Red Light yes or no?

[valkener]

Hi everyone,
my beardie has finally started eating well 3 days ago.. except for today but the day is young . We switched on the Red Light at night for the last two nights because our temperature goes down to 62-60 Degree's at night. I heard this is too cold for a young beardie at night?

I want him to get enough sleep so please let me know if the Red Light is acceptable or if it disturbs his sleeping pattern.

thanks!

 

[contessa20]

Any type of visible light will disturb their sleeping pattern at night. If you really need to add heat at night you'll need to use a ceramic heat emitter. These emit only heat but no light.

 

[gandhi]

Hey - Glad to hear your beardie's eating

A red light isn't the best idea because it will disturb his sleeping - it's better to have complete darkness. If your nightime temps are too low try using a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) instead as this will up your temps but without the light.

Gina

 

[gandhi]

haha - sorry contessa20 I wasn't just repeating what you said - I was writing me post when you posted a reply!

 

[valkener]

What is the lowest acceptable temperature for a young beardie? Thanks for the answers.

 

[fresnowitte]

If the temperature drops below 65 degrees in your home at night, you need a night-time heat source for your beardie. You can not use a bright light of any kind for heat at night (and absolutely no colored lights any time). Imagine trying to sleep with the lights on! You wouldn't sleep very well. Your Beardie could get stressed out, stop eating, develop behavioral abnormalities, and a compromised immune system if you keep his lights on all the time. Which would leave your beardie susceptible to illnesses.

The best heat source for night time is a ceramic heating emitter (CHE). CHE's are non-light emitting heating units. They get very hot but disperse heat over a very narrow (15" in diameter) and shallow area. The range for a 60 watt CHE is 8" down, the range for a 100 watt CHE is 10" down, the range for a 150 watt CHE is 12" down, and the range for a 250 watts is 14" down. CHE's are not effective in heating large enclosures, and a rheostat or dimmer switch may be used for small enclosures so it doesn't get too hot. It is very important that CHE's only be used in porcelain/ceramic light sockets as the amount of heat that they produce is enough to melt regular plastic light sockets.

 

[valkener]

Thanks for the reply, where can I buy a ceramic lamp and bulb?

 

[fresnowitte]

Several different companies make them and sell them I personally use the Exo-terra brand CHE's and purchased them here. http://www.reptilesupply.com/index.php?cPath=30_70

They are recommended that you use them in the wire/cage/basket fixtures.
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1008

Here's a link to another site that is really reasonable. http://www.petmountain.com/category/260/1/reptile-heaters.html

 

[Livey]

Oh oh,
i use red lights at night...
Becuase mine drops too low also...
but i didnet no this!
nunu seems to sleep fine though!

 

[fresnowitte]

If you must use a red light until you can get a CHE then please make sure that the light is not shining in your beardies eyes at night. The affects that it can have on your beardie will take time to be revealed not something you'd notice usually right off the bat.