Recently I decided to update my bearded dragon vivs at home, Brand new vivs, lighting, thermostats the lot. The biggest problem we tend to have in this area is wires! wires wires wires - oh and plugs! You create a nice looking set up only to have the view slightly ruined by a spaghetti like mass of cables, one for the spotlights, one for each strip light etc etc, This problem has now been partly solved by the new Exo Terra Light Unit - terrarium light controller.
Its a Lighting controller that controls two flourescent strip lights from one control unit - meaning only one plug. So far I have been impressed by these units they are an electronic controller meaning no ballast, no starter unit and no flickering ends of the tubes! The benefits of this is that they are light and small so easily attach to the back of a vivarium making it easy to attach the lamp leads to the vivarium and conceal them, there is no flickering lamp ends, and each unit is only £29.99 which makes it an affordable option to add more than one strip light to a viv. I have used a combination of 10% UVB with 2% daylight strips in my vivs and the brightness is stunning. You can see these exo terra lifght units on our website here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=934
They are available in 2 x 20W, 2 x 30W and 2 x 40W versions, Whilst updating my vivs I made a decision to switch over from a conventional basking spotlight to halogen bulbs, the difference between a standard basking spotlight and a halogen bulb is really noticeable, for a start you get a really tight beam of light, perfect for creating that intense basking spot that bearded dragons love. The intensity of the light is fantastic giving a very warm spot almost instantly with a brightness that brings out the natural colours of the Bearded dragons. For our enclosures we used the lucky reptile Halogen sun bulbs, but there are also Zoo Med Repti halogen bulbs available.
http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=603
