I'm workin on a simple design for a bearded dragon enclosure. I plan on doing a 3' x 2' x 2' enclosure out of melamine with a sliding glass door on the front.

My questions include lighting options. I know they need a high temp basking area and UVB rays.. which I would accomplish with a basking bulb and a UVB bulb. I was planning to use this type of fixture...
http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x465/powerspythons/363-4091.jpg
...for both of the lights. Would that work? If I put one on each side of the cage and did the basking bulb in one side and the UVB bulb in the other??

Also, what is the best substrate? Some sources say sand is good others say you'd be an idiot to use it because of impaction issues..what say you BLBC?? I was thinking some kind of mulch or sanichips...are those used by anyone?

:cheers:

I'd put the UVB light next to the heat light seeing as it looks like you're going to be using one of the coil kinds if you're using two fixtures that look like that. That way it's getting a better dose as it basks. The UVB lights are only good for a certain distance, you'd have to check your brand to see what that is.

My opinion on sand... and y'all can feel free to bash away.. go ahead and use it. IF you're feeding them well. If you are only feeding every 3 days and only enough for them to eat in a minute than go with paper, as they are going to be so hungry that they gobble everything down, including the bedding, no matter what kind it is. Make sure that you feed greens and veggies on a dish or plate, as the sand will stick to them and be harder for them to work back out of their mouths. But yeah, if you're feeding daily, preferably a couple times a day (veggies in the morning, roaches, crickets, worms, whatever in the afternoon) you aren't going to see impaction issues.

All that being said, it's also knowing your animal. After it eats a bug, do you see it work the bedding out? If so, no problem, if it just eats like mad and swallows everything than don't use sand.