Bearded Dragon UVB

Question
Hello,

I have had a baby bearded dragon for a week now and he recently became ill. Yesterday he vomitted his three baby butterworms (he gets three a day) and some greens. He is 13 weeks old and 7.5 inches long and 30grams. After having diahrrea last night and this morning I took him to the vet. The vet highly recommended switching him to a MVB (she said that the coil bulbs and the strip uvb bulbs were insufficient). So I currenly am housing Sherman in a 20G long tank that is 12 inches tall. My partner built me a wooden "addition" that sits ontop of the glass tank that is another 14-15 inches tall. He installed 3 air vents (in the sides and top) and I bought an Exoterra SolarGlo 125W MVB bulb with a porcelain wire clamp lamp.

My question is...is this safe? The bulb will be at least 12 inches from his basking spot, but the tank is only 30 inches long. Is that enough space for him to have a cool side too?

I was reading that MVB are dangerous and very hot. Can this cause a fire? We used 1/4 inch plywood to build the wooden addtion. Also, can it hurt my beardie? I read that they can get radiation if it isn't done properly. Is it okay that we only have a 30 inch long glass tank with glass and wood height of about 28 inches tall? The MVB will be in the enclosure and not on top.

Please help!! We are building Sherman a 4ft*2ft*2ft wooden and glass enclosure that should be done within 3 weeks or so depending on the weather. Is this safe to use until then?

Thank you so much for you time.

Answer
Hello Lindsay,

I agree that most flourescent tube bulbs & compact/coil bulbs are not good, & are a waste of money.  The Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb & the Arcadia D3 12% are the only exceptions.
Normally, I recommend having at least a 30-40 gallon tank for use with a mercury vapor bulb.  This is simply for safety of temperature gradients, & distance requirements.
It sounds like there is plenty of ventilation, that was a good idea.  So it will be at least 12 inches from him?
What are youusing to measure the temps with?  A stick on thermomete,r a digital probe or a temp gun?  
The ceramic/porcelain light fixture should be rated at least 300watts to support the 125watt light.  That is to help allow for safe measures for the amount of wattage going through the fixture.  
So, as long as there is proper ventilation, the light fixture is correct & there is nothing sitting on top of the light fixture that would get hot there is no danger of any fire.
We have been using Megarays for years with no incidents at all.  
The mercury vapor bulbs do not emit UVC so there is no danger of that.  To my knowledge, the mercury vapor bulbs currently made have no reports of UVC emissions.  Some are stronger or better than others but no radiation wavelengths that I know of.

So, your setup sounds safe to try using the Solar Glo 125watt since it will be for a short term period anyway.  Maybe you could post a picture of the setup?

Tracie