What do you think?

[doenoe]

Hello peeps,

i am making a design for a bearded dragon enclosure. Now i am writing a little list of what i need. Just wondered what you people think about it and could give some ideas if something is wrong or could be made better.
Here goes:
I want to house 2 female dragons in the enclosure.

*100 cm wide, 100 cm deep and 70 cm high. Is that big enough?
*There are goin to be glass sliding doors at the front
*Im will try to make a Rock wall on the background and each side will be 50 cm rock wall and 50 cm glass.
*Im thinking of installing 2 CPU vans, one that blows the air in the enclosure and one to get the air out again. I think that will be a good ventillation, dont you think?
*About the lights, i first was thinking of installing a UV-tube and some normal flood lights, but now i read something about Capture The Sun Mercury Vapor Bulbs, any one know if these are any good? The bulbs will go into a 10" deep dome reflector (with a porcelain socket)
* Im not sure about the plants now. Whats better and healthier for the dragon, live plants or fake plants?
*I will use a digital thermometer to measure the temps on the basking spot, warm side and the cool side and an anologe hydrometer.
*The lights will be on timers.
*Is a Underneath Heat Mat neccesary? And if so, can you plug it in a dimmer, so you can change the warmth of the mat?
*And last but not least: the substrate. In the beginning i will let the babies run around on paper towels and after that im about either sand (not calci) or bran, where alot of people are talkin about lately.
Well thats it for now, thanks for reading my post and even more thanks if you would be able to give some input.
Greetz Doenoe

[Big Mike]

Sounds like you have a good plan...I'm no expert on beardies but here are my suggestions

I don't think you need fans to have a forced ventillation system. It will suck out any humidity. Opening that allow for air to circulate as it heats up should be sufficient.

A UTH can and should be run through a dimmer or controler of some kind. The UTH can be left on at all times and a light on a timer can be used to create a daytime basking spot.

good luck

[Tim Winegard]

That sounds good
You and I are working ont the same kind of project I see. LOL.
My cage I am building will be a 4x2x2 I don't know what that would be in centimeters but thats what everyone says is best. Although bigger is always better.
Make sure to share the pics when it's done. Mine should be finished in a couple of weeks

[Jeff_Favelle]

DO NOT use fans to have more ventilation!!! You don't need that much air flow. If you do that, you'll end up with 2 pieces of dried up Schneiders one morning. I am not kidding.

[eyespy]

Unless your room is very cold, a UTH is not necessary. Bearded dragons are heliotherms (get their heat from the sun directly rather than sun-warmed rocks) and respond best to heat sources that also provide light. Also, they have bony armor under their backs but not their bellies so you can "cook" internal organs by having too much heat beneath them.

Try to get your temps in a good range with light bulbs, and if that isn't sufficient, either a radiant heat panel or a ceramic heat emitter installed on the cage roof would be better. For most folks, just light bulbs work fine. It's a rare tank that needs more than 160 watts for beardies since the enclosures aren't usually over a meter in height.

I have a Capture the Sun bulb in one of my tanks and it is great! It's the best of the mercury vapor bulbs I've tried thus far, it doesn't overheat and turn itself off, and I've heard they have a much lower defective bulb rate than the other brands.

[doenoe]

Hello again,

thanks for all the info so far.
Ok, the fan idea is out of the list now. I think im gonna use the Capture The Sun Mercury Vapor Bulbs. And the next question about the lightning: I have too use at least one bulb, but when im want to get some more light in the cage, can i use an ordenairy bulb and install that. Cause i think it will be to warm on the cold side, if i put another CTSMVB on the the other end of the enclosure. Or dont you think it will get that hot with a 100 W CTSMVB?
The cage will be 100x100x70 (cm) which is about 40x40x27 inches. And offcourse i will be placing some pics here when its finished. But i think that will take some time, cause im gonna take my time for it.
By the way, doesnt anyone have some input about the plants?
Sorry for all the questions, but i just want to have the best before i purchase the dragons :) . And thanks again for the info you have given me now.
Greetz Doenoe

[Uffern]

Concerning the UTH, as has been said, it is not necessary, but I have been running a little experiment with my hatchlings lately. One cage next to another, one with heat lamp, one with UTH. The babies in the tank with UTH are growing faster. Kevin Dunne of Dragon's Den also uses UTH's for all his lizards, and cites this a one of the reason's many of his dragon's reach near full growth in less than 8 months. Thing is, you have to either be able to dim it, or you have to take some time to figure out how much sand it will take to make the surface temp good. As far as the plants, keeping real ones requires many inches of substrate so you can sink a pot into it, and the dragon's will eat it, so you would have to make sure that it is good for them to eat, and also, you would have to replace it constantly. If you use fake, they will still try to eat it, and if they get a peice of it, that could be bad. If you ask me, I would lose the plants, but perhaps someone who has more experience with having plantsw in the tanks can help you more than I can.

[eyespy]

Live plants also raise the humidity so you have to make sure it doesn't get too high and promote respiratory infections.

I've used a live aloe in one of my cages with half-decent success but just remember how heavy-bodied beardies are and how much they love to climb. Plants not eaten right away do get kind of crushed.

[doenoe]

Cewl, thanx for the info people.
I think im gonna start building next week or so.
Im just gonna look for some more info on the lights. For what i have heard, those Capture the sun lights work really good. But i have to found out how much space there has too be between the light and the basking spot. If thats space is too big, i think im goin for a tube light.
Thanx again
Greetz Doenoe