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What is my beardy trying to tell me when he scratches madly at the side of his tank when I turn off the lights? The other one won't do it, he just goes right to sleep. But this one! No matter how dark it is in the room (still daylight or dark) as soon as his light switches off he's scratching on the glass. And it is a very irritating noise. Is he scared of the dark? (I'm mostly joking). Or is he being an obnoxious child and just whining about going to bed? There's very little noise in my room (running water from my fishtank and the hum of my computer) and what there is is going all the time, not just at night. So what does it mean? And how do I stop it?

beats me, never heard of a dragon doing this after lights out. How many hours do you leave his lights on per day?
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PHLdyPayne

10-12 hours, sometimes longer. Need to get a timer for this, so right now they're getting what I'm home for. Usually on around eight or nine then off between seven and nine. He'll scramble for about ten to twenty minutes then zonk out wherever he's standing. He's really small and the cage is plenty big, too. He only does it at night, too. Sometimes they'll both scratch at the glass during the day, but not this obsessively. H's acting like he's scared!

Definitely get a timer, They are cheap and easily to find at any hardware store or department store. Walmart has them...just a basic or heavy duty indoor timer. The dial face ones work well though the do tick.

10-12 hours of daylight though, is not good though, unless you want to brumate your dragon. At his age though, not a good idea. Lights should be on at least 12 hours a day, with 14 best for their first year, then you can adjust according to season.

This could be why he is scratching for some time, he may not be sleepy so having no lights is freaking him out.
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PHLdyPayne

They get light for probably 14 hours a day, just not the full spectrum. They're right next to a window, and I keep the tank somewhat warm at night with an undertank heater on one side so I don't have to worry about potential insulation problems with the window. And by next to, I mean about two feet away, so lots of natural light for their circadian rhythm after sunrise at about six thirty or seven in the morning, then (depending on when I work) I turn on the artificial light at about nine (earlier if I work early, around sunrise) and turn it off in the evening about nine or ten. And even after I turn off the full spectrum, the overhead light or the lamp on my desk is on for an hour or so. Is brumating a matter of full spectrum light access, or just light? Or is it a heat thing? I've read a little about it, but since they're so young I haven't done any real research...figured I had a while before it was a concern.

And I thought brumating meant they were getting sluggish. This is about the opposite of sluggish behavior. It's crazy active! Also, it's just the one. The other one may run around a little bit after I turn off the light, but within five minutes he's zonked. This one keeps going for at least twenty minutes!

Thanks again for your help.

My older male, since he was 3 months old, scracthes for 5-10 minutes every night, as you stated, on the click of my timer, 11:59 night for almost a year now. He chooses the same corner night after night.
Once he scratched soo much, he had literally almost NO nails.
So that corner, I replaced the slated tile(rough surface) with thin sheets of plexi glass, he now scratches a soft smooth surface every night, and his nails are healthy and rounded ends still. perfect..

He seems happy otherwise I have proper temps, and well I have just learned to live with it.

I have tried tighter hide spots, warmer night temps... but every night on clock work...

Lots of dragons scratch around at lights out. I think they want to dig in where it would be safer in the wild to sleep. None of my adults do it any more. They either go into a hide or just sleep on the basking spot.