Heating and lighting are one of the most important things in a bearded dragon’s tank. Bearded dragon tank too cold? In this post, we will discuss why your bearded dragon’s tank might be too cold and how to make your bearded dragon’s tank hotter. This will be primarily on how to make a basking spot hotter.
How warm should a bearded dragon’s tank be?
Bearded dragon’s tank should have a basking spot and a cool spot. This is to create a temperature gradient, so your dragon can move to a cooler spot when it’s hot.
A hot basking spot of the tank should have temperatures of 92-110 degrees Fahrenheit (33-43 Celsius). The cool side should be in the range of 75-85 F (23.8-29 C). Night time temperature shouldn’t be lower than 65 F (18.3 Celsius).
How to make my bearded dragon tank warmer?
Tip #1: Increase basking bulb wattage
If your bearded dragon’s basking spot is not hot enough, you might try increasing bulb wattage to get more heat.
Please place a basking bulb near a UVB light, so your bearded dragon can get UVB while basking. This will also help prevent any eye damage. UVB light should be a tube that run 50-70% of the cage.
The best type of a basking bulb for a bearded dragon tank are:
- Ceramic heat emitter bulb – good for night time only
- Halogen flood lights
- Bright white household bulbs
- Reptile basking light bulb – make sure they don’t burn out quickly
What wattage bulb you need to use will depend on few factors: type of a bulb, size of the tank and even room temperature. Trial and error is almost always necessary to find the best bulb for your bearded dragon’s tank to reach ideal temperatures.
For example, a 40 gallon breeder tank might need a 50-60 watt halogen flood lamp. If your room and tank get too cold, don’t choose energy saving bulbs, as they might not produce enough heat. But this isn’t always the case.
If you are choosing reptile basking bulbs, you might need a 100 watt bulb to reach ideal temperatures.
Mercury vapor bulbs get very hot, so don’t use them in a tank smaller than 40 gallons. These mercury vapor bulbs emit both UVB and light, and often come in 100-160watt bulbs like this.
If the temperature in the basking spot gets higher than 110 F (43 C), then try moving the light higher to decrease the temperature slightly. An adjustable lamp stand like this (note the size, this one can go maximum 36″ in height) will help decrease the temperature. You can also adjust it yourself and fix it higher.
The main thing is to choose a bright white light bulb (not the ‘soft white’!), as they tend to be too bright for bearded dragons. You can mount it around 11-12 inches away from your dragon’s basking spot in a dome fixture.
The main thing is to rely fully on a full-spectrum tube for UVB instead of a basking bulb. This is because UVB output would decrease dramatically if you move it higher from the basking spot.
In tanks 40 gallon and more, have UVB tube for UVB, and basking bulb for heat and light. Fix UVB tube light 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) from your dragon.
If night time temperatures drop below 65 F, use a ceramic heat emitting bulb. But if the tank temperature is only slightly lower, don’t get a high wattage CHE. They get hot and will increase the temperature dramatically. Make sure to get a maximum 20-40 watt nano CHE like this to slightly increase basking temperatures.
Tip #2: Make sure to get accurate temperature readings
One of the other most important things when reaching correct temperatures is to get accurate readings. This is the common issue that prevents owners from being able to decide on correct bulbs.
Using only stick on thermometers (especially analog) can be very problematic when deciding which lamps to use. This is because they can be very inaccurate.
To get the most accurate temperature readings, make sure to have a digital thermometer under the basking bulb, near a basking spot. Make sure it has a probe – place the probe on the basking spot and wait around 45-60 minutes for readings.
On top of that, use a handheld infrared thermometer like this, to get the accurate readings. Make sure to hold the handheld thermometer around 1.5-2 inches (around 4-5 cm) away from the basking spot to get the most accurate readings.
Tip #3: Make your room warmer
It can be hard to get a bearded dragon’s tank to required temperatures if your room is too cold. So, trying to make the room where the bearded dragon’s tank is warmer will definitely help with heating the tank.
There can be many different ways to heat the room – central heating, radiators and so on. But always ensure you have proper ventilation in the room.
Having the room at least or around 65-70 degrees F (18.3-21 C) would greatly help keep the bearded dragon tank warm during the day and night.
65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 Celsius) is the minimum temperature for bearded dragon’s tank at night. 70-73 F (21-22.7 C) would be ideal night time temperature in a bearded dragon’s tank. So if your room is at least 65 degrees F (18.3 C), you would not need to heat your bearded dragon’s tank at night.
Tip #4: Make a basking ramp for your bearded dragon
Bearded dragons prefer climbing on a branch, ramp, hammock or other higher structure to bask. They enjoy laying on rocks and flattening themselves to get as much heat as possible (pancaking).
This helps them absorb more heat. In groups, bearded dragons even compete for the highest basking spot.
So if you place a heightened basking spot, it should decrease the distance between the light and your dragon. You can for example, choose a basking rock or platform like this that would lead to a a branch or a hammock.
You can even use other DIY boxes or rocks to make a platform. Climbing will also stimulate your dragon to move and bask.
Tip #5: Cover the tank with a towel
You can put a towel around the tank if you need to keep it warm while looking for another solution. This could work especially at night time. When doing that, make sure not to cover all ventilation holes.
Putting a towel around the tank won’t help too much – it won’t increase the tank temperatures either. But if you don’t have another option at the time, you can try it out.
It will only help keep the current temperature more stable, in case your room got too cold. You can even wrap your bearded dragon in a blanket or a cloth to help it stay warm through the night.
Thank you for reading this post. If you need more help with lighting and heating setup, you can find a full guide with all you need to know here.