above than if i went with something like a branch which would require significantly more heat from above to reach my target temp. Does this make sense? How important is the heat he is getting from above? is there a preference in the reptile community as to the type of basking material to use?
