Nocturnal Infrared Heat

October 30th, 2010 | Published in Reptiles

Bearded Dragon Lighting and Tempts?

I'm a bit confused on what lights are good for a Bearded Dragon I'll be getting in a while. The aquarium is 4ft long 2ft high and 4ft depth so would these light be good:
Reptisun 10.0 High Output UVB Lamp - 24 in.
"Zoo Med" Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp, 150 Watt
and for temperature checking:
"Zoo Med High Range Thermometer for Reptiles"

What are th lowest requirements for UVB and is there a possibility of too much?
For a basking light what the minimum/highest watt?
What about a 250 watt? Is that too much?
Also I read somewhere that if the weather is hot then taking a Bearded Dragon outside for at least a hour a day will replace UVB? It's doesn't really sound right to me but if it's true then it might save some life on the lights.
Wouldn't a regular house bulb hurt their eyes though on such a high wattage?
My Bearded Dragon housing is a all glass aquarium.

It would be best to do both, if you can, give them an hour outside and a UVB bulb inside. The UVB bulb you have is an excellent one, it is one of the safe ones so you don't have to worry about any eye problems with it. Make sure your Beardie will be able to get to 6 inches of it and you'll be set, and it needs replacing every 6 months. Its pretty much impossible to give a Beardie too much UVB. I'd say the lowest requirements would be about what a Reptiglo 8.0 would give you, anything lower and then you'll be getting a high risk of Metabolic Bone Disease. If you don't let him out for enough hours of sunlight and you are focusing on that you can have problems like that too. I really think only an hour would be iffy. Yours should be fine with that light though, that has a nice output.

Unfortunately, the Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp won't do for Beardies at all. That is for nocturnal animals, and Beardies are active during the day, not the night. So Beardies need a bright white light for their basking time. You can get this with just a standard clear or white looking household bulb. Instead of constantly experimenting with the different wattages, just grab a dimmer and adjust it with that, this will save a lot of time and ultimately money.

As for the thermometer, that's a stickon if I looked it up right, and that's really not what you want. Those not only measure the glass temp, which you don't really care about, but they don't even measure it with consistent inaccuracy. I had one for a while and I was amazed at how varied it was, the only constant was that the thing was off at least 5 degrees. You should get a digital thermometer with probe instead, those are accurate.

Cavity Nesting Birds Thermal Footage (Hot Earth/Dark Nights)