Glass vivarium lid?

[shane.tucker.royal08]

Hi

I've just bought a 4ft glass tank which i will be home to a beardie after christmas and i'm going to be making a lid for it.

At the moment i have the idea of a hinged 9mm MDF lid. Of course i will be adding all the necessary air vents etc but i was thinking about UV bulbs and realised that having a UV tube would make taking the lid off and on a pain in the backside. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get round this? I was thinking of getting a E27 compact reptile lamp instead of the tubes but would this provide enough UV in a 4ft viv?

Be real helpful if anyone has any pictures of what they've done with their glass tanks!

Cheers

Shane

[tortz]

whats the overall size of the glass tank

[shane.tucker.royal08]

Originally Posted by newtort

whats the overall size of the glass tank

48 x 15 x 12 clearseal tank

[tortz]

ok,

This viv should be fine for a few months while he/she is still young.

So the lid you want to be making, really only need to be secure, and not fancy!

I personnally wouldn't buy of of the compact tops with the UVB tubes inside. There not best suited for a bearded dragon, also with the BD quickly outgrowing the viv, why spend all that extra money on a lid, that your only going to be able to use for a few months...

What I would do is...

The get some 9/12/15mm MDF and cut to fit the top, drill two holes where the cable from the UVB strip will go through at the back, and use a couple of clamps the clip on the cable to hold it in place.

Then you need either your ceramic heater or bulb (which ever your using) and attach this to the lid also.

To stop the lid from being able to move, you could cut it a little larger, and put some edging on it. sort of like a very plain and simple upside down tray.

When the BD, has grown to sub adult size(ish) you can think about moving him/she to a more suitable size viv, Personally i'd go for a wooden viv this time! its alot easier to put all the lighting and heating in place then!

[shane.tucker.royal08]

Thanks for the reply, thats useful. Although i was more asking if a compact UVB bulb would be sufficient or would i need to get one of the long tubes.

What size vivarium would you recommend? i was under the impression that a 4ft tank would be large enough for an adult beardie?!

[tortz]

alot of people dont reccommend the use of the compact bulbs for bearded dragons.

4ft lenght is prob the min size you need yes, but its the depth and height that your going to struggle with.

If you imaging that the average size of a BD is between 15 - 24 inch long, if he did grow to the maximum he wouldn't be able to turn around in the glass viv very easily.

The min reccomended size is 4ft long 2ft deep and 2ft high. (personnally i would go abit bigger!)

That size viv for an adult, will give him/her plenty of space to move about, bask, hide, hunt etc.

hope that helps

[tortz]

Have a read of this regarding the compact bulbs...

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizar...-uv-bulbs.html

[shane.tucker.royal08]

Thats really useful thanks, definately be sticking to a UV tube then!! Since your earlier comment i've had a look around and seems your right and i will need a larger tank - when i was told i needed a 4ft tank i kinda assumed the width and depth would be standard. no problem tho, i'll build a larger one after christmas!

cheers for your help!