Enclosure not warm enough?

[TRSickler]

Hello, first time poster as I don't usually like to bother people,

I got my bearded dragon a little over a month ago. He only eats about once every other day. I've tried most live foods; crickets, calci-worms(black soldier fly larvae), and wax worms, He'll usually snack on a wax worm if I hold it up to him, tends to ignore the calci-worms after the first time I fed them, and only eats crickets one time a day every other day. I've read that low heat can affect appetite and that the warm side of the tank should sit around 95 to 105. Mine can only reach high 80s.

I bought the Exo-Terra 48"x18"x18" enclosure, I figured that would be large enough for the time being and I can build him a plywood tank at a later date.

As for lighting I have a Reptisun t8 30" hood with a 10.0 UVB 24" tube lamp. His basking lamp is a Exo-Terra Solar Glo 160w mercury vapor bulb and sits around 15" from his basking spot. And recently I bought a Zoo-Med thermostat hooked up to a 75w ceramic heat emitter, which I just swapped to a 150w CHE to see if I can raise the temps because the 75w could only get the hot side to about 89.

It's incredibly frustrating not seeing him eat especially since I've heard that they need to eat a LOT during their baby/juvenile stage. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[TRSickler]

I would ditch the solar glo light ----- they are too hard for new people to deal w/ --- it is easier to use a separate bright white basking bulb -- this is why he is not eating -- his temp for basking are not high enough and he cannot digest his food- I think your T 8 is good but it needs to be inside the tank being it is not strong enough to get thru the screen --- this could be another reason -- I would replace the basking light ASAP--- make sure your temps are being taken w/ either a digital probe thermom or a infrared heat gun - I would recommend both - the heat gun can be purchased from Home Depot or Lowes for around $10-12 and the digital probe from Pet Smart or Petco for $5--- the heat emitter is for winter months and will not get temps high enough in the tank for basking --- I have a 100 watt on my two tanks and only use them during the winter - it keeps my tanks around 70 at nite ---- get your temps in order and you will see a difference in his eating- if he is a baby you want the temps around 105-110 --- if you can set up a gradient for basking temps on his basking area that would be good as he can pick an area as to where he wants to sit -- he should be eating as many crickets or dubia roaches in a 10-15 min time span dusted w/ calcium D3 5 x per week and vitamins 2 x per week -- i would feed vegies first in the morning w/ a few small super worms or BSFL thrown on top to get him to food bowl then crickets or dubias about an hr or 2 later --- he will learn to eat vegies and you wont have an issue w/ him later down the road --- here is a website for nutrition
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

If you have any more questions please ask

Is there any reason that the mercury vapor bulbs are hard to use? I have another bulb on standby and can easily switch. Also what would you use to mount or hang the T8 fixture inside the enclosure?

 

[Matthew McCarter]

Is there any reason that the mercury vapor bulbs are hard to use? I have another bulb on standby and can easily switch. Also what would you use to mount or hang the T8 fixture inside the enclosure?

I just used a couple of old metal coat hangers, bent them into needed shape easy peasy