# Bearded dragon thermostat help please



## OliAbc (Aug 1, 2008)

Im getting a baby bearded dragon next week and rather than upgrade I bought a 4ftx2ftx2ft tank. I have a 100 watt ceramic heater and have created a basking spot for it. The problem is it reaches temperatures over 110f which im told is bad. So i bought a thermostat and was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to use it ( where to place it etc) so that my basking spot remains 105-110. Any help will be much appreciated as its my first BD : victory:


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## 15060 (Feb 17, 2008)

the probe wud be the same side as the heat source bout two inches from the bottom.

As for temperatures, i wudnt personally let the temp. rise above 95 for a baby, in my experience with babies, they can get dehydrated very quickly.

We bath our babies twice per week to keep them hydrated.

Once they get older they can withstand higher temperatures.

U may also find that u require a 150w ceramic for a 4x2x2, this obviously depends on the warmth of the room it will be housed in.


Hope this helps


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## Alice (Apr 30, 2007)

A baby will be fine in that size viv as long as you monitor it to make sure it can find it’s food, it may take a little while for it to settle in but that’s normal when beardies are moved to new homes. 

-Firstly you need a pulse or on/off thermostat; Not a dimming stat as these won’t work properly with a ceramic bulb.

- Plug your heat source into the plug socket provided on the thermostat and then plug the stat into your normal house sockets. 

-The thermostat probe should be placed towards the cool end in your vivarium. You can either put it on the viv floor or you might find that it works better fastened half way up the back wall of the viv. 

-You need an accurate temperature measuring device, such as a digital probe thermometer or a temperature gun to measure the surface temp of the basking spot. With a baby the basking spot should be between 105-115F. Babies need a higher basking temp than adults because they have a smaller surface area and they need to be warm enough to be able to digest their food properly. 110f-115f is best and your beardie should always have a cool end of the viv to go to that has a temp of around 80f. 

-Move the dial on the thermostat so that the basking spot stays at the desired temperature. 

-You may need to move the thermostat probe around a few times until you find somewhere that keeps the temps most constant. 

-When you have found the right place for the probe, fasten it so that your beardie won’t be able to move it and make sure that the probe end can’t be covered.

-As said already, you may find that you need a higher wattage ceramic. The ceramic needs to be guarded to prevent your beardie from burning itself as babies can climb quite well. 

I hope this helps and if you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask.


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## Alice (Apr 30, 2007)

Also I forgot to say that you may need an additional low wattage light bulb (mounted high up so as to not alter the basking spot temp) to brighten up the basking spot. This will help your beardie to find it as beardies are attracted to light; the brighter the viv, the better.


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## OliAbc (Aug 1, 2008)

Thanks to both of you thats been really helpful. My cool end is 83f and my basking spot is now staying at 107f Sorry i got my thermostat description wrong it says on the packet perfect for ceramic heaters. I have a bulb that would be perfect for just lighting up the basking spot area but without changing the temps but is it ok to shine it from outside the glass doors or not. I will make sure it doesnt get the viv too hot as i will postition it far away: victory:


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