# Does a beardies viv need heating at night ?........



## wonderer (Mar 26, 2011)

because I have heard conflicting answers. Some say to turn the heat lamp down of a night while others claim if the room is not too cold then the beardies are fine without light or heat overnight as this is closer to what they would experience in the wild. 

So which is it lol ?


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

You need to turn all lights off at night so they have darkness, and all heat should be off too unless it drops below 60f (15c). Then you could use a ceramic heater, on a stat of course! They must have a temperature drop over night or their health can suffer.


Jenny


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## Jeffers3 (May 18, 2010)

Click on the Lizard Forum Section and you'll see a care sheet section on there. This and most other questions should be answered there.

Welcome to the forum btw!


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

for your beardies viv you should have a heat bulb on a thermostat. the thermostat needs to be 84 in the day and 74 in the night. you should not turn the heat completely off at night unless you have an amazingly warm room. the uv bulb should be on at lease 12-14 hours a day and off at night.

hope this helps :2thumb:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

kerry and chris said:


> for your beardies viv you should have a heat bulb on a thermostat. the thermostat needs to be 84 in the day and 74 in the night. you should not turn the heat completely off at night unless you have an amazingly warm room. the uv bulb should be on at lease 12-14 hours a day and off at night.
> 
> hope this helps :2thumb:


 
that isn't the best advice.

you turn the lights off at night so it's dark and they can sleep.
If you set the thermostat to 84 in the day you're not achieving anything other than keeping the thermostat at 84f. You have to set the thermostat to whatever it needs to be to keep the correct basking spot and to make sure the cool end doesn't over heat.
you don't need an 'amazingly warm room' at night you need it to cool down.

Have a quick read up on a place called Australia; it's on the other side of the world to England, yet just like England the sun goes down at night and the temperatures drop to cold in the evenings and get colder in winter.


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## awh (Aug 20, 2008)

dickvansheepcake said:


> You need to turn all lights off at night so they have darkness, and all heat should be off too unless it drops below 60f (15c). Then you could use a ceramic heater, on a stat of course! They must have a temperature drop over night or their health can suffer.
> 
> 
> Jenny


i agree with this as this is what i do


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## Sandra K (Mar 3, 2011)

Ours has no lights or heat at night and we have had no problems..and we don't leave any heating on in the room Even when we had the cold snap in November we didn't leave the heating on in the room and winnie was fine.


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## wonderer (Mar 26, 2011)

:lol2: See what I mean ? No one agrees !. For a newbie like myself who just wants the best for their animal it can be very confusing. I dont have my beardie yet as I want research as much as poss before i buy so I can give it the best start. 

As they are naturally desert animals my head tells me that overnight it would be ok to let the viv cool down a bit as thats what would happen it the outback right ?

I remember when I was 13 worrying so much about keeping my Red eared sliders water at the exact right temp until my younger brother put them in my dads cold pond.......where they happily spent the rest of their lives !

How much is their the tendency to.....look after the animal TOO much if you know what I mean ? :blush:


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

kerry and chris said:


> for your beardies viv you should have a heat bulb on a thermostat. the thermostat needs to be 84 in the day and 74 in the night. you should not turn the heat completely off at night unless you have an amazingly warm room. the uv bulb should be on at lease 12-14 hours a day and off at night.
> 
> hope this helps :2thumb:


this wont help! If the warmest point of the viv is 84f then the beardie will suffer because its not hot enough for them to efficiently digest their food!

As for night time! I worried about this a lot so I went out and got a false floor in my beardies viv and put a heat cable under it on a pulse prop stat set to 65f! What a waste of money that was! it never even come on! since then I have switched it off and the my beardies not any different, So no you need night time heat! and definitely not night time light!? thats just crazy :lol2: Do you have lights on in your room at night? :whistling2:


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

wonderer said:


> :lol2: See what I mean ? No one agrees !. For a newbie like myself who just wants the best for their animal it can be very confusing. I dont have my beardie yet as I want research as much as poss before i buy so I can give it the best start.
> 
> As they are naturally desert animals my head tells me that overnight it would be ok to let the viv cool down a bit as thats what would happen it the outback right ?
> 
> ...



We all agree that you need to let it cool down at night, except for 'kerry and chris'. Who to be honest has given pretty rubbish advice! 

