Light too hot??

I am a new mommy to 2 beautiful baby girls. Today they are 4 weeks old. They are both about 5 to 5 and a half inches including the tail. My camera is not working at the moment but I will try to post pictures as soon as I can fix it. They are in a 40 gallon tank. I have a desert looking background on 3 sides. There are 2 half tree trunks as hide outs, one on the warm side and one on the cooler side. I have a large piece of driftwood up against the right side (warm side) which provides a way for them to get as close as around 7 inches from the basking bulb. I recently bought a digital thermometer with a probe an I have been measuring the temps in different locations around the tank. In terms of lighting and heat I had originally gotten an R-Zilla Desert series 50 fixture which includes two "desert 50 UVB fluorescent bulbs." they are 18 watt full spectrum T5 bulbs. the fixture is 30 inches and runs along the top of the tank almost completely across (the tank is 36in long) I had also gotten a 100 watt ceramic heater for the basking spot. When i got my babies this past Saturday from a breeder at a herp show in Columbus, OH he recommended that instead of the ceramic heater I should get a bulb that gives of UV and head so they dont have to choose between basking in the heat and getting the UV rays. It sounded reasonable so he showed me the bulb that he uses. It is a Flunkers Sun Spot 100 watt bulb. I kept the ceramic heating and I figured if it gets cold during the nights in the winter I can use that to supplement the extra heat.

So the question is when I put the probe from the thermometer on the top of the driftwood near the lamp it read 127 degrees which I know is way too high. However, at the bottom part of the wood the temperature is 99 degrees. On the top of one of the hide outs which is right behind the wood directly under the long UV light the temp measures about 96 degrees. I was wondering if it is dangerous to have such a high temperature on the top of the wood if the girls just dont go all the way up there, which they dont? If it is dangerous to have temperatures so high which other bulb should I get to help regulate the temperature better?

Thanks for reading the long message, I should be able to get some pictures up soon

I always keep the probe on the highest point on the wood that is directly under the basking lamp, thats the temp i keep at around 106.

You can try raising the basking light up a bit with a clamp or something, but like backlash said, put the probe right underneath the basking light, on the highest point of the basking spot, in your case the driftwood.

Thanks for the advice, I put the probe on the top of the wood piece and it continues to stay at around 125-130 degrees. I will try to raise the lamp up higher and see if that works. I would still like to know if anyone can recommend a uv and heat bulb that maybe isnt so strong because on the cooler side of the tank it stays at around 79 or 80 degrees and I think thats too hot?

Nope, the cool side should be about 80-85 degrees, so your fine in that department.
I would try to get the temps down though, 125-130 is WAY too hot.
Leave the probe sitting on the basking spot for about 45 mins for an accurate reading.
And after you get the temps down to 105-110, maybe a good long soak is in order for your girls, just to make sure they aren't dehydrated from the heat they've been in!
Keep us updated on the adjustments you've made, and try to get your camera working! We all would love to see some pictures of your girls!
And even a picture of your set up wouldn't hurt either!

for your UV bulb, get the reptiSUN 10.0 tube florescant, they dont put off much heat so you shouldnt have to worry about it causing the temperature to rise, and for your heat bulb, it can be just a halogen flood light that you get from lowes, just find the wattage that works for your tank, they are much cheaper than getting the reptile basking lamps.

So here are some pictures:

First this is a pic of my enclosure. The right side is obviously the basking spot over top of the wood and the UV light is running along the back


Not the best pic but this is Lil, shes my fat one Shes been eating 9 crickets a day and quite a bit of greens and shes just 4 weeks old


And last but definitely not least this is Phil (short for Phyllis). Its hard to see her true colors and her fat tummy but she was hard to capture under the lights.


And while I have your attention... I am starting to suspect that Phil might actually be a boy... I recently saw her head bobbing after feeding time and I read that mostly only males do that. I tried checking at the bottom of the tail to see if she is a girl or a boy but shes so young so I really cant tell. I just dont want to cause any problems for them being housed together. But on the other hand when I got them the breeder said they were both females for sure. They do seem to get along. they often lay on the piece of wood side by side basking and have no problems. In fact, If i were to guess I would say that Lil seems to be more dominating. I also dont have the money right now to get separate housing for both of them. Any ideas!?
Thanks everyone

from what i understand, head bobbing is a sign of dominance, although males mostly do it, females also do it to show they are dominant one in the group. they should be fine together for now but most likely will have to be seperated later since one is already trying to dominate the other, this will cause the other one to not eat as much or get the best basking spot

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. I just wanted to give an update...
I moved the heat lamp more into the center of the tank against the right still instead of in the corner where the wood is. And just as an experiment I stacked the two hide outs on top of each other to provide more of a flat place for basking where they both can fit. (I have only seen them in the hide outs once which was when they were sleeping the first night I brought them home.) I left the room and came back about an hour later to find that the probe reads about 108 degrees and they are both sitting up there arm waving. (I am not sure if that was to me because I walked in or to each other.) I have not seen any aggressive type behavior today so I am thinking it was just due to the temperatures and the limited basking spots at the perfect temperature. I am either going to move the piece of wood to that spot or get a rock or another piece of wood to put there and leave the other one as it is in case they want some variety.

