my bearded dragon lighting and transporting

Question
hello im going to buy a bearded dragon from my friend but its a 2-3 hour drive away what shall i put the little guy in the pet shop recommended a polystyrene box but im worrying!will he be ok??also i have the 100 watt mercury vapour bulb in flood style and a red heat bulb for night time do i need any more??THANK YOU!

Answer
Hi Joe, A small cardboard or plastic box with some air holes set down inside a polystyrene cooler with some air holes is the standard method of shipping reptiles. I also like those zippered thermal picnic bags for car trips with reptiles . He will be fine, that is really not that long a trip and the weather is still mild. Beardeds can stay at slightly cooler temperatures for several hours without any harm at all. In fact the worst tragedies that I have seen with shipped animals stemmed from people trying too hard to keep them warm during shipment. They pack the closed container with hot water bottles or those chemical hand warmers which shoots the temp. up to well over 100 in the closed space. Those chemical hand warmers often used in shipping reptiles also use up oxygen as part of their heating process making the situation even worse.
Keep him up front with you and if you need to, run the car heater now and then to keep things above 65F.
Your mercury vapour will provide both heat and UV so that is taken care of with the one bulb. Your baby will need access to a hot spot of 100- 105 F range but he also needs to access a cooler end of the tank (mid to high 70'SF). Just make sure your flood is not overheating your whole enclosure. The one drawback of mercury vapours is that they cannot be put on a dimmer or thermostat to adjust the heat. Raising and lowering the distance of the bulb from the basking spot is the only way. I have never used night time heat for my beardeds. Unless your house gets quite cool at night, below 65F then it really isn't that necessary. A night time temperature drop is quite natural and normal.