beardie setup ?

[furniture_guy]

I am setting up a 125 gallon aquarium for 2 beardies and have a couple questions. As far as the basking lamp goes what is a good wattage to maintain the proper temperature? It will be set on top of the tank. Also, at the moment my tank has no screen top till I build one, could they possibly escape? The tank is 2' high, 2' deep and 4' long and the highest point they could reach is about a foot high. One more question are 4' long UVB/UVA fluorescent bulbs expensive? Could I get away with a 2 foot bulb?

Thanks!

[Beardedragon]

Alright, first off, you will need a bigger cage for two beardies. That one is that bare minimum for just one, and even after that housing beardies together is not only not recommended but an extreme danger to their health. For a cage that big get a mvb bulb. - Matt

[furniture_guy]

how is that too small of a cage? when all the reptile stores near me have babies in 10 gal tanks and are 3-4 in a tank?

[Beardedragon]

how is that too small of a cage? when all the reptile stores near me have babies in 10 gal tanks and are 3-4 in a tank?

They have theirs in too small cages as well They will also be selling them. If you look half the time they will be missing toes or tips of their tails because of cage mates, and when they get older male and male will fight, male and female, male WILL breed female to DEATH, and female and female might work, but there are still dominance issues and it rarely works out. Two beardies need a 6x4x2 cage, and if you cannot provide it, then stick with one beardie. Just like humans they love space that they might not even use, if you were sharing a a bed room with lets say your wife, and you just got a new house, would you pick the smallest kid bedrooms or one of the bigger ones?

[rocko]

Ive kept my two in a 4 foot by 2 foot cage for years and they have more then enough room.For the uvb buy a powersun or a mecury vapor bulb from reptile supply,they work alot better for me rather then the tubes.

[furniture_guy]

Thanks for the info on the tank size and lighting! One more question, I have a 50 watt repti heat cable will that provide enough heat through the glass and my astro turf substate? or would it be possible to put it between the glass and substrate?

[Funky#2]

Alright, first off, you will need a bigger cage for two beardies. That one is that bare minimum for just one, and even after that housing beardies together is not only not recommended but an extreme danger to their health. For a cage that big get a mvb bulb. - Matt

125 gal is bare minimum for one beardie?

[Beardedragon]

125 gal is bare minimum for one beardie?

Yup, one adult beardie. Much easier to build one though, cost about $100 to build one and set it up.

[Funky#2]

Yup, one adult beardie. Much easier to build one though, cost about $100 to build one and set it up.

Once again the CARE SHEET provided on this site says the complete opposite, it's getting pretty confusing with all the contradicting information going around. This site's care sheet says a 40 gal is minimum for an adult, but 55 gal is prefered. I'm not implying who is right and who is wrong, but the differences are pretty significant.

[rocko]

A 55 gallon is more then big enough for one beardie.