I'm quite new to all this but since I've had him all day lights temp everything perfect but once the heat lamp goes off about 8pm my dragon turns a dark colour and stays like that until morning is there something wrong please help
So the basking temps are 95-110 for a juvie / adult or 105-110 for a baby and taken w/ a digital probe thermometer? The UVB is not a coil but a long tube fixture w/ proper placement and distance? I am not sure why hes turning dark at nite --- are you using a colored bulb for heat in the tank at nite?
Karrie
Celsius or Fahrenheit? Because if it's in F, those are way too cold.
That said, provided you aren't tanking down below 65 F (18 C), it's perfectly normal for beardies to turn dark at night when it gets cold. That's a natural mechanism to help them maximize regaining heat in the morning since dark colors absorb heat better.
Ardie always looks like he has the beardie equivalent of a bedhead when he wakes up in the morning because of the darker hues, lol!
The temps mentioned are in Celsius. They are in a good range and completely adequate overnight. I don't think the darkening is a problem either. Just a natural reaction and color change to keep warm.