# Help, can I keep my bearded dragon in a shed ?



## Ace111 (Aug 31, 2012)

Help can you advise, can I keep my bearded dragon outside in a shed ? What should I do about keeping them warm overnight in winter. At the moment i have a heat lamp which I turn off at night but put the heat mat on but I know this might not be enough in the colder nights to come ? How can I keep them from going below 65


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Ace111 said:


> Help can you advise, can I keep my bearded dragon outside in a shed ? What should I do about keeping them warm overnight in winter. At the moment i have a heat lamp which I turn off at night but put the heat mat on but I know this might not be enough in the colder nights to come ? How can I keep them from going below 65


Aslong as you can maintain the correct temperatures and uv source then I can't see an issue. However I would imagine it would be quite difficult to maintain temps especially on the warmer days and cold nights. For this reason I personally wouldn't do it as there's so much out of my control. 

If your set on the idea I would do it something like this. Have your basking bulb(s) on one dimming thermostat in order to keep the correct day time temps. Then I would have another couple (depends on size of shed) of ceramic heaters on one pulse thermostat and set it to turn on if the temp drops below the required temp during the night. That should be suffice. I would however do a lot of research on past shed builds as I'd still be worried about it turning in to a sauna on a hot day even if your basking bulbs have switched off. You may have to make a ventilation system of some sort. 

Basically im sure it could be done, just be prepared for a lot of trial and error and testing before putting your beardie in there and make sure you have a back up viv just in case. 

Another thing to watch for would be the height. You'd need to design the inside in a way so that the beardie didn't have a large drop he could fall from. They're not great climbers at the best of times and most sheds would be a fair height to fall from. 

Good luck!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

I'd assumed you meant in a viv in a shed, rather than loose! If I'm right, think about insulation- both for the shed and the viv itself. A ceramic heater on a stat might work in this situation for a viv- but make sure there is mesh between the lizard and the heater. Is there any real reason to use the shed anyway? A beardie will be protected from most extremes indoors.


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## BanksyAndAmy (Aug 30, 2012)

??? Is this for real ???


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

I never though he meant in a viv in a shed! Du'h! :blush: You can disregard all of what I said then!

Although I have heard of someone doing this before, I'm not sure where I read it. I think it was in America somewhere. I'll try and hunt it down now.

Edit: can't find it!


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Sheds are often used as an overflow reptile room, when people cannot physically jam any more vivs into their house, bedroom, loft, caravan etc! It's isn't, in reality, all that difficult to acheive a good safe environment as long as it is within a viv in the shed. 
Firstly, consider the animals needs, i.e. heat, light, ventilation, etc.
Then consider your needs, electrical efficiency, access, 
Then build all of these aspects into your viv.

For example, the beardie needs heat, so you insulate the viv and heat it as normal, perhaps with a higher wattage heat source to take account of lower temperatures. 
Ventilation becomes tricky therefore as you're bringing potentially freezing air in, so i'd advise you go one of two ways, either heat the shed (advise insulating too) or you create a ventilation system whereby air is heated before it enters. Maybe an airbox on the intake vents with some form of heating inside.
Lighting as usual.

Electrical efficiency is dependant on insulating correctly, seting up appropriately, etc.

Personally if I was approaching it with a view to only keeping a beardie in there with no plans for expansion, i'd build/buy a viv, mount it on a table, insulate the hell outa it with at least fifty mm kingspan top, sides, bottom, back. Build an airbox onto half the vents with a heater inside it on a thermostat to bring the temp to 25 degrees or so. Insulate that too. put small pc fans on rheostats to pull the air very slowly out of the cool air vents. Then lights, heating etc as normal, although with a decent wattage heater and a backup for just in case. 

Oh, and i'd use thicker glass for the doors, or put an actual door in with double glazing.

Hope this is clear, i'm a little frazzled right now lol

And apologies if you meant using the whole shed.....I'd have some ideas for that too but i don't believe it would be very cost effective.

Dave


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## Ace111 (Aug 31, 2012)

*Thanks*

Thanks everybody for your advice, it will really help me out. it was never my plan to have Bearded Dragons and keep them in the shed ! My 11 year old son kept them with his dad at his house, but unfortunatly my sons dad passed away a month ago, so we have had to take them on suddenly. My partner is unwell and has lung problems that is why we cant not keep them in the house. I wanted to keep them for my sons sake and keep the memory of his dad and him caring for the dragons. We have a viv in the shed, it's four foot by two feet. It has a strip light at the top and a heat lamp, and heat mat on one side, the temp is 100 at one end and 80 at the other end, it has a sensor which can turn the heat lamp off if it gets too hot. I have been turning the light and heat lamp off at night but keeping the heat mat on, I know as the nights get colder I will have to give it more heat, I just did not know if I could keep e heat lamp on all night too ? I will insulate the shed too. I will also take note of all your suggestions. Thanks guys, and any more advise would be great to hear.


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Ace111 said:


> Thanks everybody for your advice, it will really help me out. it was never my plan to have Bearded Dragons and keep them in the shed ! My 11 year old son kept them with his dad at his house, but unfortunatly my sons dad passed away a month ago, so we have had to take them on suddenly. My partner is unwell and has lung problems that is why we cant not keep them in the house. I wanted to keep them for my sons sake and keep the memory of his dad and him caring for the dragons. We have a viv in the shed, it's four foot by two feet. It has a strip light at the top and a heat lamp, and heat mat on one side, the temp is 100 at one end and 80 at the other end, it has a sensor which can turn the heat lamp off if it gets too hot. I have been turning the light and heat lamp off at night but keeping the heat mat on, I know as the nights get colder I will have to give it more heat, I just did not know if I could keep e heat lamp on all night too ? I will insulate the shed too. I will also take note of all your suggestions. Thanks guys, and any more advise would be great to hear.


You really need to ensure he is getting the correct temps. Read a care sheet. 105-115 basking, 90-95 hot end and 75-85 cool end are the rough guidelines and the rest depends on the dragon. A heat mat will not be suffice during the night and could also be dangerous burning the dragons belly. You CAN'T keep a heat lamp on all night, it has to be heat emitting not light emitting so a ceramic heat emitter for example, your beardie still needs darkness at night time. Hope that clears it up!


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Also please ensure the light tube is changed regularly, 6 monthly for exo terra and reptisun, yearly for arcadia. You'll need to use 10-12% uvb tubes. Beardies are happy with a night time temp drop to 55°F, so a heatmat on a stat may be enough, and as long as its twice the size of the beardie or more the risk of burns are very slight. It's only when the whole heat mat is covered by the body of your animal that heat builds up to dangerous levels.

Dave


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## wezza309 (Jun 21, 2012)

I would start by insulating the shed with kingspan all over make sure the roof is extra then go from there as it will start getting cold in there very soon


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