UVA/B Flourescent Bulbs

How often does everyone change these? How many/what size lights will it take to heat a 6 square foot cage that is 1.5 feet deep/tall?

I believe there is some debate as to whether or not Dragons synthesize D3 efficiently enough without UVB absorption to properly metabolize their calcium.

As for me, personally, I use UVA/UVB lighting, even for nocturnal herps.

I only use Reptisun 5.0's and Powersun Mercury Vapor lighting. I use standard Indoor flood lamps for heat lamps with the Reptisun.
The only reason for this is that I had the opportunity to participate in actual metered testing of some different lights at the university here. The reptisun and Power sun emitted considerably more UVB than the cheap Desert 7% and 12% Reptile lights that sell for $10 to $15. They produce almost no UVB at 1" from the bulb. The reptisun and Powersun MV fared the best with claimed output at 7" on the Reptisun and up to 14" with the Powersun. Anything further and the exposure dropped fast. A 6 month old reptisun was also tested and emitted less than 1% at 3". So I would guess they should be replaced more often than we think.

I still replace mine every 6 to 10 months. Full exposure for a majority of the year is probably sufficient.

There are lots of other opinions out there but this is what use. Partially because I know these lights work, and partially for my own piece of mind (Whether they need them or not).

Alright, well thats what I've been doing using regular flood lights and reptisun 5.0's. Wow lol I started this hoping everyone replaced them less often than I thought to, but apparently its twice as often haha.

If anyone can make a guess on the cage, its made out of particle board white coated mostly and some plexy glass, it would be really helpful, because I need to know how many holes to cut for lighting. Thank you.

Well if you are using a screen top, 2 X 100 Watt lights would be close at one end. Or a 150 Watt if it's hanging in the tank. That should allow you to create a 95 to 100 deg basking area yet allow the rest of the tank to have a lower ambient temperature.
You will want some wire/screen or vents of some sort allow some ventilation.

Start with a 150 and see if it can maintain the basking area temps. The rest of the tank can sit at 80 ish. My basking area is 100 ish with an overall temperature around 80 and it's 78 at the bottom of the cool side.

Oh yeah my dad helps me make some sweet cages, design is no problem for me I'm just wanting to know how many holes to cut out, I reckon I'll go with one and just try out different sized bulbs and hope I can make one work.

I usually make one screen vent on each side and one on the top then for the light I cut out a cirle and put screen in it.

Thanks for your help Garrett!

We've built copies of the melamine cages that CustomCages.com makes. We put the UV fixture and the incandescent fixture directly inside the cage. It lets the dragons get closer to the UV fixture and lets us stack the cages directly on top of one another. We put in glass doors because the plexi scratches when the dragons claw at it.

I've been putting my flourescents on the inside, but not the heat.