Bearded dragon : soil and light questions

[Bacon]

I'm feeling a bit had by the common "best" practices in bearded dragon keeping. A scary lot of it is starting to seem so distanced from any genuine understanding that I'm learning all over again. :( I want to give my dragon (Pepper) a more comfortable habitat, since I'm feeling like the shelf liner and tidy conditions are a little... not what would really make him happiest. Considering how hard some ends of the dragon community rail against loose anything... am I just projecting?

I'm pretty keen on the idea of a bio active substrate, and have been reading up on it here and elsewhere. I have a rough plan and few questions. My understanding is that the bioactive (Isopods, springtails and micro fauna) are the real added value, and just dirt is not as much benefit, is that accurate? Is a dragon cage a suitable "beginner" project, or would I be better off starting with one of the snakes habitats? I'm guessing it's the same as fish tanks, and the bigger the more stable but maybe the more work to set up.

I have a sealed wood 4x2x2, and will add a liner to protect against moisture. I'm thinking adhesive vinyl or something, sealed in the corners. I need to look up safe materials yet. For soil, I live in the city so my options are bag dirt, or hauling some from my parents place out in the country. They are in an undeveloped area near Lake Michigan so the soil has a high percentage of sand; it's sort of soft, drains well and is free from chemicals. I would amend it with coco husk or top soil (bagged) in the event it's too sandy. I can gather leaf litter, downed logs and probably Isopods at the same area. I'll use hydroton I think for the drainage layer, screen on top then soil blend.

1) Is it worth hauling live dirt? Or am I just as good off with store dirt?
2) How deep would a dragon want the soil? (Need to judge how many buckets I'd need)
3) Does the soil cycle like a fish tank does? How do I keep it from "dieing?"
4) Does it need to establish before the dragon can move in?
5) How are direct life-cycle parasites treated/controlled?
6) What is the bio load capacity of the system once established? Can I starve or over feed it? Well. The dragon not me personally.
7) In the event I need to add ventilation is it better to increase the screen size, or add a fan? I have soffit covers currently, but could easily add different screen or a computer case fan.
8) Do I need to build in access to the drainage layer?

I'm thinking about replacing my incandescent basking bulb with a halogen. I have a 150 incandescent right now. I'm hoping to be able to use a small or mini bulb or set of them to get some height back. It looks like the minis are all too narrow a beam though.
9) How much hotter do they run for equivalent wattages? (50W is not enough, that's all I know)
10) Do I need a ceramic socket or is the metal one I have ok?

Down the road I'd like to upgrade to a T5 fixture (currently T8), considering I have 2' now and will loose probably 6+" to the soil, will I have a distance problem? Pepper uses any vertical space/furniture I give him.

Has anyone tried bioactive and hated it?

[Pirarucu]

The dirt itself is a huge benefit, it allows for many natural behaviors such as burrowing that are impossible on hard surfaces. Having it bioactive simply makes it much easier to maintain. In short, the dirt benefits the dragon, and the bioactivity benefits the keeper.
I would start off with bioactive soil in the dragon cage, as he will benefit more from being able to burrow than the snakes will.

1)Definitely get the live dirt. Store dirt will have a hard time becoming truly bioactive, and often isn't right for animals anyways. The dirt they have sounds great.
2)The snout to vent length of the dragon would be a good depth, but deeper is always better. If you can make it deeper, go for it.
3)More or less, yes. You will need to water it every so often, both to provide moisture to the organisms in the soil and to help your dragon burrow in it.
4)No. Live dirt is ready to go, store bought dirt will need some time to establish a good level of bioactivity. Moving the dragon in does not need to wait until it's established though, and his waste will actually help it become established.
5)A good option is biological control. Predator mites, etc.
6)You could in theory overload it, but a single dragon is not likely to do that. It will balance itself with the amount of nutrients the dragon provides.
7)You won't need to.
8)Up to you. Some people use a drainage layer, some do without it. In my opinion a drainage layer is only necessary in extremely wet habitats which are watered often enough to create a water table in the cage. With a dragon cage you should not be adding enough water for a drainage layer to be necessary.
9)Actually, 50W is plenty. In a sealed wood cage, more would risk overheating the cage. Buy an outdoor flood bulb (or two) and adjust the distance from the bulbs to the basking surface until you get the desired temperature.
10)Ceramic is preferable.

I think that the distance will be fine.
I have never heard from someone who ever looked back after using bioactive.

[Bacon]

Thanks for the response! I'm pretty excited about it. We have a hognose snake and a corn, both of which enjoy burrowing, but I feel the dragon would get the best benefit compared to his current situation.

I figure the drainage layer would be a good idea so that the bottom doesn't ever get sodden, I'm worried I'll over water out of inexperience. Maybe that's not a problem. It would be nice to have all useable depth. I've been practicing on a tub of coco coir in the cage, and misting it so the top 1/4" dries out but the rest is moist. It seems to be going ok.

