too much light?

[Faerieweird]

my husband and i have been reading conflicted information on just how many hours a day we should have the basking and uv lights on vs how may hours to have just the red night bulb on. Currently for Dovah, our 3 mo old male, i have the day lights on a timer from 7am to 10:15 pm and the red night bulb on from 10:30 pm to to 6:45am.

is this too much day light for him??

 

[Spanishcop]

I have a dual lamp on one side of a 75 gallon tank. One is 150 watt heat lamp for basking and also a UVB bulb I think it's like 75 or 100 watt. I leave it run from 7am till 10pm. The other side of tank stays about 80 during the day and basking area around 105. At night auto shut off and keeping basking light on to maintain temp in tank at around 80.

I also run a large aquarium bulb with this for good lighting.

Waterfall to drink and cool off and they spend time in water. They seem to love it. Enough rocks to where crickets won't drown.

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[Eavlynn]

12 to 14 hours is good during the summer months, but during the winter I cut my kids back to 8 to 10 hours. I'd ditch the red light if you can. The light can disrupt their sleep cycle. If you need additional heat at night, a ceramic heat emitter is the way to go. However, as long as your temps don't fall below 65 at night, you don't need additional heat.

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[Spanishcop]

12 to 14 hours is good during the summer months, but during the winter I cut my kids back to 8 to 10 hours. I'd ditch the red light if you can. The light can disrupt their sleep cycle. If you need additional heat at night, a ceramic heat emitter is the way to go. However, as long as your temps don't fall below 65 at night, you don't need additional heat.

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I haven't had much problem with disrupting sleep. They either sleep in the cave or under the ledge in the shadows. Atleast in my setup for now.


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[PatsyB]

@Spanishcop The UVB bulb you are using in the dome is it a Mercury Vapor Bulb? I ask because coil bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs do nothing for your bearded dragon. MVB's are good tube style bulbs are better because they cover more surface area of your tank. Since you already have the fixture you should buy a Reptisun10.0 bulb to put in it and ditch the aquarium bulb.

Another concern is the beardies are solitary animals and don't do well with a "friend". They may seem to get along but at any time can turn on each other. Signs of dominance are the obvious hand waving but also sitting on top of each other under the basking light or one being more aggressive towards the food at feeding time.

 

[Faerieweird]

It's just him, no others. And we are using a reptisun bulb and a mvb durring the day and a infared heat bulb at night

 

[PatsyB]

It's just him, no others. And we are using a reptisun bulb and a mvb durring the day and a infared heat bulb at night

Spanishcop has two beardies in their tank.

I never answered your question though. It's good to do a 12/12 light cycle or a 14/10 cycle. I do the 14/10 6am-8pm, because I like them to warm up in the morning before I feed them and I like to have a few hours with them at night to either feed them or bathe them or just hang out with them. The infrared light at night is a bad idea. They are constantly aware of predators trying to get them and even when they have their eyes closed and are sound asleep they can still "see" if something is trying to come over head to get them. Their Parietal gland on top of their head allows them to see shadows. Meaning if something comes between them and their light whether it be day or night, they will see it as a shadow and as a threat and they will get defensive and stressed. Their Parietal gland also helps them to find heat sources because they know that heat comes from the sun above their head. So this gland guides them to the "sun". Here is some information about this gland

http://www.anapsid.org/parietal.html

 

[Faerieweird]

I changed up his tank setup, added some things to give him multiple levels to bask on at different distances from the basking bulb and he sees to be responding well