# How to set up Beardie temps



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Ok thought I'd post this due to a few temp issues going around at the moment.

I'm going to be presuming you have a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft vivarium, a dimmer thermostat and a 100W spotlight bulb for ease of explaining. As well as two digital thermometers. Ideally you could do with 3 but two will surfice.

For a 100W spot bulb, set it approx 10 inches above your basking spot if you can. Move your rocks / wood until there is a 10 inch space between them and the bulb.

*Setting basking temperature*

Set your dimmer stat at its lowest setting.

Put your stat probe on the back wall, approx 5 inches or so away from basking spot.

Put a thermometer next to it the probe, perferably digital thermometer

Now put a second digital thermometer at your basking spot.

Turn on your lights and check temperatures. They will be fairly low to start as your stat is still turned down low.

Now slowly turn your stat up until your light comes on. Then leave it alone until the light starts to dim. Check your basking spot temperature. It will probably still be too low for basking temp.

Slowly turn it up again, just enough so that the light stops dimming. Again wait until it starts to dim again. Check your temperatures.

Keep slowly tweeking the stat until your basking temperature hits around 110 and 115F. Stop.

Now leave it for at least an hour then check your side temperature. If that is at approx 90F then your temperatures are set. leave the probe exactly where it is and do not adjust your stat anymore.
*
If your hot side temperature is too cool. *
Move the stat probe an inch further to the cool side. 
Leave for an hour.
Check your basking temperature and you will find that it needs setting again. 
Repeat 'setting basking temperature' steps.

*If your hot side temperature is too hot.*
Move the stat probe an inch closer to the hot side.
Leave for an hour.
Check your basking temperature and you will find that it needs setting again. 
Repeat 'setting basking temperature' steps.


If your temperature on one of your thermometers doesn't change for some reason, check it by directing the basking bulb direcly at it. If it doen't change then its possibly faulty. replace.

Once your basking temperature is set, then it should not need setting again and you should leave your stat alone from now on. Don't tweek.

On a morning when you first turn on your lights, your basking temperature is likely to go fairly high. This is because the heat from the basking lamp has not had time to warm up the vivarium and 'turn off' your stat probe. This is normal, do not adjust your stat.

If your basking temp stays about 120f for more than 4 hours then you need to repeat, setting up your basking spot.

(subject to what season of the year it is, in winter it will take longer to warm up your viv, in summer it should take less time) 

Put the third thermometer at your cool side, that should never read higher than 80F (give or take a degree or two for error)
If your cool side is too hot, then you need to move your basking spot further over into your hot side and re-adjust your stat. If that doesn't work then check that you have enough ventilation in your viv. If need be you can put an extra vent in at the cool side of the viv to allow for more air exchange. Rather have it too cool than too hot.



I'm sure I've missed a few tips / tricks out on this that others could add.


----------



## traceg1969 (May 17, 2011)

could i try 150 w heat bulb


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

traceg1969 said:


> could i try 150 w heat bulb


In a 4x2x2. yes you could but its overkill and will be harder for you to get your temperatures set right due to the extra heat. Most of the time it will be dimmed down and in the morning it will be baking hot until your system temperatures rise.

Doable but not advisable.

Would depend purely on the size of your viv really.


----------



## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

for mines the probe is bang in the middle of the back wall stat getg turned to 84f and then adjust basking temps accordingly and i end up with a 108 basking spot and 78 cool end and thats with a 60 watt r80 reflector bulb: victory:

also these temps stay the sameall the time and rarely move unless the viv is open etc etc


----------



## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

igonre that post i didnt read the first post proparly lol

sorry still a tad drunk from last night and eyes and brain aint functioning to well just now:bash:


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

kirky1980 said:


> igonre that post i didnt read the first post proparly lol
> 
> sorry still a tad drunk from last night and eyes and brain aint functioning to well just now:bash:



O_O you have brain function? Amazing :lol2:


Stick your notes in Kirkby. different size vivs need different tweeks.


----------



## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

nicnet said:


> O_O you have brain function? Amazing :lol2:
> 
> 
> Stick your notes in Kirkby. different size vivs need different tweeks.


 
yeah they are just about working now. 5 hours ago there would of been no chance :lol2:


----------



## Amazonia (Mar 6, 2011)

*Can I ask something?*

Can the regular Habistat dimmer thermostat be set to drop its temperature at nighttime? I need to buy a thermostat for my new viv but I wasn't sure if I'd need to get one of those night/day ones..

Thanks!


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Personally i'd try a 60w or 75w in a 4x2x2 before trying a 100w. You want to try and get your temperatures right and to dim the bulb as little as possible.





Amazonia said:


> Can the regular Habistat dimmer thermostat be set to drop its temperature at nighttime? I need to buy a thermostat for my new viv but I wasn't sure if I'd need to get one of those night/day ones..
> 
> Thanks!


you'll need a day / night one if you want to use the same heating device at night time... but what are you planning to use as you don't want a light bulb in there and switched 24/7


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Amazonia said:


> Can the regular Habistat dimmer thermostat be set to drop its temperature at nighttime? I need to buy a thermostat for my new viv but I wasn't sure if I'd need to get one of those night/day ones..
> 
> Thanks!


