Dr Kathryn Tosney, Professor of Biology, The University of Michigan http://biology.lsa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/index.html
Place both UVB and basking lights on an appliance timer (12-14 hours on; off at night). Erratic day lengths will screw up their circadian rhythms and make them first lethargic and then actively sick. They detect environmental cues important to their circadian rhythms through their "third eye", the parietal eye. The dark period will also allow night temperatures to fall appropriately. Temperature can go down to the 60's or even the upper 50's without harm. Dragons are well adapted to cool semi-desert nights.
Melissa Kaplan, Author and rehabilator, www.anapsid.com about bearded dragons
Never use a white light of any sort at night, for lighting or for heat. This will stress your animal, eventually affecting its ability to thrive through the resultant lack of sleep, loss of appetite, and other stress-related symptoms. If you need to provide supplemental heat at night in addition to the undertank heating, use a ceramic heating element or a nocturnal reptile bulb; the former produces no light, while the latter produces a dim bluish-purple light.
Dr. Douglas Mader, M.S. D.V.M. ,Author of Reptile Medicine and Surgery, Associate Professor Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinay Medicine, Univeristy of California ar Davis, Ca, Staff Vet for the Santa Anna Zoo, Attending Vet Allergan Phamaceuticals
The period lenght of the photophase may be constant or varied to correspond to the photophase observed at a selected latitude. Twelve hours of light per day is often used and corresponds to the year-round daylength at the equator. The time of lights/off may likewise be set to parallel the phasing at a given latitude. Photoperiod effects have been systematically studied in relatively few species. It has been shown that photoperiod can influence a variety of physiologic rhythms, including thermoregulation and reproduction/ Irrespective of the details, a light/dark cycle of some sort is indicated for reptiles.
Whenever possible, the daylight cycle should remain close to what the reptile would experience in the wild. Species should be on a four season cycle providing 15 hours of daylight during the summer, 12 hours during the spring and fall and 9 hours during the winter.
Please use caution when following any advice that people post and only site "personal experiences" or "other breeders" tell me that, yet can produce no factual proof or studies. They may have no experience or very little with the advice they give.
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www.reptilerooms.com
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Edited on March 6, 2004 at 21:31:27 by PHWyvern.



