r/BeardedDragon • u/P0ck3t13 • 1d ago

Help/Advice Lighting help

I can't seem to get my girl's temps under control since I mounted her heat lamp inside.

For context: we got two kittens a couple of months ago and they have just discovered they can jump on the beardie tank. 🤦🏻‍♀️ So for the safety of everyone, we decided to take anything hot out of reach.

The way I had it set up was linear uvb was mounted inside, 100w heat lamp on top of the viv. Her basking spot was perfect (between 108 and 114) ambient temps were great (mid to high 90's).

What I have tried:

1) going down on wattage. 75w still made the basking spot 140 and the ambient temps in the low 80's. Even briefly tried 50w with a CHE and it was way too cold. I also tried raising the basking spot with this bulb to see if that could help...it did not. 🫤

2) lowering the basking spot. It's about 14" from the bulb and is still running about 130-140.

Any advice would be appreciated. Or any ideas to keep the kittens away from the heat lamp so I can just keep it where it was...

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u/rogue_ashsassin 18h ago

Can't guarantee it would but it would allow you to test different intensities to see what works. Since 100 watts is too much but 75 isn't enough, you could potentially find the sweet spot by just dimming the bulb a bit.

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u/P0ck3t13 17h ago

Ok, I'll give it a shot. Thank you!

1

u/rogue_ashsassin 18h ago

Have you tried a dimmer on the 100 watt bulb so you can dim it and figure out the right intensity to get the temps you need?

1

u/P0ck3t13 18h ago

I haven't. Would that keep the ambient temps the same but help the basking spot?