Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With a light cycle do most of you leave your bask on for the entire time? Or do most leave it on for a few hours in the morning and then a few hours in the evening, while leaving the tube fixture on the whole time?

You could do either...

Leave the bask bulb on or have it go out for an hour or two and then back on.

The sun will have storm clouds pass in front of it etc. I would say three or four hours on then off for an hour... then 4 hours back on then finally nightime off. This might be better for spring and/or fall timeframe though.

use digital timers

Personally, for summer simulation... I let my lights (basking and uv strip lights) go from from 10:30am till 7:45 pm. It follows the natural time lightframe we have down here in Florida. I try to mimmck the light/heat schedule I see outside. Makes it easy for me to schedule my lights and warming phase or cool down phase etc.

Plus the light from outside is easily seen by the dragons through the window and lights up my reptile room. So I follow the natural light schedule. Which gives them a realistic balance.

I dont cool down (brumate) dragons their first year. I ease off the light duration for the dragons under 1 year in age.

good luck

I ease off the light/heat duration for under one year old dragons.

Just less time of lamps say 6 hours instead of 8-10 during the summer.

Some people keep their lights on for like 12-14 hours a day. This I feel is too much.

8-10 hours of heat/light a day during the summer is more than sufficient

It takes awhile for things to heat up on earth and for the earth to be aligned straight on with the sun each day. Where the light is most intense here on earth. This peak uvb/heat/radiation period lasts for about an hour.

I would say that the optimal basking time each day here on earth is about 4 hours. 11am -2pm summer

In the winter months there is minimal uv index/uvb and this needs to be taken into consideration for a cool down phase simulation.

Wayne, thank you for the info, I too live on the east coast but north, Massachusetts. I kindly thank you for the info and will try that, along with checking on temps with my IR temp gun. I always enjoy reading your posts and responses, especially anything with Raz and the gang. Again, thanks for your time and information.

-Chris

You're welcome Chris.

You need to recreate/simulate the animals natural environment somewhat for optimal health and vibrance.

A slight cool down phase with transitions is more complicated but worth the effort.

All I do is follow the lighting schedule of the outside environment and set my digital timers accordingly.

So once autumn is here I start to taper off the day length of the lights. Typically cutting back on the shut off time.

So instead of the lights going out at 7:45pm. They go out an hour earlier. Then as the winter approaches I change bulbs in certain instances for basking and cut back the light duration even further. May do like an hour later start time with 2 hours earlier light out time.

For adults I do typically 2 weeks of about 3 hours of light. This is very healthy for them. They are cyclical animals.

I have been to a number of desert environments. Not Australia persay, but the temps in the desert drop down drastically in the winter along with the intensity of the suns radiation. The animals need a break and rest period.

Their digestive systems need a break also.

In this cool down phase you will need to taper off the bugs, and offer them lots of veggies for hydration.

Some people just go to like a instant brumation phase. I dont recommend it or do this but to a certain extent the dragons can endure it.

best regards
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If you were to go into a real deep brumation period for winter you will need to make sure that the dragon has emptied its bowels and is very well hydrated before hand.

Depends as they are all different and I watch for the needs of the individual dragon. Some seem to want to sleep further. Some stay up when the lights are out sometimes so it gives me a gauge.

Eventually I think I will have timers for each individual enclosure so I can custom tailor there light/heat durations accordingly.

A resting period is vital to vibrant healthy dragons.

Better to simulate it yourself for them without going to extremes.

Dont let anyone convince you otherwise.
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All this from someone that has never experienced brumation. But just for your information, many dragons do not brumate. About half of mine do not. It is risky to force a dragon to bruamte. They should make the decision themselves when their body feels the timing and their physical condition warrants it.

I leave the lights on 14 hours a day. They come on at 6 and go off at 8. I don't shorten it even in the winter unless the dragons have decided to brumate on their own. Anywhere from 12 hours to 14 hours should be fine.

I don't advocate the confused on/off pattern by the other poster. Beardies and other reptiles do best in captivity under consistent predicable conditions.

As basking lights provide both heat and light intensity, its best to leave all lights on in a dragon's cage for 12-14 hours. A standard household timer works best to ensure a consistent on/off time for the lights.