Could I make a deep side or mounds to help give a variety of the depth? Or is that a waste if effort?

Will the mites come in on the soil/debris? I cant believe I'm seeking out mites for my enclosure! Lol. On that topic... Are non rolling wood lice or armadillidiidae (roly poly bugs) preferable as far as isopods go or does it not matter? Is there anything/bug I should worry about that may be hostile to the dragon?

I'll try the 50W halogen again, I have one (large flood) but it doesn't get the basking surface much above 90 and takes up a lot of space. The catch being my basking socket and UVB fixture are both ceiling mounted so to keep the 6-8" distance on the T8 the heat bulb starts to get in the way. I want to rework them but I'm a bit limited without tearing up my cage. Do the small/mini work just as well as the outdoor? Even if I have to make an array of little bulbs, I'd rather that than one that dangles into the cage.

[Pirarucu]

It just takes some experimentation until you get it right. When in doubt, go easy on the water.
You could, and some people do. If he really takes to digging, he will likely level any mounds you make. It doesn't matter much, up to you.
You are unlikely to get the predator mites you need with the soil you dig up. You'll get lots of soil mites, but nothing that will take out the parasitic mites on lizards. Just give him a look every once and a while, if you see any mites then you just order the Hypoaspis predator mites online and add them to the cage. They will eat all the parasitic mites then starve to death themselves. There are lots of different isopods, it doesn't matter a whole lot. You can buy cultures online though, if you want to add more species to your cleanup crew. There are some things, but nothing I would worry about bringing in with dirt accidentally.
How far was the bulb from the basking surface, and what was the surface made out of?

[Bacon]

For some reason it feel like it should be more complicated than this. I've had the "dangers" of loose substrate and filthy things from outside burned into my eyes. Thanks for your patience with my questions.

I popped the halogen flood I have back in, and rearranged things so it wasn't too close to the rock to climb up on. It's still too close for my comfort though. The UVB is probably 10" from the rock, the flood is 8" on a diagonal from the rock. I have an articulated socket/fixture so it hangs about 6" below the UVB when it's at the current angle. The rock is sandstone I believe, and reading 111-90. The bridge is 7-8" from the UVB and is reading 84. Cool side is 76. I use an IR temp gun.

I think the temps seem ok, so I might be good with a small 50W? If I were to do two (mini?) would I reduce the wattage? The cool side looks darker now, would some extra lights (low watt, maybe LED?) be a good idea? I want to make this setup the best I can.

Pepper seems to do a decent job using the whole tank, he will bask in the middle under the UVB, on the rock, and sit on or under hammock on the cool side.

If anything looks off about my setup please let me know!

[Bacon]

Of course I forgot to attach the image...
http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag474/lizard_madness/f9cfe587fddb7b4e18071cd8cca5102a_zpsb2508aee.jpg

[jarich]

I would stick with the larger halogens over the smaller spot type. The little ones get really hot in a really small area, so you run the risk of burns with them. You could technically get maybe three or four in a row and do that, but you would need to be careful with spacing on it.

I would go with the drainage layer. Its an inch of cheap clay balls for a piece of mind as a new user of bioactive soil. Since your enclosure is wood, you wont really be able to see when you are watering too much, so this gives you the piece of mind of knowing that even if you are, its not going to be an issue.

As for the depth, they really dont seem to be deep diggers that Ive heard. Mine and others seem to dig down but stay fairly close to the top of the soil. I only have about 6-8" of soil in mine and have never actually seen him hit bottom. You could easily go deeper than that of course, but Im not sure that it would really be used much.

As for the bio load, what you may find is that if you dont provide enough food for the little critters, they may not breed as prolifically. Luckily thats not usually an issue with a dragon enclosure. Since you are providing veggies daily, you will often see your isopods at the bottom of the food dish. The earthworms will often come out to feed at night from any dropped veggie scraps too. I wouldnt think that you would ever have a problem with one dragon overloading that large of an enclosure though. They do seem to have a certain area that they usually defecate in, so its good to turn that soil more often.

[Bacon]

I figured I'll continue this thread, but if maybe starting a new one on lighting will be more productive I can do that.

I have my soil installed! Now I'm hot to get my lights upgraded.

For UVB I want to upgrade to T5 and use the Arcadia bulbs, and put a daylighting/full spectrum in my current 36" strip. I'm debating between one socket or two sockets (1 UVB and 1 daylight/full spectrum); is two overkill and potentially blinding? I've not seen a T5 viv setup in person.

I'm looking a these two:
24" HO T5 Double Bulb fixture with Two Arcadia 12% Included (http://lightyourreptiles.com/24hot5dobufi3.html)
Or
22" T-5 HO Fixture *High Output* with ARCADIA D3+ 12% HO Bulb (http://lightyourreptiles.com/22t5hofihouw2.html)

Is there a third option I should consider?