You don't need to control nighttime temps as long as they dont drop below 60F minimum.

Once your dimmer is set, then leave it alone, dont twiddle with it or you will need to reset it each day and your temps will always be fluctuating wildly.

Only time you will need heat on a night is possibly in the winter, then use a simple heat mat attached to the inside side of your viv where the beardie can't get to it. That can be put on a mat stat which is a lot cheaper than the night/day systems to set up.

Keep a check on night temps. but as long as your house isnt cold then beardies temps should be fine on a night. I think most of us keep our houses at a warm enough temp anyway.


----------



## Amazonia (Mar 6, 2011)

I purchased this online yesterday so I'm hoping it will be okay: 

Arcadia Halogen Basking Spot - Surrey Pet Supplies

Arcadiajohn said a dimmer would be fine for the halogen lamp. 

My head's pickled from reading about all the options lol. :crazy:

My flat does tend to get cold esp in winter but apparently the desert temps drop quite a bit anyway? But I could get a heat mat as a night-time back up for when the halogen is off?


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Amazonia said:


> I purchased this online yesterday so I'm hoping it will be okay:
> 
> Arcadia Halogen Basking Spot - Surrey Pet Supplies
> 
> ...



lol yips it can get a bit of a minefield if you don't know what your looking for.

You could set up a heat mat for ambient nighttime temp yes. Just make sure that your beardie cant lay on it or lean against it. fix it to the side wall. You can put it on a timer to turn on when your main system turns off. I'd set it at the hot side of the viv so even on a night your beardie has the choice of temps if s/he wants. They get used to one side being hot and will associate that side with getting warm. Most beardies go spark out on a night though and not many move around once they are in 'sleep mode'

As long as your room temperature doen't drop below 16C then your viv temps should be fine. Winter is the issue though. but most of us keep our room temps above 19C in winter anyway.


----------



## Amazonia (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks, that's a relief. Don't want to buy stuff only to have to send it back because it's not what I need. This is definitely a learning curve! 

I checked the temp in here just now and it's 60 degrees according to the thermometer on my ancient barometer. So I'll get a heatmat for when it's colder. 

Cheers!


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

To be honest i've never taken any notice of the 'never let it get less that 16c' and never had any problems. Beardies come from Australia and if winters in Oz didn't go below 16c then they'd never sell any coats.


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

What kind of temp would you class as absolute minimum them Meko?


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

to be honest, my house gets very cold in winter (cos i'm cheap and turn the heating off) and although i don't have a beardie any more i never had any issues. 
Although; if you look at the average temperatures of Australia Australian Historical Climate Data and i believe beardies come from the Alice Springs area, it gets almost as cold there as it does here; which will probably be why beardies brumate. They also won't be 'cold' for a long time as the viv and house will cool down; with minimum temperatures only hitting for a couple of hours maximum.


----------



## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

last year just before xmas when it was freezing it was minus 20 odd in dundee and iv still not used extra heating and my beardies viv went down 56f overnight for a couple of those nights and i had no problems with it.

iv been to oz a few times and my aunt lives about a half hours drive outside of brisbane and in the outback as they call it and believe me yeah its 40 odd degrees during the day but at night you would never beleive how cold it is at night. so they do anything but freeze out there. i think the 16c is just typical of the cottonwool people seem to wrap there reps up in and dont give the reptiles the credit they deserve for things like that.


----------



## reptilemad123 (Nov 15, 2011)

Sorry for the bump. My basking spot bulb has reach 40c but the bulb isnt that bright? Will that be a problem.


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Its not the brightness of the bulb your looking for, its the actual basking temp itself thats the key.

If your dimmer is keeping your bulb dimmed then its doing its job as intended. If its pretty much permanently dimmed though then you might want to think of putting in a lower wattage bulb.

Idea of the dimmer is as a backup mainly to stop any overheat, if you can get the temps set to where there is no dimming but your temps are right then its perfectly set. That way if you see your lights dim at any point you know that you need to start checking for overheating, more so in the summer. If you get overheating then start cooling measures. Open up any spare vents (we keep a couple of sliding wall vents in ours for this purpose) or open the viv doors a bit to allow for more air exchange.

handy thing we found was one of those car window guards for dogs, They fit in quite nicely into a viv glass door and allow for cooling.




(update on this thread)

Originally stated as using a 100W spot bulb for a 4x2x2 viv. I've now downgraded those to 60W spots and temps seem to hold much better with much less dimming on the stats.


----------



## xxbeckybabesxx (Sep 13, 2009)

I have a 3ft viv that's about 15inches depth what does the temps need to be as I find myself tweaking it. I have a habistat thermostat not a dimmerstat. My basking will be 116 highest then when it goes off it goes to 99 lowest then comes back on again. The probe is about 6-7 inches from the Cool end which is where I was told on here to move it too.


