Monitors do not stay out all day and go in at night. They also do not sleep in a human fashion. They sleep at night and in the day. They spend most of each day in burrows and other dark areas.

In captivity monitors should have dark hiding places available 24/7. They should never be held in a cage where they cannot hide. So, when provided dark hiding places, it does not matter when the lites are on. They should be able to get away from lite at any time they wish. No matter what the lite cycle is.

In practice, monitors will bask both in the day and at night. They perfer to not bask in front of people, and it has nothing to do with how tame a monitor is. Perfectly tame monitors will avoid public behavior as well.

If you have a group cage, they will often bask at both the same time and at different times. Sometimes they perfer to bask with other individuals, sometimes they don't.

So the reality is, lites on 24/7 provides them with choices. And they do use those choices. And they use them to their benefit.

Its only us humans that think they are suppose to do this or that. I often wonder where we get those ideas.

And lastly, monitors know the difference between a lite and the sun. A lite bulb is only a litebulb and a minor heat source. Its not the sun.

If I think about it, I have to laugh. We know a lite bulb is not the sun, so why on earth would we think a monitor thinks a litebulb is the sun? Us humans are an arrogant bunch.

I believe I told this story for Vivarium mag in the interview they did on me. Years ago my wife and I were in the mountains in mexico. A huricane had hit the coast and it was raining and raining and raining. We found a ramada the cowboys use during cattle roundups. The ramada had tin sides and roof and a fire pit. We made a fire to keep warm. It was cold and rained solid all night. During the night, we stayed close to the fire to keep warm. Guess what? Spiny lizards(Yarrows spinys) came out and basked by the fire too. I then realized, they had more going on in their heads then I had previously thought. Cheers

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