Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how many of you favor a 24 hour lights on setup. compared to a day night cycle, and if you have done both have you seen a difference?

24/7 lighting has to do with heat, not light cycles or daylight, or anything else.
The idea being that you set up a basking spot and run the bulbs for a day or 2 to get consistant temps, measure and readjust their height, etc, then you leave them alone. The bulbs do not produce enough light to disturb sleeping, or to cause any effect on their habits or life.
Bulbs last longer when they are run non-stop (every light bulb has so many start-ups in its life then the bulbs dies), and you always use low wattage bulbs.
This way you know when the heat is on, and is working without messing with thermostats, etc. Ive used 24/7 basking lights on monitors, beardies, geckos, etc, etc, etc, for years with better results than with thermostats, ceramic heat emmitters, etc.
Lightbulbs do not produce the intensity that can effect day/night cycles, unless you are stuck right in front of them with no way to get away from them.
Think of it this way, when the light intensity of the sun has reached a point in the day where monitors can sleep in the open, the light intensity is still many times higher than any lightbulb could ever produce.
Dont worry about all of the crap concerning bulbs and day/night cycles, you cannot produce a day/night cycle with bulbs unless the entire cage is covered in them and the lizard cannot get away from them.
After all the sun is the sun, a bulb is only a bulb.

thanks. i was just trying to decide if spending the extra couple bucks on the red light was worth it.

I use a ceramic heater at night in the winter nothing at night in the summer. During the day I use a light bulb for 12 hours roughly to get the basking temp up to 130F. I've noticed my sav sleeps in a tunnel system he dug underneath two big flat rocks. It has to be pretty dark under there regardless of if the lights are on or not. I think they like to sleep in dark at least some of the time... just like alot of creatures. I want mine to have access to darkness if they want it. Even if the lights stay on all the time. Just my opinion.

Here is a few pictures from my cages, these are the areas they sometimes sleep.
But first of all a picture that demonstrates how low the light intensity is in the open around the basking lights, so do you think that the lights would prevent you from sleeping, let alone them?

From Sobeks cage, this is the entrance with her tail and my size 12.

Putting the camera down in the tunnel, notice you cant see the other end from here, pretty dark, taken with a flash.

Another spot, under a different piece of wood, this one is harder to get the camera into. The flash lit it up this far.

From the flaviargus cage, first under the basking spot. By the way 4ft of flavi-qrgus is under there.

Second third and forth under a log on the other end of the cage. You can barely see the tunnel entrance in these pictures. Not as safe to get pictures in this cage, he likes to taste things that enter his cage.