Have a look at the 'lighting/heating' section of this care sheet Caring for a Bearded Dragon - Hades Dragons UK


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

wonderer said:


> :lol2: See what I mean ? No one agrees !. For a newbie like myself who just wants the best for their animal it can be very confusing. I dont have my beardie yet as I want research as much as poss before i buy so I can give it the best start.
> 
> As they are naturally desert animals my head tells me that overnight it would be ok to let the viv cool down a bit as thats what would happen it the outback right ?


most people do agree to be honest and like you've said yourself, as well as using care sheets you need to use common sense.
Does the sun go down in the outback - yes
does it get cool / cold in the outback at night - yes


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

Meko said:


> that isn't the best advice.
> 
> you turn the lights off at night so it's dark and they can sleep.
> If you set the thermostat to 84 in the day you're not achieving anything other than keeping the thermostat at 84f. You have to set the thermostat to whatever it needs to be to keep the correct basking spot and to make sure the cool end doesn't over heat.
> ...


everybody has their own opinions we have always used the bulbs on dimmers with the probe in the middle of the tank so the hotter end is more than 84 and the cooler end is lower than 84. i never say anyones advice is not good as different things work for different people. we have learnt all we know from proffessional reptile keepers. and we have some of the most healthiest happiest animals i know of. so if your going to be rude please keep it to yourself. . . :devil:


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

mooshu said:


> this wont help! If the warmest point of the viv is 84f then the beardie will suffer because its not hot enough for them to efficiently digest their food!
> 
> As for night time! I worried about this a lot so I went out and got a false floor in my beardies viv and put a heat cable under it on a pulse prop stat set to 65f! What a waste of money that was! it never even come on! since then I have switched it off and the my beardies not any different, So no you need night time heat! and definitely not night time light!? thats just crazy :lol2: Do you have lights on in your room at night? :whistling2:


doesnt anybody understand that the heat probe goes in the middle of the tank so the 84 degrees is in the middle??


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

dickvansheepcake said:


> We all agree that you need to let it cool down at night, except for 'kerry and chris'. Who to be honest has given pretty rubbish advice!
> 
> Have a look at the 'lighting/heating' section of this care sheet Caring for a Bearded Dragon - Hades Dragons UK


if you read my post you will see that there is a night time drop?!?! what is with you people this is an advice post not one to get an oppertunity to bitch at people?!?!


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

kerry and chris said:


> doesnt anybody understand that the heat probe goes in the middle of the tank so the 84 degrees is in the middle??


Everyones set up is different. Just because that probe placement with that temperature setting works for you DOES NOT mean it will be right for someone else's viv. People need to experiment to see what works for them. :bash:


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

kerry and chris said:


> doesnt anybody understand that the heat probe goes in the middle of the tank so the 84 degrees is in the middle??


Im sorry I didnt understand that you put the probe in the middle of the viv, I would have thought that accurately controlling the temp at the basking site would be more important but each to their own!

Anyway back to the OP yeah everyone agrees that a night-time temp drop is important so as long as the room doesn't get super cold at night you dont need heating, and night-time light is a no! : victory:


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## Mini_the_Minx (Jan 15, 2011)

kerry and chris said:


> everybody has their own opinions we have always used the bulbs on dimmers with the probe in the middle of the tank so the hotter end is more than 84 and the cooler end is lower than 84. i never say anyones advice is not good as different things work for different people. we have learnt all we know from proffessional reptile keepers. and we have some of the most healthiest happiest animals i know of. so if your going to be rude please keep it to yourself. . . :devil:


Do you have digi thermometers at the hot and cold end to monitor those? The hotter end needs to be roughly 10f more than the 84 you're stating with the basking temp 20f more than your stat is set at. The cold end needs to be about 80f. So the advice you've given is frankly, pretty poor, more so considering you've given it to a beginner. I have never in my time as a beardie keeper, spoken to anyone who has suggested the advice you have given. The heaters and lights go out at night, like they would if you were outside. My viv never drops below 60f at night. The only time you would need to consider a little additional heat at night is if the viv is in a very cold room.



kerry and chris said:


> doesnt anybody understand that the heat probe goes in the middle of the tank so the 84 degrees is in the middle??


That's not a definate rule, that is what you personally do. Some will agree, others will disagree. Mine is more toward the cooler end so I can make sure that gets up to temperature. I have a 83f cool end, 95f hot end and a 107f basking spot. What are your temps?


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

kerry and chris said:


> everybody has their own opinions we have always used the bulbs on dimmers with the probe in the middle of the tank so the hotter end is more than 84 and the cooler end is lower than 84. i never say anyones advice is not good as different things work for different people. we have learnt all we know from proffessional reptile keepers. and we have some of the most healthiest happiest animals i know of. so if your going to be rude please keep it to yourself. . . :devil:


 
you seem to not know the meaning of rude.