----------



## RichNick (Apr 1, 2008)

nicnet said:


> Its not the brightness of the bulb your looking for, its the actual basking temp itself thats the key.



I dont believe that statement is true. If the bulb is not bright enough you can cause sight problems from the UV lighting hence why ceramic bulbs are not recommended. They key is to create sufficient air flow to cool the viv down for the cool end so the light will stay on.

I also would never recommend using as stat to control temperatures for a reptile that needs a temperature gradient. It should only be used as a safety switch to make sure there is always a cool side to retreat to. On hot days when the basking spot could be correct as can the warm side but there is not a lot of heat lost due to ambient temperatures of the room the cool side would just become another warm side with the light on giving little variation from basking temps.

A beardie will be fine if they is cool for a day, they will just be a bit sluggish where as a overheated beardie with no cool side can end up with neurological problems and worse case scenario die.


----------



## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

RichNick said:


> I dont believe that statement is true. If the bulb is not bright enough you can cause sight problems from the UV lighting hence why ceramic bulbs are not recommended.


I agree the basking spot has to be very bright. 



RichNick said:


> I also would never recommend using as stat to control temperatures for a reptile that needs a temperature gradient. It should only be used as a safety switch to make sure there is always a cool side to retreat to


I agree with this also but since they have banned normal light bulbs in the uk the only bulbs you can get are halogen bulbs and they really are not safe to be used without a dimmer stat to keep them under control. 

I got enough of the old safe bulbs to last me a year so for now I can just leave the thermostat in the cool end set to 85f as a safety switch

But soon we will all have to setup temps like nicet has done using the dimmer to control temps but personally I would go with 40w-60w.


----------



## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

When I originally wrote this I was using 100W spots and it was more in the nature of a 'how to' with those dimmers that will not set at the temps we need them. I'm now using 60W spots and the dimmers rarely kick in now. usually its got to be a fairly hot day before they start dimming at all. So they are in essence set as emergency shut offs.

Problem I have seen is that most people will buy those reptile spot lights sold at shops (until they are told to just get them from local supermarket) and those things get super hot. I put the 75W Arcadia ones in and was constantly struggling to keep cool side temps in check nevermind the hot side ambients and basking. I'm sat in front of my vivs pretty much all day every day when I'm up so can easily keep a check on temps so could possibly get away without dimmers at a push. Those who are not able to sit and observe like I can would have no chance of controlling those temps without a dimmer. After replacing 3 of them twice in a couple of month at £13 each (blasted things only lasted a month each) I gave up on them and went back to the bog standard supermarket ones.

This is that those blasted things don't go up to the temps we need them at, so having to offset them to the side like that and work out the ambient to control the basking / cool side is a demon of a job to work out for a new keeper.


What we need is a dimmer system with a remote strip probe that can send a remote signal to alarm / dimmer / on,off. One that can be set acurately at a higher temp.

Would be great if we could get 3 remote sensors attached to one central system where if any of those 3 temps went out of range it could either dim / shut off the heat.


----------



## DStruct (Sep 27, 2016)

Hi when you say put the stat probe on the back wall 5 inches away from the basking bulb.. do you mean parallel with the bulb but on the wall behind it or do you mean 5 inches away from the bulb into the cold side?
Also how high or low up on the wall should the probe be, the floor, 1/4 from floor or half way?
Thanks


----------



## Azastral (Jun 6, 2015)

This thred is over five years old, and by members who are no longer active.

Its not bad as a rough guide of how to look at balancing temps, but i wouldnt follow it exactly.

Probe placement depends on the type of stat you are using (high range will be situated closer to the basking spot than a regular stat) as well as how you are balancing your temps. It can be controlled from the cool end, from the basking spot, from a mid area.... all depends on your specific setup.

*The important bit is this:
The cool end is cool enough that it is 24C or UNDER ambient temp.
The basking spot is warm enough that it is 42C to 45C surface temp.
Natural stone is strongly recommended for use with a basking site due to how it reacts with heat.*

Get those right and the viv will do the rest creating a gradient, its this range that you need that is one of the factors as to why you need at least a 4ft long viv, 2x2 deep/high. Its not just about space for the animal, but the space you need to create that environment. And that really is a complete minimum size. You will have noticed recently that John talks about 5x3x2... makes this whole process far easier, and is far better for the animal. (Personally, my dream when im rich and have a place i can fit 4 of them is to get 6ft long, 3ft deep 3 ft high....)

If your cool end is good, but basking spot too low, you can start by looking at :
more powerful basking bulb/Different type of basking bulb
raising the basking site so it is closer ( But NEVER closer to the bulb surface than 25cm/10 inches)

If your cool end is too high but your basking spot too low:
Look at a reflector dome for your basking bulb, to direct the heat better.
Different type of bulb.
Improve the ventilation/air flow

This is part of the reason why its highly recommended to get your kit in advance, so you can set the viv up and play with the temps until you can get it to balance....after all the back and forth you'll be grateful that you didnt have to worry about the beardie itself during that time.

If you are having problems, i would suggest opening a new thread and going through how you have it currently set up and describe what issues you are having.


----------

