I need help with lighting asap, PLEASE!

[tcruz]

Hey guy's, I'm trying to figure out to get my daughter's bearded dragon's tank to the appropriate temperature and I'm really struggling. The thermometer says 82-83F and the humidity says 45-47%. I mostly see him basking all day on his log. As high as he can. In the evening before I turn off the lights, he moves over towards the cool side. I'm just trying to learn everything I can to keep him healthy and thriving. I don't want to compromise his respiratory system. So someone, please tell me how to get the day basking spot to 100-110 and cool side 75-85F. I'm using the Reptisun 5.0 lightbulb and 100watt UVB bulb. Here is a pic of his setup. Any help woul be appreciated.

 

[PatsyB]

Move the basking spot right under the heat lamp and attatch the temperature probe right to the top of it. That will give you the true basking spot temperature. You can attach it with a twist tie or wrap some velcro around it. If it doesn't get high enough, you could try propping it up on that brick you have on the left side, or get a high wattage basking bulb.

 

[tcruz]

Are you saying to put the temperature probe right on the top of the log? That's where I believe the hottest spot of the area is. Right now its located in the upper left side of the tank. I will try that first, then the higher wattage bulb. Thank you.

 

[PatsyB]

Yep. That's where he basks so you want to know what the temp is at that spot.

No problem, welcome to the forum!

 

[jarich]

Looks like you have a couple things to fix. First, your reptisun; is it a compact fluorescent light (the curly kind)? If so, you are going to want to get it replaced. Actually even if its a long fluorescent tube, your going to want to replace it anyway. Sitting the light on top of that screen means that about 1/4 to 1/3 of the light is blocked out, and since you have just a 5.0 bulb that doesnt leave you with much. With dragons, who are sun loving lizards, you want the 10.0 long fluorescent tube, and you want it to run about 2/3 the length of the enclosure. You also want the dragon to be able to get within about 4 inches of it, if its sitting on top of the screen. You also want to move it over so that its next to the basking light. In the wild, they get their heat, visible light and UV all through the same means...sunlight. So you want to try to mimic that in your enclosure as safely as possible. That means putting the basking light and the UVB light as close together as you can.

It looks like you have two temperatures probes, which is great, but you want to move them to where they are giving you more useful measurements. As PatsyB mentioned, put one right where the basking spot is, so that you know what temperature your dragon is basically getting when he sits there to bask. Then put the other one down on the right hand (the part furthest away from the basking area), but down by the bottom, again where the dragon will actually sit when he is just resting on the floor. That will give you the hottest and the coolest parts of the enclosure, and so tell you how much of a heat gradient you have.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[tcruz]

Thanks a lot, jarich. That's some really useful info. I'll make those adjustments and keep you guy's posted...

 

[tj4x4fun]

Just a quick question.... why don't people run more mvb? Then you get heat and uvb. Sorry to hijack. Our dragon seems more active and colorful since we switched to uvb.

 

[jarich]

A few reasons really. First, its not really good to think of lighting as just one bulb. It sounds great, but our limitations in technology are such that having just one bulb means you are getting a very reduced output of light. We cant recreate the type of light they really need with just one bulb, much like you dont want to feed them just one thing.

With MVBs specifically, you have a light that is incredibly variable based on brand name. There are different phosphors that are used to create certain wavelengths of light, and different glasses that are used on the housing, such that some MVBs can be useless or alternatively downright dangerous. Very few companies get this type of bulb right in the end. MegaRay does a decent one, and Arcadia a pretty good one too. However, even these best brand MVBs produce a very unusual type of light. The light from the sun has all wavelengths of light from ultraviolet at around 280 um to infrared up around 1000 um and higher. If you look on a chart of this spectrum, youll see every wavelength represented in a nice curve. Now if you look at the spectrum of an MVB, youll see a single spike at around 296 um, a spike at around 313 um, a spike around 335 um and so on. The problem is that in between these single wavelength spikes there is literally nothing. So while that single spike at the wavelength of 296 um will produce the reaction you need for Vit D synthesis, it isnt the same type of reaction that they get with sunlight. Those missing wavelengths in between produce their own reactions in the skin, and they are important too. There are three cholesterols (one is pre Vit D) that are produced by the various wavelengths between 295 and 320 um and they work in a sort of negative feedback loop, so with just this particular spike in play you are favouring one of these cholesterols over the other in an unnatural way. We arent entirely sure what the health effects of this are, but I think its safe to say that has to be fairly limiting.

The other problem with using just an MVB alone is that its often difficult to get both the temperature you want, and the output of UVB correct, at the same distance to the basking area. In order to really know you would need to have a UV meter, like a Solarmeter 6.2 or 6.5, otherwise you are just sort of guessing. If you have the light too close and the UV is too intense, your dragon often wont bask in it, or could potentially bask in it and have skin or eye damage. If you put it too far away, it may not get to the temperature you need for the basking area.

Now, the issue is that all lights we have right now seem to have their own shortcomings. For instance, even the new amazing T5 fluorescent lights we have now, which are great lights, produce very little UVA wavelengths. Its a shortcoming of all fluorescents. Yet thats a great thing about MVBs, they produce a lot of UVA, which is much more similar to sunlight, since sunlight has so much UVA compared to UVB also. So if you were to use a combination of one light for basking/heat (such as a halogen flood), one light for UVB (such as a T5 fluorescent) and one light for UVA (such as an MVB) then you would be producing a very nice quality spectrum, with most of the wavelengths filled in such that you are more closely recreating a light that resembles sunlight. Having said that, for the money, Id much more recommend a metal halide bulb over the MVBs, but that might be a different discussion