I didnt want to start a whole new thread for this question and it sort of is in the same category. I have been reading a lot about MVB lights and for the 4x2x2 viv I found on craigslist which I am currently trying to get ready for one of my babies I was looking into the best type of lighting for that situation. I have done a lot of reading on here about different light heat and UVB sources for that size enclosure.

I currently have a 40 gallon breeder where I had both babies housed together. When i realized that they should be split up I put a divider in the middle so they each now essentially have a 20 gallon to themselves. I was using a Flunkers Sun spot bulb which was recommended by the breeder. I am not sure if this is an MVB bulb??? I have been dusting their crickets with calcium WITH D3 and I am afraid I have been making a terrible mistake!!! Can too much D3 hurt them? or is the bulb not an MVB and I should be giving them D3??

I also have an R-Zilla UV halogen fixture that runs across the whole top of the tank. When I split the tank in half for the two babies I was having trouble regulating the temperatures on both sides with just those two lights. I added a 75watt house bulb on one of the sides which gives off a good amount of heat but not quite as much as I need. I have the Flunkers on the other side but not directly over top of the basking spot because then it gets TOO HOT!!

I am also looking into lighting fixtures for the 4x2x2 in the near future so I need LOTS AND LOTS of help here!!!

The babies are now 7 weeks old about 6 1/2 inches long and just under 15 grams. Theyre eating well and poop daily and seem to be happy.

I can post pictures if need be...

I have never heard of the Flunkers Sun spot bulb, and i didnt see anything on google about it. But for a 4'x2'x2' viv i would suggest getting either a Megaray or a Trex MVB bulb. Right now i have a Reptisun 10.0 tube in my 4foot viv, and i have constantly worrying if my little girl is getting enough UVB. I will be getting a MVB very soon, because i know i can position it easily enough so she is within the minimum distance. I am planning on installing a sliding track for a light fixture that the MVB will be on, that way i can angle the bulb and slide it back and forth to set the distance for the basking spot. Since you have two babies, if you plan on keeping them both in the big viv, i would suggest getting 2 of the bulbs, that way each baby has its own basking spot, and they wont have to fight over who gets the best UVB.

Backlash":71833 said:

I am planning on installing a sliding track for a light fixture that the MVB will be on, that way i can angle the bulb and slide it back and forth to set the distance for the basking spot. Since you have two babies, if you plan on keeping them both in the big viv, i would suggest getting 2 of the bulbs, that way each baby has its own basking spot, and they wont have to fight over who gets the best UVB.

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1st Thank you soo much for the quick response. I really appreciate it.

2nd I have another questions now:
I have read that MVB bulbs should not be placed on an angle. I am not sure if I got the information right and I am not sure why if that is the case.

3rd. I plan on keeping one in the 40 gallon that I have temporarily split up and moving one into the 4x2x2 that way they will both have sufficient space for their entire life time ... hopefully... I have heard some people say they think their beardies outgrow the 40 gallon and I am hoping this doesnt happen with mine but I guess its not something I can really control. So for now that is the plan but we will see what happens.

Thanks

hmm i havnt read that about the MVB bulbs, ill have to look into it. i did do a quick google search and some are saying not too so you are probally right. The only reason i was thinking of doing it was because the wire housing my light fixture is ontop on is about 2 inches, the fixture itself adds another 2 inches, then you have the length of the bulb itself which is pretty long, so its hard to get the minimal distance without anytype of basking platform. When i designed the cage i was only thinking of using the reptisun 10.0, so i did not make a recessed top for the lighting fixtures to go up into. Ill just have to change the design of the cage to make it work.

So I did some research and according to the Flunkers website the SunSpot bulb is in fact a MV bulb. Does this mean that I should have at least 12'' between the light and the basking spot? and does the light have to be directly on top of the basking spot? or is nearby ok?

Yes the bulb you have is MVB http://www.flukerfarms.com/sunspotmercuryvaporbulb.aspx you need 12" min distance from the blub to your BD when he's on the basking spot, this distance is for 100w-125w MVB. If your blub is a 160w like on the website link I posted then it need to be even more 15" I think someone correct me if I'm wrong.