CHE vs. Heat Bulb?

[WhitneyWright]

New Beardie mom here! We have a juvenile bearded dragon in a 40 gallon tank. Our home stays around 69 degrees, and we have 75w basking bulb for daytime and a red one 75w for night. The temp on the cool side of the tank is 73ish. My question is, should I up the wattage on the basking bulb or get a CHE? His name is Toothless (my son is into How to Train Your Dragon) and I'm worried he may not be getting enough heat? I'll attach a pic for reference on distance between bulbs and beardie basking spots. Never owned a reptile before and he just seems to stay on this branch. We live in Louisiana and we do have a ceiling fan running all the time in this room. His cage has a screen top partially covered. Any help is appreciated!!

 

[Hdrydr31]

Looks like your using a 40g fish tank? pictures can be deceiving. these are much higher than a 40g breeder reptile tank.. Reptile tanks are wider than they are tall as most reptiles need the floor space rather than the height. So your little one has to get much higher up to get to the heat which is also dangerous as they can fall and hurt themselves rather easily and as an adult they are clumsy..
The colored heat bulbs are bad for their eyes as they can see all spectrum of light and the colors don't allow their pupils to function correctly.

 

[WhitneyWright]

We bought this tank as a bearded dragon kit from PetSmart. Said not to use as an aquarium. So should I switch to a CHE instead of these lighted bulbs? The room is decently lit during the day. Sheer curtains. Just wondering abt the heat in the tank vs. basking light?

 

[Hdrydr31]

We bought this tank as a bearded dragon kit from PetSmart. Said not to use as an aquarium. So should I switch to a CHE instead of these lighted bulbs? The room is decently lit during the day. Sheer curtains. Just wondering abt the heat in the tank vs. basking light?

Unfortunately those kits are sadly put together with items that are not really ideal..the lighting is always an issue.. with the dome lights they use coil UVB bulbs these have in the past caused eye damage as they are too direct with the focus. what you need is a long tubular UVB such as the Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 bulbs or the Arcadia bulbs. that allows you to do a single dome fixture with a ceramic base so you can "play" with the wattages for basking temps.
If you take a look at the links below my comments we've put together info with links and pictures of how to care for and all sorts of info.

 

[WhitneyWright]

Thank you so much!! I will definitely get the new lights! I had no idea. Poor toothless :/

I dont see the links?