Blue Tongue UV, Heat Lamps and Thermostat Questions

[Reptiles101]

Hey guys,

I'm picking up a brand new 3 foot melanin tank for my blue tongue Jinxy. I've got a few questions about UV, heat lamps and the thermostat.

1. The UV is going to be the length of the tank, is a Repti-Glow 5.0 what I need to use? Also how far away dose my blue tongue (Jinxy) need to be to absorb the UV rays?

2. How many light fittings would I need?

3. Are the IMIT Thermostats what I need in the tank?

 

[treeofgreen]

Hey guys,

I'm picking up a brand new 3 foot melanin tank for my blue tongue Jinxy. I've got a few questions about UV, heat lamps and the thermostat.

1. The UV is going to be the length of the tank, is a Repti-Glow 5.0 what I need to use? Also how far away dose my blue tongue (Jinxy) need to be to absorb the UV rays?

2. How many light fittings would I need?

3. Are the IMIT Thermostats what I need in the tank?

Hey mate

1. go the 10.0 (sun is much stronger anyway). Check the packaging, but i think from memory the effective range dies out at about ~30cm

2. How many lights do you want? lol... 1 for heat bulb, 1 for the UVB. Or.... you could just have 1 light fitting and use a Mercury Vapour Bulb(MVB) as they provide both UVA(heat) and UVB (for Vit D etc)

3. you just need an thermostat that works. $10 ones off ebay have done well for me

 

[Reptiles101]

Thanks, I'm thinking 3 heat lamp fittings, and 1 UV tube fitting, is this okay?

 

[Grogshla]

3 heat lamps might be a bit over board mate. How big is the enclosure?

 

[Reptiles101]

The enclosure is going to be 3 foot

 

[treeofgreen]

Just one lamp fitting will be fine. You want to provide a thermal gradient so your bluey can move to cooler areas etc

 

[Reptiles101]

Thanks treeofgreen. Will one 40 wattage heat lamp be okay

 

[treeofgreen]

Thanks treeofgreen. Will one 40 wattage heat lamp be okay

No worries buddy!

All depends how far it is away from the "basking spot"

I would just goto woolies or coles and buy some spotlight bulbs of varying wattage and just test away. You dont need any special reptile bulb for your heatlamp.. why pay $20 when you can pay a few dollars

40w may never get to the heat you want, and a 150w may be too much and the thermostat would switch on and off and kill the globe faster. Its abit of balance work, but easy and inexpensive if you hitup woolies/coles for bulbs

 

[Reptiles101]

can u feed a blue tongue plain vanilla yoghurt?

 

[Grogshla]

dont run a thermostat with a basking bulb. Just keep measuring the temp with a digital thermometer to make sure that the temps are right. Only use a thermostat with heatmats

 

[Grogshla]

can u feed a blue tongue plain vanilla yoghurt?

seriously?

 

[Amazing Amazon]

Pretty crazy advise! A white light flashing on and off on a thermostat will drive the lizard crazy! You need a ceramic or infra red connected to your thermostat if using one.

 

[Grogshla]

Agreed with above but for a bluey a proper basking light would be better. It would simulate the day night cycle much better.

 

[Reptiles101]

seriously?

Yeah, as she won't eat anything, I though maybe I could give it a try.

 

[Grogshla]

set up the enclosure properly with the correct heat and lighting then worry about feeding your lizard.
No point feeding it if it can't digest coz the heat is wrong.

 

[treeofgreen]

Pretty crazy advise! A white light flashing on and off on a thermostat will drive the lizard crazy! You need a ceramic or infra red connected to your thermostat if using one.

Pretty crazy advise! A white light flashing on and off on a thermostat will drive the lizard crazy! You need a ceramic or infra red connected to your thermostat if using one.

Thats why i said to balance it. Been running lights on thermos for years... Has saved me numerous times when say i goto work and the weather is a bloody stinker. I would have come home to a fried animal.

Ceramic or infrared is a good point, go for that, again you would need to balance it as it would just kill the ceramic or infrared faster and go through $20+ ceramics like hot chips...

Either way you go, you need to balance it... if your light turns off a few times a day... ill take that compared to a dead animal.

 

[treeofgreen]

Also as far as i was aware... the red light from a infrared bulb is very visable to reptiles, its just not as "harsh" as a white light. (maybe someone else can confirm or deny this?)

So have an appropriate wattage bulb to avoid either white or red techno rave and you should be fine.

Or go a ceramic if you are worried about the light turning on and off.

 

[lizardwhisperer]

This is what I do for mine .
24/7 running 5W or 7W heatpad under a layer of tiles controlled by thermostat (aim = 35 degrees C) with a hide on top, 5% UVB compact fluorescent globe (about 20W) , 75W ceramic heat emitter on another thermostat (basking spot aim = 35 degrees C) AND a small W spot light to illiminate the basking spot (both these on a timer).I also provide a second hide in the cool zone.
Mine love crawling through and burying themselves in kritters crumble.