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Temperature!

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
Good morning guys,

So I've had Rami for a little over a week. Loos like his appetite is a killer! He ate 18 roaches in one sitting for dinner! They're fair small with some larger smalls in there; but still 18!!!

My question is about heat. I have a 100 or 125 bulb in his heat lamp right now. I've been taking temps with my heat gun. But I'm worried there isn't a good graduate. Tomorrow I'm going to try a 75 watt.

Hot side temps rang from
99 to 123

Warm side and "cool" side range between
90 and 80ish.

At night when there's no lights it's drops down to 78 - 75 usually.

I feel like im cooking him during the day though! However he's never on his cool side, he's always basking, never in any hide. But he's usually hanging around the areas where it's in the 90s, never much hotter than that.

But still I feel like there should be a better gradient. What do you guys think?
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
I would make sure you are using a 100 watt bulb and maybe even try the 75watt. Make sure the temp right under the basking light is no higher than 110. If your basking spot is right then everything else should fall into place. Do you have central air or air-conditioning? You may need to put a little fan in the room near the tank to get air flow.
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
I would make sure you are using a 100 watt bulb and maybe even try the 75watt. Make sure the temp right under the basking light is no higher than 110. If your basking spot is right then everything else should fall into place. Do you have central air or air-conditioning? You may need to put a little fan in the room near the tank to get air flow.

I put the 75 watt last night so it'll warm up the tank today. I'll take temperatures today and see if that helps. If not I'll get 100 watt. I have air conditioning. I'll see how that works!
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
That's the one pain about getting a temps right, it's all the bulb wattages. I have so many bulbs and different wattages, I could open up a store! It's good though because I find as mine got older, I need the lower watts and as the temps change I need to either use a higher or lower watt depending on the season.
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
That's the one pain about getting a temps right, it's all the bulb wattages. I have so many bulbs and different wattages, I could open up a store! It's good though because I find as mine got older, I need the lower watts and as the temps change I need to either use a higher or lower watt depending on the season.

Well here it's always hot! But yes I can see how your have a store. Luckily I didn't pay full price for these bulbs. I may even have 100 watt at home too.
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
Ok, so I checked the temps tonight. I have the 75 watt bulb in. Directly under the lamp I have the critter log, on the highest part on one end 120 and on the other end it reads 102, in the middle of the tank it reads 87, and on the cool side it reads 81. When I took him out tonight he was hanging on the hammock, but was colder to the touch. He's normally much warmer. Should I move the basket lamp and hide closer to the right side of the tank to see if it'll help? Should I clip the lamp higher away from the tank?


Here is a pic of the current set up, and the temp gun I'm using. I shot the gun at the clamp lamp and it read 105. I'm so lost.
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acb143b971be9d5e0e57669a0e7872c8.jpg
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Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
Raised the bulb and now the temp directly under is 96/98... cool side is about 78.
d452602a66f654ee76d6e42ca227e1f5.jpg


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Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
I was going to suggest clamping the light onto something above .... but you did it already :) that's what I have to do with my female Izzy she varies on where she likes her temp range to be..sometimes she likes to be hot sometimes she prefers it in the mid 90's... So I have my clip dome attached to the wall so I can go up and down...she is happy as a clam with a 40 watt lol
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
But they should be warm when you take them out of their tanks if they're on the hot side no?
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
But they should be warm when you take them out of their tanks if they're on the hot side no?
You would think that if they were on the hot side they should be warm to the touch yes
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
You would think that if they were on the hot side they should be warm to the touch yes
We'll he's always on the hot side. He's never on the other side of the tank. Like, at all. Today my sister fed him, picked him up and Said he was cold too. The temps were in the low 80s. So I dropped the lamp a few inches and the temps about an hour later were in the 100-109. So I think I found the sweet spot. I fed him, he basket for a while. I took him out and he was nice and warm. However that darn cool side is still high 70s. 79/80ish.

I'm think maybe to get one of those small halogen bulbs and really restrict the hot side to a small corner and see if that can help.

What do you guys think?

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syzygy

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
17
I'm certainly no expert, but 80F sounds pretty good for the cool side. Exact temp isn't critical as long as it's roughly 20-25F less than the hot side. Switching to a small halogen could make the basking spot too narrow to fit all of him into...especially when he's bigger.
 

Dogdayz1215

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
138
Good morning guys,

So I've had Rami for a little over a week. Loos like his appetite is a killer! He ate 18 roaches in one sitting for dinner! They're fair small with some larger smalls in there; but still 18!!!

My question is about heat. I have a 100 or 125 bulb in his heat lamp right now. I've been taking temps with my heat gun. But I'm worried there isn't a good graduate. Tomorrow I'm going to try a 75 watt.

Hot side temps rang from
99 to 123

Warm side and "cool" side range between
90 and 80ish.

At night when there's no lights it's drops down to 78 - 75 usually.

I feel like im cooking him during the day though! However he's never on his cool side, he's always basking, never in any hide. But he's usually hanging around the areas where it's in the 90s, never much hotter than that.

But still I feel like there should be a better gradient. What do you guys think?
I use a cord the has a dimmer on it. That way I can make adjustments if needed. I'm able to keep a better handle on temps that way. My bulb is 150watt but it's only being used at half capacity

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Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
I use a cord the has a dimmer on it. That way I can make adjustments if needed. I'm able to keep a better handle on temps that way. My bulb is 150watt but it's only being used at half capacity

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Hmmm thay could work. Would you mind posting a link of what I should look for? Amazon is my go to source. But I want to make sure I get the right thing. [emoji847][emoji4]

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syzygy

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
17
Hmmm thay could work. Would you mind posting a link of what I should look for? Amazon is my go to source. But I want to make sure I get the right thing. [emoji847][emoji4]

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This is the one I bought after finding that my 75W Halogen was too much. I'll be hooking it up and testing it out tomorrow. There were slightly cheaper options, but a lot of those got several negative reviews for having the typical dimmer humming or buzzing noise.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UETX8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
This is the one I bought after finding that my 75W Halogen was too much. I'll be hooking it up and testing it out tomorrow. There were slightly cheaper options, but a lot of those got several negative reviews for having the typical dimmer humming or buzzing noise.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UETX8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
20 bucks isn't bad! Let me know how it goes for you. I'm still fighting with my temps [emoji34][emoji35]

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syzygy

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
17
I
20 bucks isn't bad! Let me know how it goes for you. I'm still fighting with my temps [emoji34][emoji35]

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It works great on my 7" Exo Terra dome light. There is a faint high pitched hum, but nothing you would hear from more than a foot away. The slider has a nice feel and enough range that you can make pretty fine adjustments.
 

Javier

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
123
I


It works great on my 7" Exo Terra dome light. There is a faint high pitched hum, but nothing you would hear from more than a foot away. The slider has a nice feel and enough range that you can make pretty fine adjustments.
Thank You!!

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