Heat & UVB setup for glass aquariums

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​It is very challenging to set up the heating & lighting in an aquarium (or plastic tote) for a bearded dragon because they are poorly ventilated and most of the commercially available equipment does not provide the things your dragon needs.
 
Your dragon needs UVB to produce vitamin D which allows them to metabolize calcium just like us. Screen tops block 50% of the UVB while glass and plastic block 100% of the UVB. Additionally the available UVB is reduced by 50% for every inch that you move away from the bulb. With a tall aquarium and a screen top your dragon may not be actually be getting very much UVB at all. As UVB bulbs age their UVB output decreases so after a few months they may not be getting any UVB even if the bulb is still producing it. There are some high output UVB linear bulbs on the market that are designed to be placed on top of screens but the frequency of the UVB may not all be in the beneficial range and they may have other issues. Without sufficient UVB you can give your dragon all the calcium in the world but they will not be able to absorb it.
 
They also require a basking temp of 100F or higher to efficiently digest their food and absorb the nutrients. Babies like it as hot as 120F.  
I think you are doing all the right stuff except for the coil UVB bulb. The compact fluorescents have multiple issues but the one that is most important in your situation is that it only provides a small area of UVB coverage, and not all of it is in the beneficial range. Additionally if it is on top of a screen then the screen is blocking 50% of the UVB. It also decreases 50% for every inch you move away from the bulb. Depending on how the UVB is set up they may not be getting much UVB at all. The dragon needs the UVB to make vitamin D so they can absorb the calcium. With so little UVB coverage they probably can’t produce enough vitamin D to absorb all of the calcium you are giving them. I don’t know what you are keeping them in but it would be a good idea to switch out the compact fluorescent bulb for a tubular fluorescent bulb. I only use the repti-sun 10.0. That would provide you a lot more coverage so they can get more UVB and produce more vitamin D.
 
If you are keeping them in an aquarium or some sort of a bin it would be easy to set up a UVB light. You can go to walmart and buy an 18” under cabinet fluorescent fixture and 18” reptisun 10.0 UVB bulbs. Remove the plastic cover since plastic & glass block 100% of the UVB. I drilled holes in the fixture but you could just wrap some stiff wire around the ends of the light so you can hang it over the side of the aquarium or bin. This putts it under the screen and moves it closer to the dragon so they can get a lot more UVB allowing them to produce more vitamin D and metabolize more calcium.  Set the light so they can get 4”-5” inches away from the bulb. Bearded dragons can get sunburned so you need to make sure they can get away from the UVB if they want. If the bin/aquarium are longer than 18” then that’s not a problem, but if it is smaller you could put in a cave, box, or bowl with openings cut into them to work as a cave.
 
The other thing you want to think about is the basking temp. I don’t know how old/big the dragon is but the adults need a basking temp of 100-110 degrees, and babies like it as hot as 120. The higher heat speeds up their metabolism allowing them to process foods and absorb nutrients much faster. The problem with aquariums & bins is that they are poorly ventilated so if you have the basking temp at an appropriate temp then it may not have an appropriate temp gradient (cool end). To provide the appropriate temp and maintain an appropriate gradient I have come up with this setup. Go to home depot or Lowes and get a “New Work Ceiling Box with Large Hanger Bar”. Flatten the ends and bend them so they hook over the sides of the aquarium/bin and attach a “Keyless White Porcelain Lamp holder”. I use an extension cord for the wiring so I can leave about 2’ of wire from the side you plug things into so you can plug the fluorescent fixture into the basking fixture. . I also sell these for $25.00 already made. This moves the light inside the enclosure and allows you to use a much lower wattage bulb to get the appropriate basking temp without heating the entire enclosure preserving the temp gradient. The basking bulb should be a 50W basking bulb or a 45W spot halogen bulb. Depending on the height of the aquarium/bin you may need a 75W basking bulb. Once they are able to move a little better you can raise the fluorescent fixture a little and place a branch (grapevine) under the basking spot and angle it up to within about 3” of the fluorescent bulb so the dragon can crawl closer to the uvb if they want. 

Heat & UVB setup & Modifications for glass "bearded dragon enclosures"

​​Many of the “bearded dragon” enclosures sold through pet stores are not actually appropriate for them. They have many of the same issues as glass aquariums including inadequate ventilation, and difficulty providing sufficient UVB, & a proper temperature gradient. A lot of them come with compact fluorescent bulbs. The compact fluorescent bulbs can blind and can kill your dragon. If you google “compact fluorescent UVB and bearded dragon Blindness” you can read any of the 1000's of articles but they basically say the same things, and if the 1000’s of people are wrong, according to only the manufacturers who are selling them,  is it really worth the risk.. I recommend that people who buy the compact fluorescent bulbs try to get their money back. If they can’t then throw them away I believe it is better not to give your bearded dragon the UVB that they need than to give them UVB that will blind and can kill them until you get the appropriate UVB, but you can make your own decision.

Providing sufficient UVB Is not as simple of putting a fluorescent fixture on top of the enclosure. Glass & plastic block 100% of the UVB. Screen blocks 50%. The UVB is also decreased by 50% for every inch you move away from the source. When you place the fixture on the screen they would need to get pretty close to it to receive a sufficient amount of UVB. We recommend that the UVB coverage only be ½ the length of the enclosure so they can get away from it if they want. You can suspend the fluorescent fixture from the screen inside the enclosure. If you fixture is more than ½ the length of the enclosure tape something over part of the bulb to block some of the light (UVB).

​Another issue is the basking temperature & temperature gradient. Unfortunately aquariums & aquarium type enclosure retain heat. Bearded dragons live at room temperature. They only need to heat up to digest their food. This is why basking lights are spot lights. They only heat a spot, not the entire enclosure. Most of the commercial bearded dragon enclosures have a little ventilation, but it is generally inadequate to provide a proper temp gradient so the dragon can thermoregulate. Additionally if you place the basking light on the screen top then the 1st thing you are heating is the cool air intake so you are actually pre-warming the cool air which decreases the temp gradient. This can be address by adding ventilation & moving the basking fixture inside the enclosure. Here are a few things we have done to “modify” the bearded dragon enclosures so they are appropriate for bearded dragons.

We dis-assembled the dome light and made a hole in the screen top. We then attached the ceramic socket on the inside of the screen. You could also attach a fixture similar to the one for the aquarium above. 

We had the glass beneath the door cut into 3 pieces so we can add a vent the entire length of the enclousre. You could also replace the glass with acrylic. The 3" vent is attached with 100% pure silicone. 

Download Aquarium Heat & UVB Setup instructions