So I currently have a side mounted heat mat with a smaller double dome lamp. There's a 100w silicone coated light bulb in the left ( figured the frost on the glass would make it a little less harsh on the eyes) with a 100w ceramic heater on the other side. The warm side of the tank is hovering between 80 and 85 which I believe is too chilly ( should be around 100?) I was wondering if a larger dome on top would help retain and deflect heat down or do I need to put 2 75w lamps in both of the small domes and get a second small dome for nighttime warmth? He also has a reptisun 10.0 t5 ho lamp ontop. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
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Need more heat
- Thread starter Dray
- Start date
BeardedHippy
Bearded Dragon Veteran
- Messages
- 672
- Location
- Scarborough UK
yep, its a bit too cold. Trouble with those normal type bulbs is that they dont seem to project the heat very well, more than 6 inches and you cant really feel them. I would swap that out for a halogen spot lamp, they have built in reflectors and project the heat much further. I use 150w spots in larger enclosures, on a dimming thermostat so it never gets too hot or cold. Is that stick on thermometer how you are measuring your temps? if so your actual temps could be different as they are not very accurate, what it is measuring is just the temperature of the glass its stuck to. Get an IR temp gun if you dont have one already, they are great little tools to have.
Something you could try in the meantime is to cover the back and sides of your tank with something reflective (white or silver is best) as that is where a lot of your heat is being lost (glass is crap at retaining heat), if you can reflect some of it back inwards it should help but I doubt it will rise 15 degrees.
There are a number of reasons I would not use the heat mat at all even mounted on the side. They are unreliable and when they break they can go very wrong and overheat. Your beardie can burn itself leaning on the glass (like they do) as they cant sense heat on their undersides.
Something you could try in the meantime is to cover the back and sides of your tank with something reflective (white or silver is best) as that is where a lot of your heat is being lost (glass is crap at retaining heat), if you can reflect some of it back inwards it should help but I doubt it will rise 15 degrees.
There are a number of reasons I would not use the heat mat at all even mounted on the side. They are unreliable and when they break they can go very wrong and overheat. Your beardie can burn itself leaning on the glass (like they do) as they cant sense heat on their undersides.
- Messages
- 5,574
I would ditch the dual dome set up.. If you have a farm/feed store anywhere what I use on all of my dragons is a chicken brooder metal dome with a ceramic housing for the bulb.. they work fantastic and they are way cheaper than the metal domes with ceramic base you find in the pet stores.. I use regular household bulbs, for the summer I can get away with using a 50 watt.. I play around with the height to get 100-107F then in the winter they typically get changed out to 75watt bulbs.. Nighttime temps need to drop around 70F they can go to 65F just fine they actually need the temp drop at nighttime for them to "reset" themselves. Don't put any colored bulbs in as they don't allow their eyes to function correctly and if on at night their 3rd eye will detect shadows and won't allow them to fully rest which can cause a cranky dragon.
