A lid for my tank

[atochats]

The temps inside my enclosure are great as long as I remove the mesh lid and lower the lights. Otherwise I'll be forced to raise the basking area and settle for lower daytime temps on my cool side. Question... would it be safe to house the dragon both as a baby and as an adult in a basically "lidless" tank? Its a 40 gal breeder tank and we dont have any other pets that might get curious and get inside.

 

[stoned philosopher]

I personally don't use a lid on my tank and it's fine. As long as your Beardie can't get out and it's tall enough that crickets can't hop out, you should be OK.

 

[Germ]

Enclosures should have a screen lid or otherwise be totally contained. BDs are very accomplished escape artists & extremely proficient jumpers that need to be contained.

Use a hotter basking bulb ...

 

[atochats]

I can't find a higher wattage than a 150. I can always raise the basking area back to it's former height, but what to do about raising the temp on the cool side? I have a 150 watt warming bulb in addition to the basking bulb already. Would a ceramic heater raise temps higher on the cool side? I dont know what's going on...my cool side was around 80 ...and now it's hovering around 75 (if lights are raised to accomodate the lid) urgh

 

[atochats]

Always like to keep spare everything... I changed the basking bulb even though the existing one wasn't burned out or anything. Temps increased. *frustrating lol

 

[Germ]

300W of heat in 40 breeder & still not hot enough ???. There is something wrong with this picture ...

What type of thermometer are you using to take the temps & exactly where are you measuring them from?

What type of 150W bulbs are they, incandescent, flood, spot, halogen ... ?

What are the ambient daytime temps in the room that the enclosure is in?

Please post pics of your enclosure, showing the lighting orientation in relation to the rest of the setup/enclosure & thermometer setup.

Good Luck

 

[atochats]

Zoo Med Repti Basking 150watt..Zoo Med 10.0 ReptisunUV.. the other is a 150 watt warming bulb (the other dome fixture hanging in the center,no UV output) cant recall the brand though. Thermostat in house is set at 68 degrees.

 

[atochats]

Pic heavy sorry

 

[atochats]

Bad bulb. My bad.

 

[PatsyB]

Your basking spot would be the highest branch on the driftwood, try taking the temp from there. You can use a twist tie to attach the thermometer to the wood. BTW, where did you get that driftwood, it's beautiful!

 

[atochats]

It's wicked hot up there...like 125-130. The wood is shaped so that there's really no way of not having a super high/hot area. Wood originally came from my grandma when she passed away she had macromayed (sp? autocorrect tried to identify this as microphages...) a "spiderweb" throughout the branches of this piece. My gram was so creative!

 

[atochats]

In one of the pics I took it shows where I have the probe on the hot side..114.7F. Move just a bit to the side and temp decreases...it's a "spot" bulb.. so I figure the baby can self regulate herself pretty good. Anyone think having a branch that hot is a bad idea? Should I take that wood out and use something different?

 

[Germ]

The hottest point in any enclosure should be the basking spot, no point that the BD has access to should exceed 115F

 

[SpecialGreg]

So just a question... The screen mesh tops really take away the uvb? I have a 4 foot en closer with a 4 foot uvb and it has 2 screens with a glass section in the middle. So I should be opening the screens enough to not disturb the light rays?

 

[atochats]

I'll take the wood out then, and get the temp regulated as suggested using something else. Thanks

 

[atochats]

What I did with my UV light was put it in an under the cabinet housing case and attatch it to the inside of the glass tank. It is now about 10 inches from the basking spot and there is nothing in between the bulb and dragon to interfere. I used 3M brand "extreme mounting tape" (double sided tape) and put 2 long rows of it on. I pushed to make sure it made real good contact, and threaded the cord out one of the pre-made slits in the mesh lid. I tried using hot glue but i couldn't get it on fast enough before it started to cool on me.