Bearded Dragon Habitat Lighting

"Alright the next thing we're going to talk a little bit about is proper lighting for your bearded dragon. Now I'm not talking about heating. We'll get to heating in just a moment. Right now we're going to talk about lighting which is just as important for especially a desert animal like the bearded dragon. Reptiles need what is called UVB light in order to properly generate a vitamin called vitamin D3 in their body. Without vitamin D3 reptiles have trouble moving calcium into their bone structure and they often get what is called metabolic bone disease or rubber jaw. And this is the kind of deficiency that happens slowly over time and is often hard to pinpoint the exact time it's going to take place. So it's best just to offer UVB light to your reptile at all times. Now in order to get UVB light you have to use some sort of fluorescent bulb. Your standard kind of fluorescent bulb or your compact fluorescent. Now not just any kind of fluorescent bulb will do unfortunately. You have to go to your local pet store or on line and purchase one that is rated for UVB light. Now they will generally be rated in different percentages. Usually a 2.0. a 5.0 and a 10.0. What that's going to tell you is that's going to tell you 2 percent versus 5 percent versus 10 percent."