There isn't any need to mimic every single variation in nature in the indoor captive environment, like cloudy days or unusually cool or hot days. It just adds alot of excessive and unnecessary work, trying to match outdoor conditions indoors, especially considering bearded dragons come from Australia where the seasons are opposite from what we experience in North America anyway.

Lights on for 12-14 hours, ensuring basking temps (surface temperatures) fall within 100-115F in at least one spot...but better to have a slopping or several basking areas giving a variety of temperatures for the dragon to choose what temperature they feel a need to basking to reach their individual bodily needs is better. A good uvb producing light should also be present, on all day same as the basking light.
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PHLdyPayne

yes indeed

one size fits all
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This is what is commonly known as human herd behavior.

It is sometimes easy to forget that as humans we are not much unlike other animals.

The vast majority of keepers will do just that. 12-14 hours a day for 12 months a year

No variables, status quo.

Because the general herd follows this prescribed rationality in terms of lighting does not make it best practice.

Best practice is nature.

Anything you can do approximate or match the cyclical/seasonal rhythm of the natural environment is far more conducive to optimal health and vitality.

Especially when the animal has only recently been taken from the wild and put into captive environments.

A tad more complicated but not impossible to do.

12 - 14 hours of light and heat is too much IMPO.

The sun does not heat the earth until 10am.

Then by 6pm it begins to cool considerably.

Keep an eye on the lizards outside like I do and watch their sun worshipping habits.

The local anole lizards are no where to be seen until after 10 am. Then by 6 when the sun has dropped considerably on the horizon and the earth is cooler they are gone again.

And my relative position to the horizon is actually more well suited for longer basking times than Australia as I am closer to the equator.

My lights go from 10:30 am till 7:45

9 hours of heat and light

That is more than sufficient. Anything more than 10 hours is overkill and detrimental.

Just because you can expose them to it and it has been done by others for years does not mean it is best practice.

I personally run my basking temp slightly higher than the status quo too.

Also I use a bit more uvb than the status quo. (within reason)

The one size fits all mentality for novice keepers aka: 12-14 hours a day light schedule 12 months a year

This what the herd has recommended for umpteen years I imagine.

The thing is... mercury vapor bulbs (not cheep chinese ones that put out unstable amounts of uv light) have only recently become usable tools for reptile keeping.

So the evolution of keeping needs to adapt as well.

If your using primarily strip lights that emit 25-35 uw/cm2 of uvb you may need to 18 hours of exposure to meet their uv requirements.

Personally I mimic nature as best as possible.

Not some regurgitated jargon that has been circulating for the past 10 years.

nature is best practice

mimic it not the herd
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The 12-14 hours is time tested and proven by literally thousands of keepers over the last 40 years or so.

Sometimes a young know it all comes along with no experience and tries new things. This type of person then tries to sway others to experiment with their precious animals to justify his unproven theories. This often leads to unfortunate events for those that believe him.

In the end, if the know it all newbie is intelligent he will see the error of his ways as he gains experience. In his later more mature years he will then dispense the correct husbandry.

Remember, husbandry is not nature. Conditions in the captive environment have been tested and refined for a long time. Think of them as an ideal compromise of the conditions found in nature.

The real truth of the matter is that you built those elaborate enclosures with strip lights which throw minimal uvb.

You use spot lamps (halogen I believe) for your basking spots with temp readouts.

You never took into consideration the uvb and have talked numerous times about just using strip uvb lighting for your enclosures.

I could dig and find a couple posts where you talked of this. Never once have I ever heard you mention a uvb or uv index meter or anything related to them.

So...

Dont make claims you cant back up.

You need a 6.5 to make sure your strip light uvb bulbs are within a desirable uv index? please

You didnt know of a 6.5 for uv index until I mentioned it on this forum.

I have no need to bash you and could really care less.

You have proved nothing with that picture.
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This time of year I will have my heat lights on for about 6 hours a day. The flourescents are on a full 12 hours. The heat lights are on from about 7 am to about 1 pm(sometimes earlier). Turning off the heat lights and leaving just the flourescents on keeps the temps at a slight decrease for the rest of the day. My dragons are also much more active. I think the "up and down" method is very good for dragons and many other species. You will notice that your dragon will hold weight better and dehydrate a lot less.

