What is the best way to lower the lights into enclosure?

[milo0]

I've decided to try and lower both the heat light and UVB into my beardies cage so he can be closer to them. The height is 24 inches so it's extremely hard getting him close to the heat and I fear he's not getting enough UVB since his appetite has decreased (could be the weather still, not sure).
I have one of the screen tops with plastic bars in the middle, so I'm not sure how to make this possible. Measurement wise, I need to lower the heat lamp 7 inches down into the cage for his temps to be hot enough, and the UVB just needs to be inside, since it has a range of 24 inches anyways. His new basking enclosure is 7 inches high and will be on the right side of the cage so I was thinking of hanging the UVB on the right side of his cage, but I just don't know how to do this and ensure it won't ever fall.
I've heard some things about hangers and hooks but in my case, I will have to somehow cut the screen and hang them from it, but I'm not sure. Please let me know if you have any recommendations. I think this will fix my beardies small appetite if I get this right!

 

[ianedward1]

I mean do you necessarily have to have the screen? It's not like beardies can climb up glass sides. You could possibly remove the screen and use a light stand to hang them from. Since you have a heat and a UVB, I will assume the UVB is a tube. Those can simply be hot glued on the inside of the tank. Something I think might be a better idea though would be to increase the wattage of your heat lamp. If you are having to have your dragon that close to the bulb for the basking spot, then you have a danger of him coming in contact with it. Also, you may not be getting enough heat spread from it to give the rest of your enclosure the needed ambient temps

 

[milo0]

I'd rather keep the top because I don't want insects flying into his enclosure and him possibly eating them, plus having a screen keeps the heat in.. Ya, the UVB is reptisun 10.0 and right now I have 2 150 watts hitting the main basking spot and it's getting to 104 or so, but I'd rather go down to one bulb because theres no room for the UVB to be where he usually sits so he's not getting close to it. So there's no way I can up the wattage because I'm already going a bit extreme just to heat his tank to the acceptable level. He'll still be over about 10 inches away from the heat bulb if I lower it 7 inches and the new basking spot is 7 inches, so there's really no way he'd ever come into contact with it.

 

[ianedward1]

What types of lights are the 150 watts? Just regular incandescent? If so then you would probably get better results using a halogen flood like many others because they produce more heat

 

[milo0]

One is a regular bulb and the other is a halogen. I'll be using the halogen if I end up lowering the bulbs inside his enclosure.

 

[ianedward1]

Hmm I would expect a 150 watt halogen to produce plenty of heat at those distances. What do you use to measure temperatures?

 

[milo0]

A digital probe thermometer. I was only getting between 90-95 on the basking spot alone, which is why I'm using a 2nd bulb until I find a better solution

 

[ianedward1]

I'm getting stumped. I would think you would easily be reaching those temps unless the cage is in a cold or drafty room. I personally only use a 160 PowerSun MVB for my enclosure (sometimes add a 60W incandescent to the cool side when its cold) and have problems with it getting hot at times so I put a fan over it

 

[Pat B]

Personally....I would raise the basking spot. Be creative and make some type of ladder so he can get high enough. When my Spike was small, the bulb was hanging into his viv and he burned his tail so it turned into a stub. I didn't know any better but I do now! I think you can be 8" - 10" away from the bulb. Good luck!

 

[milo0]

Yeah, even I don't understand why it's hard to heat. I guess because it's glass, that it doesn't hold the heat in as well. I've already grouted the basking fixture so there's no way to really raise it now. I can try, but it would have had to be about 18 inches high to be close enough, which is a bit difficult to make without being too large. I'm at a lost on what to do completely. I need to get this fixed asap

 

[milo0]

Ok, I know this isn't the prettiest pic but it's just to get my idea across. This is how I want to make it. The bulb will be lowered 7 inches down, allowing 14 inches of space between him and the light, and I want to try and attach the UVB under the plastic bar that is part of the screen near the basking area or side by side the heat bulb so he gets hit with both. Hope the pic isn't confusing, MS paint is the best I could come up with.

And don't worry, he has a lot more stuff that will be added to his tank but as of now, the problem is the basking spot.

 

[Zen ReptileZ]

I dig the drawing! Try hanging the strip fixture with chain. Then you can drop the chain thru the screen, or just cut a hole large enuf for the chain. I imagine pulleys from the anchor points then you can raise the whole lid with fixture(s) up and away to get your dragon out. Two reasons I hate screen tops: prevent full UVB output to dragon and having to do circus acts when trying to do anything in the enclosure.