It is a little warm in the house today so in turn it is hotter in the tank. Slyder opens his mouth but as soon as I turn off his basking light he closes it. once the temp drops in his tank I turn it back on. I have done this a couple of times today. Is this ok to do? Oh and I am not turning off his UVB light just his basking.
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is it ok to turn off his basking light
- Thread starter staylor
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- 227
Opening their mouth and regulating is a good thing. Your cool side should be around 80 degrees so if they get hot they can move. What do you do your temps with. As long as his temps not hugely different he should be OK.
they are not good thermometers, they are the stick on ones. My husband bought them for me trying to be helpful. I am going to upgrade them soon but first I wanted to get him his UVB light. It says the temps are 80 on the cool side and 103 on the hot side. I got my beardie as a gift from my husband and he thought he was buying a complete set up for me but it was far from it. But I love him for the thought he put into getting me Slyder.
staylor said:
UVB is very important, but accurate temps are more so. They can go without UVB for a small amount of time, but inaccurate temps affects their digestion and everything else. As far as priorities in the short term, temps should be #1, followed by UVB.
Are you in the states? If so, most PetSmart and PetCo stores have the probe thermometers for about $7. You could just buy one, if things are tight, and move it from the basking spot to the cool side to get both temps.
If you do that, give the thermometer a good 45 minutes to get the correct temp. The stick-on ones can be off by up to 20 degrees, so it's crucial to get a better thermometer as soon as possible.
It's also very hard to give you advice on whether or not you should be turning off the basking light when you may not have accurate temps. ???
See that is what I get for asking my husband to check when he was at the store. He made it seem like they were a lot. I think he was looking at the one that you plug your lights into and it turns them on and off depending on the temp and day timer. I am in the states and will go to Petco tomorrow myself and get a probe for him. Where in his tank should I put it to get the temp? I wanted to get him his light now because he has never had one and he is a good pooper. I read they could be off by up to 20 degrees so it has had me worried. So much work to get him set up right and annoyed that he has been missing so much stuff for so long. At least now he will get the right care, it has taken a week but we are so close to being there. Thank you for your help and hanging in there with me as I learn. All the research was helpful but not as much as here.
staylor said:
My husband is equally helpful when I send him in for something specific
As far as where to put it, there's a probe at one end and a cord that is attached to a small digital read out. You place the probe end where you want to get a temp, and wait about 45 minutes. So, do it on the basking site first (wherever he usually basks or at the top point of his basking spot) and then move it to the cool side and get the temp there. If that doesn't make sense, there's a photo on my site (it's not finished yet) of Sal, and you can see the digital read out below him, and the black cord which was positioned at the top of his basking log. The site is here: http://10over6.com/beardies.html. I probably have other pics, too, if you need to see one. This is the one we had: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752177- Messages
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What's the wattage on the bulb ? I tend to change out my higher watts to a lower one during warm weather..
Janie
Janie
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staylor said:
Yes perfectly fine
. They can survive days, even weeks with temps as low as 12oC, but will die within half an hour of 60oC. I run all my light on a cycle/timer where the go off for 4 hours at the hottest part of the day.- Messages
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Red Ink AUS said:staylor said:
Yes perfectly fine
Can you tell me what 60C is in US temps? I don't have AC so I want to make sure I am aware of this.
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140-150o
Madisyn-Alexis said:
Have to love them anyway
Madisyn-Alexis said:
This makes perfect sense...It is what I thought just wanted to make sure.
Right now it is a 50 watt. He is in a 10 gallon right now until he gets a little bigger and stronger, he is still tiny and unhealthyzebraflavencs said:
He has room to run and has a hard time catching his food as it is, so a larger tank for him right now would not be good, he will not eat if I put him in with his crickets, he will only eat them in his tank. He will have his big boy house sooner than later. We were going to get it for him right away but then we saw how small he was and how hard it is for him to catch his food in the small space he has and decided to wait a month or so. Once he is bigger what watt should I get him. I keep my house about 73-74F year round?- Messages
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The watts I use bring the temps up to around 103-112 depending on given enclosures. I built 3 of the 4 for MVBs with secondary house hold flood lights for extra heat for basking.
During the summer I use 40 watts, (from juvies to adults) 60 watts up to 100 watts in winter time...
Does that help out ?
Janie
During the summer I use 40 watts, (from juvies to adults) 60 watts up to 100 watts in winter time...
Does that help out ?
Janie
- Messages
- 227
Red Ink AUS said:
Wow thats hot.... Thanks for the info.
I read all of these posts and I am still confused. What wattage should the basking lights be? I live in the Seattle area. It does not get that warm here in the summer. I have two beardies at 9 months of age, and one at about 3 months. Also, if they are in a window where there is natural light may I turn off their UVB's?
Thank you.
Deb
Thank you.
Deb
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- 3,558
Hi Debbe.. You'll want to experiment with wattages to find that happy medium, 105* being the sweet spot for that age dragon...
Also, since uvb doesn't penetrate glass, you will want to continue using the uvb for 12-14 hours each day... Now you can reduce the UVB if you simply take your dragons outside for half an hour daily, each day.
Hope this helps.
Also, since uvb doesn't penetrate glass, you will want to continue using the uvb for 12-14 hours each day... Now you can reduce the UVB if you simply take your dragons outside for half an hour daily, each day.
Hope this helps.