Here is my progress on the tank so far.
My isopods, springtails and leaf litter is on order. I plan to culture the bugs so I can use them for other tanks and since I don't expect them to thrive in the dragon cage.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag474/lizard_madness/a8e2a8074379db762ff06b7014ef5775_zpsf312d0c7.jpg (http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/lizard_madness/media/a8e2a8074379db762ff06b7014ef5775_zpsf312d0c7.jpg.h tml)

[pinefamily]

Just been reading through this thread. Personally, I would advise against too much moisture in the substrate, it could give your beardie an RI.
We use washed play sand from Bunnings (our version of your Home Depot) in our beardie enclosures.

[Bacon]

Out of curiosity how would soil moisture lead to an RI? This has been one of my big concerns with the setup so I am still watch like a hawk.

I am able to maintain reasonable relative air humidity - around 28-40% during the day and around 60 at night. I use a combination of higher heat and a intermittent fan. The leaves I've added also help keep the moisture below the surface layer. I leave the fan on when I water the dirt, and the doors open so it can ventilate as well.

I didn't care for plain sand when I tried it and if this doesn't work out I'll go back to shelf liner but probably keep leaves over it.

As a general update:
I ended up getting a hagen aquarium fixture with two independent end cap style bulb holders. I have one over the basking spot with reptisun t5 10.0, and one on the cool side with an ultrasun. The T8 has a tropic sun in it. I need to find out an alternative to the halogen basking light - he avoids them. He'll bask under a incandescent but that's not a great light quality :/

So far my inverts are doing well. My white springtails are flourishing and I saw a dwarf isopod last night! I've also got some little brown crawly bugs - about the size of the prong tails but less wiggly and have noticeable antennae. Maybe they are a different springtails? I haven't seen my native isopods lately - but not sure they aren't just hiding. The ant problem is just about gone, thankfully.

Pepper has been hiding from the UV (under leaves, off the side of his log peach in the shadow or the basking furniture on the hot side) and wearing his dark colors in his cage lately. When he is out or in his travel cage (no UV light) he is super bright - so I'm trying to find out what in his cage is bothering him. (He did this before the soil too) I'm experimenting with a shorter light cycle for the UVB light - I put it on a timer for 5 hours mid day.

He's still off and on about eating (some days many worms/salad some days none totally snubs dubia) but he is a year old and still growing/gaining weight - vet said I shouldn't worry. I find he is pooping more regularly as well - he's back to a consistent one per day. I've been spot cleaning out the chunks but there is no smell and little residue after.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag474/lizard_madness/c766d352626d3b500ca609f738f76c30_zps4ca6d84b.jpg (http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/lizard_madness/media/c766d352626d3b500ca609f738f76c30_zps4ca6d84b.jpg.h tml)

[pinefamily]

I wasn't referring to soil moisture in itself, rather moisture levels in a beardie tank can lead to infections.

[philbyi-guy]

It appears well ventilated, I wouldn't worry. just be sure the top bit of soil is dry, and it is only slightly moist underneath.

[pinefamily]

Leaves are a concern for several reasons. They can help to maintain a higher than needed humidity level, being organic can help create mould when combined with the dragon's faeces, and lastly give the crickets more hiding places.

@Bacon, why didn't you like the sand? Was there an issue, or just personal preference?

[Bacon]

I have never had good results using sand in any habitats. I also don't like it because it has no form - it's always loose and shifting and doesn't really support any of the "enrichment" behaviors I'm after. Not that other folks don't have success - it's just not what I'm looking for. I really want to replicate a natural looking habitat that encourages natural behavior - as safely as possible. Like I said, if this goes down hill I'll change it again - but it seems to be working well. He digs and has a made a chamber under the basking rock and uses it to regulate.

I've actually had less problems with mold and fungus in the high humidity tarantula cage after adjusting the setup to have cleaner bugs and some more active soil. The dragon cage is low humidity of course but it seems to be doing well - no mold or bad smells or fungus. The inverts are thriving and don't seem to bother the lizard.

The leaves get churned around a lot by the dragon and are actually almost paper dry - they help keep a microclimate in a few areas for cleaner bugs though which is the purpose. I take them aside to add water so they don't get waterlogged and the ambient humidity doesn't jump too high. As it turns out he mostly poops in his feeding area (tile) or on large leaves. The soiled leaves get disposed of and the feeding tiles get cleaned.

Live prey is tong fed. I don't feed crickets often. I leave salads in overnight for any hungry bugs that may have escaped, but aside from a couple small dubia I don't think there are any that would be a threat.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag474/lizard_madness/Sprinkles/41830CAB-3FC4-46FA-A6B7-D949BE112D79_zpstru84uvn.jpg (http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/lizard_madness/media/Sprinkles/41830CAB-3FC4-46FA-A6B7-D949BE112D79_zpstru84uvn.jpg.html)