lighting

[cpt_steelwings]

hi all I have a sandfire bearded dragon and am currently building a new enclosure for him. I was going to use 36" striplights for light but was told to look into metal halide. Any suggestions?

[DragnDrop]

Metal halide bulbs produce an awful lot of heat. Unless you're making one heck of a big enclosure, there might not be enough space to provide a temperature gradient so he can find a comfy zone. I'd stick with UV fluorescents for light and an incandescent basking light towards one end. That's just my opinion, not saying metal halide or other combos won't work.

[Knowzilla]

I agree metal halide bulbs are for huge enclosures. See if you can find one of the new ZooMed ReptiSun 10.0 bulbs they are awsome. They penetrate UV 20" from the bulbs serface and are currently $19.99USD (about $23CND any size) from Big Apple Herp Supply (http://www.bigappleherp.com/) .
I currently use Exo-Terra (Hagen) 8.0 and will be switching over to the ZooMed ReptiSun 10.0 for all 15 of my dragons as soon as I can, as I feel the 10.0 are a better bulb and offer more to my animals than the 8.0 do.