What should the lighting and heating be for a 4X2X2 feet enclosure for a bearded dragon?
BD asked:
For the basking light be 100 watts? Please give me the wattage lighting and any info possible.
For the basking light be 100 watts? Please give me the wattage lighting and any info possible.
If you pull it off with just one 100watt lamp, good for you, but generally you should just keep an eye on the temp in the cage (hopefully you DO have thermometers in the cage) and adjust accordingly. For my 55 gal enclosure i needed to get an under tank heater as well, but normally for a 4′ enclosure they seem to use 2 lamps during the day at about 100 watts. Otherwise i would suggest just trying a 150 watt day bulb and a 150+ red night bulb. Hope everything works out for you in the end
[who] Zero C
Don’t use a red bulb and don’t use any light at all during the night. Every enclosure and the temps at your house aren’t the same as every where so there is no set wattage of bulb that I can tell you to use. You need to get a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun and try usinig different bulbs until you get the correct temps. If your temps drop below the low 60’s at night than use a ceramic heat emitter “they put off no light which is important” here is a link to cheap one believe me there day/night/sleep cycle is very important. [who] Jason S
You are going to have to experiment with it. Not all houses are the same temperatures nor are all rooms. The 2 that I have in this room only require a 100 watt for basking spot and yes I do use a red light at night because my house is on the cool side. When it does not go below 60 I use nothing. But on one cage in the opposite end of the house I use a 100 and a 60 to get the right basking temperature. Use household bulbs and experiment. Please do remember that the temp. in the tank changes with the temp of your home so you have to be checking temps regularly. I went and bought several of the digital probe thermometers from my pet store for under $20.00 for 2. They are great as you can move the probe around and get accurate temps for a certain area. If I can help more my email is open [who] gamamoe
i think it should be 50 watts and it should be from 100-110 the heat lamp should be at 95-100 and dont forget 2 turn it off at night [who] Pet Lover <3
I have the same size viv as you and I actually found 100W was a little too hot (and I live in quite a cold house!) I downsized to a 75w and the temps have levelled out perfectly. On the other hand I have a wooden viv with the lights mounted internally so there is greater heat retention (it wont escape up out of the screen top) and the light is closer to his basking spot. Basically experiment a little. Avoid hot rocks at all cost (they can burn the underside of your beardie as they don’t have any nerve endings on their stomachs) and for that reason heat mats aren’t a great idea either. Generally speaking in a viv that size as long as you get the heat at the warm end right, the cooler end will level out correctly.
You want a basking spot temp of between 100-110, an ambient warm end temp of around 90, and an ambient cool end temp of 80ish. If your viv is liable to get colder than 65 at night then you want to heat it up somehow. I’ve found the best way is to have a ceramic heater at the warm end (screws into a lightbulb fixture but only gives off heat, not light) set up with a thermostat so that it will only kick in when the temp around the probe drops below about 70. Leave this on permanently. It won’t come on during the day but will act as a failsafe at night if the temps get too low. You do need to make sure that there is a clear distinction between night and day temps though, as this triggers the beardie’s natural sleep cycle. Also you will find that your thermometers and thermostat probes tend to give conflicting information so try and use your judgement as much as possible! Oh, and one very important thing – get all this set up correctly BEFORE introducing your beardie.
It might all sound very complicated/expensive but once it’s up and running then all you have to do is keep an eye on it and can concentrate on the more enjoyable aspects of herp keeping.
Good luck! [who] Robrocketeer