Night care

I have just gotten a small beaded dragon, and my only real concern right now is sleeping conditions.
Such as do I cover him and do I turn off both heat and light lamps.
And help would be greatly appreciated!

CrisSilva":zn4w7djt said:

I have just gotten a small beaded dragon, and my only real concern right now is sleeping conditions.
Such as do I cover him and do I turn off both heat and light lamps.
And help would be greatly appreciated!

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Some here give their beardies "blankets" to sleep wrapped in, I don't do this. All a beardie needs is a nice secure private place to curl up in , I use hollow log style hides . I start my beardies off as hatchlings in small sized HUBBAHUTs, then when they grow out of the small hide, they get upgraded to Medium-large hides, and my adults get jumbo sized hides.

Exactly what lighting do you have for UV
is it a coil ? T8 tube ? T5 tube (%UVB ? and wattage ?) <<< should be rated at least 10%UVB

For basking / heat globe (is it coloured or clear colourless ? wattage ? <<< should be clear colourless and rated to produce a basking spot temp of 40degCelsius , NOT A COLOURED GLOBE !


For overnight tank heating - is it a coloured light emitting heatbulb ? non-light emitting CHE ? or other ? (wattage ?) <<<< I live in subtropical coastal northern NSW in Australia so I usually don't need more than a 7W heatpad sandwiched between two layers of ceramic tiles and placed inside the beardies' tanks/tubs under their hides , if you are in a cold climate (in winter) you will need a ceramic heat emitter to warm the enclosure overnight and to keep it warmer than 24degCelsius (crucial to keep very young beardie hatchlings warm overnight as it helps them metabolise their food and dietary calcium and thrive.


When do you turn on the lights ? / off the lights ? <<<< my cycle is 16hr on per day

daytime cool zone temp ? <<< I aim for 28degCelsius

daytime warm zone temp ? <<< I am for mid 30s degCelius

basking spot temp ? <<< I am for 38 - 40 degCelsius

minimum overnight tank temps ? <<<< I try to keep my beardie tanks/tubs warmer than 24degCelsius

Also what is your feeding schedule (when , what insects are used and size ) ? <<<< very young hatchlings require a MINIMUM of TWO live insect meals per day, THREE meals per day is OPTIMAL if you can organise your day to give them (until the hatchling reaches about 4 months of age

Typically the UVB source and basking globes (which give off bright "sunlike" light and heat) are on during day, and overnight if it's chilly / very cold in the room o/night the CHE is run on thermostat overnight.

Right now I have a "mini combo deep some dule lamp fixture" from zoo med.
The two bulbs I'm using are a 60 watt blue dayligh bulb and a 10.0 uvb 13 watt bulb.
As for "night hear" I don't have anything specific and I don't know what to get

As for food he eating in the morning around 7 I put live crickets in his enclosure and let him eat them while I'm in school. And around 7-8 he has mealworms or crickets.

Ya, for my beardy I just have 2 black lights for night, a 50 watt, and a 60 watt, and he seems to be fine.

Hi. Beardies like complete darkness and cool at night. If your house gets below 65 at night then you need a che. Also I'd replace the blue light with a bright white basking light and replace the coil/compact uvb with a reptisun 10.0 Tube t5.

CrisSilva":y07hfdmi said:

Right now I have a "mini combo deep some dule lamp fixture" from zoo med.
The two bulbs I'm using are a 60 watt blue dayligh bulb <<<< replace this with a par38 colourless incandescent
and a 10.0 uvb 13 watt bulb. <<<< I recommend you replace this with a 26W UVB200 as a minimum , a t5 10 - 14%UVB tube is going to be better (in that it'll irradiate more of the enclosure than either a UVB200 or a MVB
As for "night hear" I don't have anything specific and I don't know what to get

As for food he eating in the morning around 7 I put live crickets in his enclosure and let him eat them while I'm in school. And around 7-8 he has mealworms or crickets.<<<< cut back , don't give mealworms , if you want to give worms , silkworms about the same size are idea and a great and nutritious stable feeder insect of phoenix worms are too hard to find locally or too small to interest beardie

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If he's under 4 months old, he really needs three live insect meals per day, two as minimum if it's not possible to give him a midday meal.