Ventilation in viv how much is needed ?

hi im new to bearded dragons i have had mine since october , i am trying to find out how much ventilation is needed and can you have too much ?

i have reacently added more vents to my vivexotic viv 4x2 , standard it comes with 3 oval at the top and 2 at the bottom on the main back 4x2.
vents are about 4 inch by 1 inch , but i have added my own aswell

6 more on top back / 3 on each side at the bottom and 1 on bottom back , which are 64mm

i have noticed my temps are dropping a bit basking 102 cool end 70 -75
middle about 85 , but it has got colder with the weather outside

my thermostat cant seem to get the viv as hot as it used to i could get it to 107 f and 80 f . is this down to the cold outside or the extra vents ?

if i swap a 150 watt bulb in for my 100 it goes to 125 f and i could dim the stat that way! ,i didnt leave it in too long cause its massive and i think killer might get too close killer is the dragon , so i changed back to the 100 watt ,



i will put some pictures of the extra vents so everyone can see , and should i block some up ! maybe the bottom ones on the sides 2x2 or should i put the 150 in . i dont want to use the 150 cause i use a bc to es converter for the bulb and it says 100watt max , and i have used a converter before what was 60 watt max and it sent my thermostat funny going bright/high then dull /low , i didnt no at the time about the maximum power handiling on the converters so i have bought new ones for 100 watt bulbs but cant find them for 150 watt bulb

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100w-light-b...4174613&sr=8-5

you have a lot of vents i have a 3x2x18 and have only 2 back vents with 0 issues only using a 45 watt bulb and have to dim it,so might have to use a high wattage bulb with dimmer and try to hit the sweet spot

I suspect the temp change is a combination of both the increased ventilation and the cooler room temps. Rather than jump to a bigger bulb, you might want to try blocking off a few of the vents first...see if that helps.

You can also try raising the basking spot higher, but use a thermostat on the highest basking spot to get that temperature. The main question is, is he active and eating or sleepy. Also insulating the outside of the enclosure helps.

thanks for the replies

i will try blocking the bottom vents off and raise the basking area up 1 inch and see if that does the trick

as for his behavior thats another matter , 1 month ago i fed him an adult roach the next day i noticed blood when he poo'd that happened every other day for a week , so i had some poo test's done . they came back saying he had yeast , protozoa , flageletes . so the vet said she could feel an impaction and did xrays 8 of them £90 for 2 and gave him barium dye to see if she could see it go through his system . but they showed nothing .blood test £ 90, ultra sound.

panacur 0 .2 for 3 days
baytril 0 .25 for 10 days and liquid parafin 0.5 twice a day . £450 so far as she did not charge for all the xray's cause they all looked exactly the same !!

all that did was stop him eating so i have been giving him baby food mixed with critical care and avipro plus , he came off his baytril 12 days ago i gave him the baby food for 1 week after the antibiotics then stopped it over the weekend and gave him his live food he ate nothing all weekend except the bugs i force fed him , he went from 507 grams to 487 grams from friday to sunday !! he is only just over 6 months old d .o.b 1 june 2011

i have been in contact with the breeder mark pickstock ( fire and ice uk representitave ) since all this started and he was the one who told me to do the poo test , what drugs to get off the vet when the test came back ( panacur and flagyl ) what to feed the dragon (baby food mix) . but the vet went with some other stuff . mark has been a massive help i ring 3-4 times a week and he will stay on the phone for 30 minutes at a time . i bet he regrets selling me him

monday i went to the vets but the vet i saw the first time was off so i saw the vet who;s practice it is told her killer was worse and mark pickstock said i need some medication to get rid of the flagelets and protoza
and she gave me metronidazole 50mg/kg at 0.6 ml a day ? mark said for a 500 gram dragon he would give 0.3 (mark pickstock is vetenarinary trained but not practicing ) as that seem a lot and to keep a close eye on him .
today is his second day and he has gone behind his bamboo root and buried his head down and gone to sleep 2 hours before his lights go out and he was there when i got back from work to give him his 4 oclock feed 5ml babyfood . 7am and 4 pm is when i feed him . but has not been there all day as someone else was in and he has been up

have any of you used metronidazole 50mg/kg at 0.6 ml a day ?? or do you think this sounds a lot . i will be ringing the vet tomorrow as she was not in work when i rang today to double check the dosage