Hatchling Enclosure

[Dirty_Hampers]

First of all hello everyone! I'm new here and just got my first Tegu from Bobby Hill so I'm still learning a lot as I go through this. I've tried to do plenty of reading/asking questions to the people at my local reptile store in order to be as prepared as possible for my new addition to the family.

Through my research I've found a decent amount of conflicting opinions though, so I figure I'd post a couple pics and ask you guys if I've got a good enclosure set up.

The UVB is a reptisun 5.0 which the reptile shop owner swore was perfect for her, but after doing some reading I seem to see a lot of people saying 10.0 is the way to go... So would you recommend I switch it ASAP?

Also the basking spot lamp is just a regular heat lamp, no UVA/UVB.

Thanks guys!

 

[james.w]

I would recommend switching to the 10.0. It is a tube bulb correct?

 

[Dirty_Hampers]

Yeah, it is

 

[Vince]

I use the 10.0's as well. Higher is better, especially when you consider what their output is compared to natural sunlight. Another thing to consider is that the mesh screen on top of the enclosure will cause you to lose some UVB (it appears as though your light is on top of the screen?).

 

[Dirty_Hampers]

It is, and I certainly plan on fixing the screen problem in future enclosures. With a 10.0 bulb will I lose enough UVB for it to be harmful for her? Because I'm not quite sure how to address that problem on this tank...

 

[Diablo]

It is, and I certainly plan on fixing the screen problem in future enclosures. With a 10.0 bulb will I lose enough UVB for it to be harmful for her? Because I'm not quite sure how to address that problem on this tank...

My local reptile shop also swore on the 5.0 but I realized soon enough that everyone here uses a 10.0....I'm not sure what to do with my enclosure. I have a 20g partially setup but I found a 4ftx2ftx2ft enclosure on craigslist for like 100$ so I'm gonna get that. I don't know if putting a baby inside a 4ft enlcosure is good or not though. I'm thinking about taking my 5.0 back for a 10.0

 

[Vince]

From the measurements I've taken, the screen will usually cut somewhere between 10 to 20% of the UVB. It looks like you have the fixture as close to centered across the top as you can get it, which is good. I can't tell from the pictures, but if the underside of the hood isn't reflective, you might want to consider gluing aluminum foil to the inside of the hood, shiny side out. That will give you a pretty decent boost of UVB that's being reflected back down instead of absorbed by the hood. Usually you'll get a 20-30% output boost from doing that.

I wouldn't think it would be too little UVB for the relative short time your gu will be in that enclosure. The little guy will probably be needing a bigger enclosure within a couple of months.

In my enclosure I use two dual tube fixtures (3 ft each) end to end with the foil as described above. So there are effectively two bulbs side by side for almost the entire length of the enclosure. I buy one new bulb for each fixture every three months and replace the oldest one of the two, so at any given time one bulb is between 3 - 6 months and the other is less than 3 months old.