Newbie temperature confusion

[Welshbeardie1]

Hi everyone

Prepare for an essay but please help a newbie!!!

I’m new to Beardie care and have just adopted a 3 year old female whose owner could no longer take care of her, we’ve had her 5 days or so and we have inherited the setup (viv,uv,heat lamp) and I’ve bought a thermostat and digital thermometer...

I’ve currently got the thermostat probe sat at the cool end along with the digital thermometer, the thermometer is reading 85f and the thermostat has dimmed the heat light right down

This is where I get confused!!!!

...if the cool end reaches 85f and the light dims...then obviously this reduces the heat at the basking spot...which also causes issues....so if I’m right....I need to test the temperature at the basking spot when the dimming happens as well to measure this temperature...if this temperature is below 100etc then does this cause a problem if it is lower for a proportion of the day

e.g.

If the dimming happens for arguments sake late evening but is fine for the rest of the day does this cause an issue?
Or if throughout the course of the day the lights are on full for say 10 hours and 2 hour dimmed intermittently...

until I try this I’m unsure of how long dimming will occur for throughout the course of a day and also what the temperature at the basking spot drops to etc until the thermometer turns up tomorrow.

I think I’m confusing myself at the minute and getting tangled up in thoughts but I want to make sure everything is perfect for her.

The lights have dimmed at the minute as I am sat here typing and she is gaping near the basking spot - which would indicate the temperature was right even under a dimmed light or am I wrong?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Welshbeardie1]

This is her at the minute she did have her mouth wide with tongue sticking out slightly.

 

[CooperDragon]

I would put the dimmer probe right on the basking log with a zip tie just a little bit away from directly under the light. Have it set to a range of about 100-105 or so and that way it will have the hottest area 105-110 or so with most of the basking area around 100. Put your digital thermometer over on the cool side to monitor the cool temps so you can see the gradient. That should stay around 75-85. If the bulb dims too often or too much I would try a different bulb wattage or move it further away if you can.