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Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
just wanted to say hello. I'm getting my enclosure set up for my first Bearded Dragon, and have used this forum for some research. Basically the info on the enclosure:

35 gallon, wood built
75watt zoo med basking bulb
10.0 UVB T8 bulb
Homemade platform/cave





Temp wise... Hot side stays between 95 and 103. Cool side is 83 to 85. Night time temp is 75 to 77. I had to make a small 2" vent on cold side to drop the temp down a bit as it was 85 to 90 before adding the vent. Also still checking the humidity, I couldn't get t below 50% so I made the mentioned vent on the cold side to help circulate the air a little better. I'll check again tomorrow as the new vented set up has only been on for a couple hours.

Here's my current concern. A small area on the basking platform directly under the basking lamp gets heated up 130 degrees. The are is small... About an inch and temp goes down from there, is that something I should be worried about? Should I get a smaller basking bulb?

Thanks for looking,
Rafal
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Hi and welcome!! Congrats on getting a future beardie!! I can't wait to see it.

Can you give us the dimensions of the enclosure? Just looking at the pictures, to me personally it looks great for a baby beardie but for a full grown adult beardie it might be a bit small. They need room to turn around and a 2 foot beardie might not be able to turn around that easy.

As far as the hot spot, again my personal opinion is to change that. As beardies can not feel the burn. I know it's only an inch but that could mean a burn on its tail or foot, especially if it's an adult full grown beardie as they wouldn't have the room to hide from the hot spot.

One thing I've done for humidity was to get a small computer size fan and turn it around on the outside of the enclosure to suck out the air on the vent hole. I went from the 50's down to 26 in one day. Holding steady in the 20's.
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
Thanks for the reply. The enclosure is 27" long by 17" wide and 21" tall. I understand it will only work while the beardie is young, and will have to move to another. It cost me nothing to make hence the sizes because of the materials I had laying around.

I'll swap out that bulb for 50 watt and see what happens.

Thanks for the fan idea... Never would have thought about it.

Rafal
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Thanks for the reply. The enclosure is 27" long by 17" wide and 21" tall. I understand it will only work while the beardie is young, and will have to move to another. It cost me nothing to make hence the sizes because of the materials I had laying around.

I'll swap out that bulb for 50 watt and see what happens.

Thanks for the fan idea... Never would have thought about it.

Rafal


You are welcome!!! I wasn't sure if you were getting a baby or an adult. That's the only reason I brought up the size issue. I'm glad you understand about the size. Other than that the enclosure is amazing. Kinda jealous, I would have loved something like that for my baby! Lol

Yea see how the temps go with the 50 watt and let me know!

The other thing - did you make the stuff inside the enclosure as well??? In the 2nd picture there one on the left is amazing! I love it and want one! It's kind of hard to see the other one.

Yea I got the smallest fan art Walmart and it works great!

f79a67fc9529e7e5e8194f1142402fc7.jpg
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
Thanks for compliment. Yes I made the cave and platform. Followed some online directions. Used foam and then covered with tinted grout. Had some clay colored spray paint to add color to everything on top of the grout, then did 2 coats of tile sealant, and 2 coats of clear... They sat outside for 6 days plus a couple days in the house so I don't see why they wouldn't be safe to use anymore.





The water dish I made is too big so I'm using it, maybe in a larger enclosure... But I'm thinking I'm going to wire a dimmer for the basking lamp instead of going back and forth to the store for lamps, plus in a few months when I need to make a bigger enclosure, I can still use the 75 watt bulb

Rafal
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
I think those are amazing and are perfect to use! I would use them!! I agree with you on the dimmer switch and being able to use the 75 watt bulb later on. All great ideas!! Sounds like you've got things under control and know what you are doing!!

The only thing I would recommend is to not put a water dish in the enclosure. Beardies do not recognize standing water. In the wild they drink dew off the leaves. What I do when I spray my beardie's is I also have a small dish I put some of the water in that and I have a dropper and I drip water onto their lips. My baby sucks it down but my older one is stubborn and doesn't suck on it much. But his urates are good so I know he's getting water.

Having a water dish in the enclosure will bring up the humidity as well.

Thank you for explaining how you made those. I would love to try something like that one day. If I ever get to that point and I have questions could I ask you for help??
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
Sure feel free to ask, it my first time making something like this but was relatively easy... Just time consuming, I'll take the dish out and see what happens then
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Sure feel free to ask, it my first time making something like this but was relatively easy... Just time consuming, I'll take the dish out and see what happens then


Awesome thank you! I'm not creative or crafty at all.

You can get one of those droppers at any pharmacy or baby department.

As far as food have you thought about that? If you are getting a baby I would go with the collard, mustard, turnip or dandelion greens. My baby doesn't eat them yet and that's okay. My 17 week old boy, Wally eats greens. He loves mustard greens the best. But will eat them all.

I personally do the dubia roaches and BSFL's / calci worms/Phoenix worms as they are the best and do not need to be dusted, the worms don't need to be dusted.

When will you get your new baby? I'm getting excited for you! You are going to be so happy. They bring so much joy and love into your life.
 

Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
Wow, this is a beautifully crafted enclosure! Absolutely stunning! With a few minor tweaks that mxw0rld brought to light, it will be beyond perfect. I wish you lived near me, I wouldn't hesitate to pay you for a custom build. You're future dragon will be lucky to have you :)
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Wow, this is a beautifully crafted enclosure! Absolutely stunning! With a few minor tweaks that mxw0rld brought to light, it will be beyond perfect. I wish you lived near me, I wouldn't hesitate to pay you for a custom build. You're future dragon will be lucky to have you :)


I agree totally!!! I would LOVE to have one of those for my baby beardie!!
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Looking really good! Glad to hear that you've found info that you needed!!
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
Thanks everyone, I'll be getting the beardie once this enclosure business gets sorted out. I saw someone on another forum place a fan backwards to draw air out of the tank to help keep humidity lower, so in planning on putting a computer fan( the one that goes inside the computer case) on the back behind the small vent I have.