But; can you please explain to us how 


kerry and chris said:


> for your beardies viv you should have a heat bulb on a thermostat. *the thermostat needs to be 84 in the day and 74 in the night.* you should not turn the heat completely off at night unless you have an amazingly warm room. the uv bulb should be on at lease 12-14 hours a day and off at night.
> 
> hope this helps :2thumb:


transpires to mean




kerry and chris said:


> everybody has their own opinions we have always used the bulbs on dimmers *with the probe in the middle of the tank so the hotter end is more than 84 and the cooler end is lower than 84.* i never say anyones advice is not good as different things work for different people. we have learnt all we know from proffessional reptile keepers. and we have some of the most healthiest happiest animals i know of. so if your going to be rude please keep it to yourself. . . :devil:


because it doesn't. Advice is supposed to help people but in your first post you just set to set the stat to 84 and then turn it down to 74 at night.
You also didn't state whether you were using ceramics or if you're telling people to have a light on all night but not as bright as during the day.

now i'm not being rude; but when giving advice you're normally giving it to somebody who doesn't know what to do so it should be fully explained where it's helpful and not just touching on what you mean.


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

dickvansheepcake said:


> Everyones set up is different. Just because that probe placement with that temperature setting works for you DOES NOT mean it will be right for someone else's viv. People need to experiment to see what works for them. :bash:


im not saying its the right way it has to be done that way. if you read a few posts up i have actually said different things work for different people and everybody has their own opinions of what works best for them !!!!!!!!!!!! :bash::bash::bash:


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## kerry and chris (Nov 9, 2009)

Mini_the_Minx said:


> Do you have digi thermometers at the hot and cold end to monitor those? The hotter end needs to be roughly 10f more than the 84 you're stating with the basking temp 20f more than your stat is set at. The cold end needs to be about 80f. So the advice you've given is frankly, pretty poor, more so considering you've given it to a beginner. I have never in my time as a beardie keeper, spoken to anyone who has suggested the advice you have given. The heaters and lights go out at night, like they would if you were outside. My viv never drops below 60f at night. The only time you would need to consider a little additional heat at night is if the viv is in a very cold room.
> 
> 
> 
> That's not a definate rule, that is what you personally do. Some will agree, others will disagree. Mine is more toward the cooler end so I can make sure that gets up to temperature. I have a 83f cool end, 95f hot end and a 107f basking spot. What are your temps?


like i have said its not rules different things work for different people but that is how we do ours. and i have not anywhere said we keep the light on at night?? so where is this coming from? with 84 in the middle we achieve basking temps for the beardies of about 99 - 105 in the hot end. obviously the higher up the tank they sit the warmer it is. well thats the case with ours.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

kerry and chris said:


> like i have said its not rules different things work for different people but that is how we do ours. and i have not anywhere said we keep the light on at night?? so where is this coming from? with 84 in the middle we achieve basking temps for the beardies of about 99 - 105 in the hot end. obviously the higher up the tank they sit the warmer it is. well thats the case with ours.


 
so you've given advice that wasn't actually advice. You said what you did without actually saying what you did?

this is the newbie section where people come for help and advice, usually for their first viv so you need to explain what you do as it's confusing enough with thermostats and probes and basking spots, hot ends, cool ends, ambient temps and everybody doing it differently.


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## bbav (Oct 17, 2007)

I don't use any heat at night.
The best way of heating i've found is to set your basking spot up with some nice big stones.
Set the basking temp at about 105F-110F then the stones heat up during the day and keep warm though most of the night.


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## Mini_the_Minx (Jan 15, 2011)

kerry and chris said:


> for your beardies viv *you should have a heat bulb on a thermostat*. the thermostat needs to be 84 in the day and 74 in the night. *you should not turn the heat completely off at night* unless you have an amazingly warm room. the uv bulb should be on at lease 12-14 hours a day and off at night.
> 
> hope this helps :2thumb:





kerry and chris said:


> like i have said its not rules different things work for different people but that is how we do ours. and i have not anywhere said we keep the light on at night?? so where is this coming from? with 84 in the middle we achieve basking temps for the beardies of about 99 - 105 in the hot end. obviously the higher up the tank they sit the warmer it is. well thats the case with ours.


You said it above actually. Having a *bulb* on a stat and then not turning the stat off at night means the *light will stay on*.

You still haven't answered what your hot and cool end temps are.


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## gazzo (Mar 16, 2011)

my timer gose off at 9:00pm and nothing is left on in my tank thay need darknes to sleep i cudent sleep if a light was on over my head :lol2:
my viv drops and stays at 73f.iv read somewere that in the wild it can drop to as low as 60f.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

i'd say it drops a lot lower than 60f. 60f is 15.5c and Aussies will wear jumpers in winter 

it can get very cold there
Australian Historical Climate Data


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## gazzo (Mar 16, 2011)

Very true.


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