During the wintertime, I will keep the heat lights on longer. The key is finding the right temp cut off point. Too early and the dragons won't be warm enough, too hot and you will have to turn all the lights off to cool them down. An adult bearded has to get it's body temp up to about 96-98 degrees every day for at least a few hours to function properly. If they can't reach these temps, the dragon will either go into hibernation or it's health will go downhill. Doing this sort of "up and down" method takes a lot of fine tuning and observation.

Josh

You're the man Josh...

I have always respected your advice, husbandry techniques, and intuition.

proof is in the pudding

best regards
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Thanks.

I'm still learning all the time. For now this method works the best. I hope that others will take in some of my info(and other peoples info), and form it into something that works for them. It truly takes many minds put together to push dragon husbandry in a forwards direction.

Josh

I usually just change the wattage of my basking bulb in the summer...my apartment tends to be hotter on the hot days of summer...especially when I don't run my AC so I don't need a 125 Watt bulb to heat the basking spot to the right temperature...often a 75watt works perfect. This way I can maintain the temperatures needed all day, without significant reduction of light intensity.

When I am running my AC I use the 125 watt bulb as with the design of my cages, and the position of my AC unit, cool air can flow into the cage, which may cool it more than I want.

Where my dragon spends his day during the summer I also take in consideration. If he's always in the cool end, then I definitely check my temperatures and adjust the wattage of the bulb accordingly.
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PHLdyPayne

This time of year my thermostats tend to do the same thing. As the ambient heats up the lights dim. On a really warm days the thermostats turn the lights down completely in the afternoon.

Actually I completely took UVB into consideration in my enclosure design. That is why there are 2 tubes running front to back rather than 1 tube running left to right which would have been way cheaper all the way around. I used my UVB meters and calculations to determine where the fixtures are mounted in each of my enclosures. The reason my Iguana enclosure has no basking spot yet is because I needed to test for proper amount of UVB and basking temp. using my temp gun and UVB meters.

I really don't know why I'm telling you this though because you'll just call me a liar anyway. You are very immature.

So the answer is that you dont have any other previous posts about uv / uvb or solar meters I take it?

I rest my case... BS!
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Sure research and read my posts. UVB has come up from time to time over the years. I don't have the time to reread hundreds of posts spanning almost 5 years.

DreamWorks, there have been many times BDLvr has talked about UVB on this forum long before you popped in out of nowhere claiming you know it all.

Many times BDlvr has referred to a very good website that has far more information about UVB and how it relates to reptile needs, a site that I consider about the best one out there with detailed and fairly frequently updated information about UVB, how much is produced by many different bulbs, the UV index of these same bulbs etc. A site that is supported by thousands of people from around the world, all who have purchased UV meters so they can measure UV put out by the sun in their part of the world so that information can be added to the site's data.

So far very little of the information you mass post to this forum has any information that is genuinely useful. Most of it is just copied or referring to whatever website you found through your latest goggle search. Some of it may actually be useful information or factual, but most times the way you present it is just as full of attitude and belligerence as you claim certain people here, who have far more experience and have been peacefully contributing to this site far longer than you have.

Far as I am concerned, he has nothing to prove. He still needs work on presenting what he knows without being condescending about it but i have noticed he only gets this way when unknown 'know it all' new arrivals show up and try to make it out like they are the all knowing experts of dragon care and everything out, when its quickly obvious they don't know all that much at all.

Debates are fine in the forums but we don't tolerate flame wars here. We don't require people to agree with eachother...but to behave like mature adults who can discuss an issue calmly, intelligently and without acting like children trying to put the blame on somebody else for breaking the lamp after they were playing ball in the living room.

Consider this a last warning, and I don't mean to just DreamWorks, but all posters who just had to jump in and start flinging insults or attitude all over this forum. I suggest you read the TOS carefully and the pinned post by PHFaust in this forum about Debates. Then decide whether the response you want to post to another's post is appropriate. Otherwise you may find your privileges here will be removed.
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PHLdyPayne