Food wise, yes I researched what veggies to feed, was also recommended this zoo med gourmet mix for bearded from the reptile shop near my house, but that's just supposed to be an add on and not a meal. For worms I was thinking Phoenix, and the beardies from the shop do eat crickets so I might get some of those as well... They do carry all sizes at the shop.


I also got a hammock today... How well do beardies climb? I might have to rearrange my log or cut it down a bit and have him be able to climb from the floor to the hammock on the log... If I place it a few inches away from the log as it sits I'm not sure he will be able to get up there.

Rafal
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Thanks everyone, I'll be getting the beardie once this enclosure business gets sorted out. I saw someone on another forum place a fan backwards to draw air out of the tank to help keep humidity lower, so in planning on putting a computer fan( the one that goes inside the computer case) on the back behind the small vent I have.

Food wise, yes I researched what veggies to feed, was also recommended this zoo med gourmet mix for bearded from the reptile shop near my house, but that's just supposed to be an add on and not a meal. For worms I was thinking Phoenix, and the beardies from the shop do eat crickets so I might get some of those as well... They do carry all sizes at the shop.


I also got a hammock today... How well do beardies climb? I might have to rearrange my log or cut it down a bit and have him be able to climb from the floor to the hammock on the log... If I place it a few inches away from the log as it sits I'm not sure he will be able to get up there.

Rafal
you really don't need the zoo med gourmet mix as long as you offer a good variety of greens and veggies along with bug protein you will be good. soo many different options for protein my staple foods are dubia roaches and superworms, they get treats of phoenix worms, butterworms and waxworms..I love the dubia's as they can be gut loaded better and longer and if you do a colony once they are producing you don't have to buy them again :)

They do climb pretty good as babies, but you don't want things too high as they can be pretty clumsy and or think they can jump and fall and hurt themselves.. Once adult you want to make sure they can't fall from very high as they can and do fall hurting themselves.
 

Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
I totally avoid store bought food, since it's usually been dehydrated and won't have all of the nutrients of fresh food, despite what the packaging may claim. There is nothing better than good feeders and fresh, crisp greens! You may want to consider your own roach colony like Hdrydr31 stated. Roaches are superb feeder insects, and buying feeders gets expensive really quick. Crickets aren't bad, but buying them at the ship will get pricey. And when you keep them for a few days, they start to smell. I never thought an insect could smell, but it's very unpleasant. I've washed my hands of crickets and use dubia roaches (smell free :) ), phoenix worms, and I'm considering trying hornworms for hydration. Also doing some research to see if I can produce them myself!

As for climbing, my little guy is a fantastic climber. As they get bigger, you do have to be careful with what you allow them to climb on. Once my guy puts on some more size, his tree will be removed, and I'll run some more hammocks, and larger simplistic items to climb on to reduce the chances of him slipping and hurting himself.

Keep asking questions and bouncing ideas off of us. You can never have too much information! You're doing great :)
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61


So that's what the set up looks like now. I wired a dimmer for the basking lamp. I get 96 to 100 on the hot side and 85 on the cold side. Humidity is good now. Partially I think because the enclosure has been indoors and the wood has released some moisture. It stays at 23 to 26% with the basking lamp on. At night it does go up to as high as 50%, which I hope is ok. The lights are set to run for 13 hours.

Hammock I made and installed about 6" under the UVB lamp.

Fan is wired and installed to draw air out the back of the enclosure. I am not using it because it's pretty loud. I don't want the the little guy to be terrified of the noise from the back of the enclosure. But I might have to find a quieter one if the humidity at night is not ok where it's at.





Thanks for the help and hopefully I'll be picking up a beardie in the next couple days... Just have to order some worms and roaches.

Rafal
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
So a couple of things I would fix are the basking spot - the hammock needs to be 12 inches from the light. 6 inches is WAY to close! And if you are getting a baby the basking spot needs to get up to 107F

I've always been told that for a baby - to have minimal things in the enclosure so that way they can see everything everywhere every spot and not be scared to move around thinking another beardie is hiding waiting to attack them.

Definitely get a quiet fan as 50% humidity is HIGH and high humidity over periods of time can cause respiratory infection.

Also do you have the calcium and vitamin powders?
 

Rafal

Hatchling Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
61
Thanks for replies, I looked for a bit and found 6 to 8 inches is ideal for the UVB even though it's. 10.0 UVB bulb... And the fan itself is loud I even put a rubber gasket between the fan and the enclosure to help reduce any vibration sound... Last night it stayed 40% humidity all night.

I have purchased zoo med products as cricket feed and calcium powder for the crickets. I ordered pheonix worms so those should arrive in the next feed days, but until that happens he will be eating veggies and crickets

Rafal
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Your doing just fine monitor the heat at the basking spot. Both of mine are about 6-8" away and it really comes down to where your little one spends their time and how they are reacting to it.. If they are hiding from the basking it may be too hot if it seems like they want to get as close as possible then move it closer..Give your little one places to hide until he/she gets used to their new home..
It is very normal for the humidity levels to go up night as long as they are not a steady high for extended period of time...Keep an eye on it and increase your circulation if it doesn't lower, dehumidifiers can be found that are small PatsyB one of the admin's here has one that has worked really well in her reptile room.
Great job!
 
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