Zeus' tank

[Zeus_the_nogard]

First bearded dragon
He's a character
I've got three lights
The nocturnal heat is 100w
The UVB is 10 and 60w and the red is 100w
The red and UVB get turned off around midnight and back on at noon
His basking spot is on the branch and it's about 10" from the heat and UVB
Ground walnut shells are his base
He's had then since he was 5" long and is now 9" and never had a problem
The right bottom corner is 80 at night and 90 during the day
Everything seem alright?
He doesn't seem to have any issues

 

[PatsyB]

Why the odd light schedule?

Get rid of the red light. They see spectrums of light that we don't see. The red light at night will interrupt his sleep cycle. Temperatures at night should be in the 70's and can go as low as 65 degrees. If it gets any lower than that you should get a CHE, it gives off heat with no light. You don't mention what the temp is in his basking spot. It should be around 110d. The cool side during the day should be in the 80's, 90 is too hot. Also, digital probe temp gauges will give you the most accurate temp. You need one right on the basking spot and one on the cool side of the tank.

 

[Zeus_the_nogard]

Work and school schedule
The red is off at night
Only the black one stays on

 

[Tyler_Vance]

Why the odd light schedule?

Get rid of the red light. They see spectrums of light that we don't see. The red light at night will interrupt his sleep cycle. Temperatures at night should be in the 70's and can go as low as 65 degrees. If it gets any lower than that you should get a CHE, it gives off heat with no light. You don't mention what the temp is in his basking spot. It should be around 110d. The cool side during the day should be in the 80's, 90 is too hot. Also, digital probe temp gauges will give you the most accurate temp. You need one right on the basking spot and one on the cool side of the tank.

So on that note. In the new tank I have a ceramic heat emitter on a timer to turn on at 8pm and off at 6am with the actual basking light turning on at 7am and off at 7pm. Without the ceramic bulb the cage gets around 70 degrees all around. Maybe a bit cooler. With the bulb it was 90 on the hot side and 80 on the cool about an hour ago but I'm not home now so I will check the thermometers in the morning (they keep track of the coldest and hottest point in the last 12 hours) say it Doesn't get any cooler, would it being 90 and 80 be to hot for "night time" or would the low 70's that have dipped into the high 60's be better?

 

[PatsyB]

So on that note. In the new tank I have a ceramic heat emitter on a timer to turn on at 8pm and off at 6am with the actual basking light turning on at 7am and off at 7pm. Without the ceramic bulb the cage gets around 70 degrees all around. Maybe a bit cooler. With the bulb it was 90 on the hot side and 80 on the cool about an hour ago but I'm not home now so I will check the thermometers in the morning (they keep track of the coldest and hottest point in the last 12 hours) say it Doesn't get any cooler, would it being 90 and 80 be to hot for "night time" or would the low 70's that have dipped into the high 60's be better?

The low 70's would be better for night. As long as it doesn't go below 65. You want to create as close to a natural environment as possible. Outside it naturally cools off at night time so you want to try to do that with your tank.

Work and school schedule
The red is off at night
Only the black one stays on

Get rid of the red light all together. Get an actual basking bulb for the daytime. You need to mimic natural sunlight and red isn't natural.

 

[Tyler_Vance]

The low 70's would be better for night. As long as it doesn't go below 65. You want to create as close to a natural environment as possible. Outside it naturally cools off at night time so you want to try to do that with your tank.



Get rid of the red light all together. Get an actual basking bulb for the daytime. You need to mimic natural sunlight and red isn't natural.

It actually dropped down to like 69 on the cool side but the warm side stayed higher 70's with that bulb on

 

[Josh]

Your dragon looks great! I love that setup with the hammock!

 

[jarich]

Looks like you have taken the time to really put some thought into Zeus's enclosure, but there are a few tweaks that would help things out quite a bit. First, you do want to recreate as close to natural sunlight wavelengths as you can. Unfortunately, the lights you have been sold wont do a great job of that. The red light is very limited in wavelength spectrum for the daytime and that UVB bulb isnt very good at producing the type and amount of UV light you want. And that night light isnt really what you (or he ) wants in the long run. As Patsy mentioned, most lizards, dragons included, see much better than us humans. They actually have the ability to not only see what we see, but also see all the way into the UV spectrum also. Imagine if you had to live with only red light your whole life too! Thats got to be weird. We wont get to say this to you often, but not only is the light you want better, its also cheaper. Just go to the hardware store and get a PAR 38 outdoor halogen flood light. There are different watts for different bulbs, but normally people start with the 75 watt and adjust the height from the basking spot to the get the right temperatures. You can get higher watt bulbs, but it means the bulb will have to be farther away than you probably have it now. That will give your dragon a nice bright white light to bask under. You can usually find those bulbs for around $5-$7.

Next, youll need to get a bit better UVB bulb. Unfortunately the one you have doesnt do a great job of producing a good spectrum of UV light, and it doesnt project very far at all into the enclosure. Itll give you a small area of exposure for your dragon, but that wont work as it gets bigger. The better light is a long fluorescent tube light. The best brands are Arcadia and Zoomed. There are two types of those bulbs, one is called a T8 and the other is called a T5. Basically its a measure of the width of the bulb, with the T5 being the skinnier version. Its a little weird, but the skinnier ones actually produce better, and more, light. So if you can afford it, those are the better ones to go with. You want the fluorescent light to run about 2/3 of the length of your enclosure, whatever that might be.

Next is your night time light. Whats best is to just give them a totally dark enclosure at night. That gives them the chance to really rest and get the sleep they need to not be stressed out. Even with their eyes closed, they have an odd scale you can see on top of their head, right in the middle. Its called the 'parietal eye' and its a light sensor that goes directly to the part of their brain that regulates sleep. So if you have a light on in their enclosure, even if they are sleeping, they can sense the light. So you either want to have no heat at night, or you want to have heat that isnt a light for night time. Since they live in a place that cools down at night, you only have to worry about heat if your room gets lower than about 65F at night. If it doesnt, then there is no need for any heat source at night. If it gets cooler than that, you have a few choices. The easiest is something called a Ceramic Heat Emitter (often shortened to CHE). It screws into your light fixture just like a bulb, but it produces no light, just heat. They do get pretty warm, so dont allow it to be so close that the dragon could ever touch it. The other thing you can get is called an Under Tank Heater (often shortened to UTH). This sticks onto the bottom of the enclosure on one side (you dont ever want it to cover the entire enclosure) and gently heats a certain area warmer so that if the dragon wants, it can go to the warm side. There are other options, but those are the two most commonly used. It is important to note that both of these should be used with what is called a thermostat. This is a device that controls the maximum temperature the heater can get to so that your dragon doesnt ever get burned.

Hope this helps and good to see your enclosure!

 

[PatsyB]

@jarich Thank you

 

[Zeus_the_nogard]

Your dragon looks great! I love that setup with the hammock!

Thanks @Josh
I've replaced the red in his tank with a uv and heat bulb
Gets to about 100 in his basking spot and 85 on the cool side by the hammock

And say hello to Xena
Just got her yesterday from the pet store
She's very docile
She's eating good and drinks
Her tank is our feeder tank we had for Zeus
So it's the minimal right now until this weekend
Which she stays right on her rock while in there unless she's hungry and chases the crickets
It's 102 on her rock

I know there's a red bulb but they didn't have any smaller ones like Zeus' in stock
As far as no heat at night it's fine during the summer but since it's getting cold the apartment isn't too insulated
I'll look for the ceramic bulb or the mat
Also my neighbor had a clutch of dragons just hatch
I may get one from him to put with Xena
How would you tell that they are alright together?