Night time...

[mike120]

Hi guys,

This is my first night with my new beardie and the ive switched the lights off, but left the heat matt on (its burried under a lot of sand so as not to burn) and the temp after about an hour is 80 farenheit.

im scared that if i were to turn the heat matt off, the temp would drop below 60...

Should i leave it on and let it stay as it is? Or can the beardie take it??

EDIT: he's 3 months old

 

[nsciria]

I'm a new owner as well, but everything I've read said not to use heating mats, as they are likely to burn themselves...even if it buried. You can always get a night heat light. It wouldn't interfer with the day/night routine, but help maintain the temperature a little bit.

 

[mike120]

Yeah i'd read the same things. The lady in the store recommended it to me and i reluctantly got it. I'm constantly checking the temperature of it tho, and when i say buried, i mean buried haha.

I'll consider a night light if the beardie cant take temps of 60 or just below....

 

[nsciria]

My guys are around 6 months old...one looks larger than that. But anyways. do you live in a cold climate? I live in southeast Ga so it's rare temps get below 60 at night. My dragons get a heat lamp, and UVA/UVB light during the day. I turn both off at night. But I have the temp in my house set to heat up if it drops below 70. With such a young one, I'd be really concerned about the heating pad, but if it's too much you can always give perches that are off the sand so he can escape the warmth.

 

[mike120]

Yeah my apartment does get chilly at night. I live in Leicester in the uk so it's pretty cold here anywy. Ice just checked and he's fallen asleep at the back away from the heat mat and the temp in there is about 78 right now. I have just checked the sand now and it's no way near warm enough to burn. It's just providing an extra bit of warmth to the viv. I'll seen how it goes tonight and then see whether or not I need to get rid of the heat mat.

 

[nsciria]

well the way it sounds he's happy where he's at. As long as the mat's not hot enough to burn him, then he should be fine, i suppose. Good luck with your temps and all!