Benefits of Real Sunlight

[DeweysMom]

Now that it's getting warmer I'm planning on bringing Dewey outside more frequently for some real sun. During the week it's a bit tough though. In the afternoon I do go home for lunch, but I'll only have about a half hour to bring him out. When I get out of work in the evening it may be to cool to bring him out. I'm still planning on bringing him outside even if it's only for a half an hour a day, but I'm curious to see if he'd gain any benefits from the real sunlight in such a short amount of time. In other words, what's the recommended length of time that they should be exposed to real sunlight to gain any benefit from it?

 

[Gail]

30 minutes is plenty of time to get benefits from the sun. I suppose even 15 minutes would be enough to help elevate their mood and get good uvb.

 

[AHBD]

It's a GREAT idea to get them in the sun. At least 20-30 minutes, and even longer. As Gail said, even 15 would be beneficial. Few things will reverse a beginning of calcium deficiency and the " leg twitches " more quickly than getting them in the sun [ along with upping the calcium intake ] If a dragon gets 30-40 minutes in the sun 3-4 times a week, you don't even need the UVB bulb, just a bright and hot basking bulb in the enclosure the rest of the day. For anyone who is afraid that they aren't getting enough UVB that way, just turn the UVB bulb on the days that the dragon is not outside. This will make your bulb last much longer.

 

[Lisafosc]

Just so it slowly and gradually, and make sure ur dragon is wearing a harness! I've been slowly getting mine used to going out, the other day I thought he was happy enough to put him on the ground and I crouched down by his side for comfort, I got over confident that he was doing ok, so I stood up, as soon as I did he bearded like I've never seen him beard before and legged it, mouth wide open, going around in circles, it was terrible. I'm just pleased he had his harness on and that I was able to get him back inside an calm him down quickly.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks for the responses. It's nice to know even such a short amount of real sun can do so much good for them. Unfortunately, I was only able to bring him outside for 3 days because the weather hasn't been very nice here lately. We've been getting rain and a lot of wind. I'm hoping it warms up for good soon. I'm really anxious to bring him outside again. No need to worry about a harness. I'm one of those super paranoid people who wouldn't bring him outside otherwise.