what should the temp be?

ok so what should the temp by at the basking spot for a lil baby(yes this is for littles) right now the cool side is 82 F and basking is 121 F i know it might be a lil hot but i want to know

no hotter than 110.

ok ill get a lower watt bulb put in thanks what about 114 cuz thats what athena is but on the sides of the rock its 112 is that ok?its just right in the middle thats 115 for athena

if possible id try to lower it to under 110. ask somebody about getting a rheostat. its like a dimmer you can plug anything into, though it should only be used for heat bulbs and pads; not fluorescents or it will cause flickering.

they make things that do that????? :shock: wow i really need to catch up with tecnology lol

Yes, 110 is really the maximum the temps should be because otherwise it can cause rapid dehydration and I know you said that none of your beardies liked baths.

oh ok and even if they hate it i still make them take bathes every day (well nyroc is every othre day)

ok now the temps are 107.4 F on the basking spot

That's a good basking temp, no problem there. What is the cool side temp?

86.4 so i think hes good now am i right??

i would keep it at 90-95. I've been told that you don't have to run it all day, just a few hours in the morning and in the evening to charge them up. They can become neurotic and stressed when it runs all day. I've changed my lights over to this method and noticed better eating habits and nicer attitudes, not to mention better colors! Just make sure your florescent are running all day.

kevincease":15abc said:

i would keep it at 90-95. I've been told that you don't have to run it all day, just a few hours in the morning and in the evening to charge them up. They can become neurotic and stressed when it runs all day. I've changed my lights over to this method and noticed better eating habits and nicer attitudes, not to mention better colors! Just make sure your florescent are running all day.

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90 is to low..

i would not follow that schedual. to keep your dragon healthy(mind and body) you should try and give them all the healthy aspects of their natural habitat. the sun is up all day; it dosnt come up in the morning, disappear for 6 hours then come out for sunset. in my opinion that would be more confusing to a dragon than a traditional 12 or 14 hour daylight session.

if your tank is big enough for your dragon, getting away from the lights and heat shouldnt be a problem. when you put a bearded dragon in a small tank your going to run into problems keeping the cool side cool.

in both of my tanks(40gal & 100gal), my dragons have the full range of lighting options. there are spots that have both heat and UV-B, just heat, just UV-B or dark/shady.

if your tank is big enough, you can(and should) leave the lights on for 12-14 hours. that is not my opinion. that is what ive gathered from reading countless pages on this site as well as other reputable sites.

i didn't mean to turn off their lights, just the heat basking lamp. you should have flourecents running. too much and they can get dehydrated and stressed, believe me I've seen it allot. I think a total of 6 hrs average a day of heat is plenty! Just remember it takes them hours to cool off if they get too hot, so make sure they have a place to escape to if you heat them all day. Yes, its sometimes 110-115 in nature, but they don't spend their whole day basking in 115 degree heat either. 110 is ok on one side, 115 is way too hot in my opinion. Allot of people will say super hot however, I've seen it cause problems though. Also, it's good to give them a little less heat and hours of light in the winter to mimic the natural state of the seasons. more like 10 hrs of light and 5.5 hrs of basking is my schedule in the daytime vs. the 13 hrs light and 7 hrs basking i give them in the summer. thats just my opinion.

ilovebeardeddragons":fbb6e said:

86.4 so i think hes good now am i right??

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The cool side is just a little too warm, is there any way that you can slide the basking bulb just a little further away from the cool side? If you could get it closer to 80 or even 83, that would be even better. :wink: I would leave the basking temp right at 107 as it is now as that is fine.

Definitely leave the basking light on for about 12 hrs a day as that is what they need. The reason for having a basking & cool side is so that they can thermoregulate properly, bask when they want to & also move to the cool side as they need to. Turning the lights on & off does not allow for proper digestion either. Since your beardies are young ilovebeardeddragons, is certainly not a good idea to cut the temps back during the day, no matter what season it is as they are too young to consider brumating yet. So, you're doing the right thing in keeping the daily temperatures constant while they are awake.