Unlike most common pets (like dogs, cats, etc.), bearded dragons can’t survive in normal house environment. Therefore every beardie owner has to maintain a separate vivarium for its bearded pet with specific habitat and environmental conditions (like temperature, lighting, accessories, etc.). Preparing a vivarium and replicating a beardie’s natural habitat is a one-time task. After that, you only need to clean it when required and check whether instruments (like heater, lights, temperature gauge, etc.) are working correctly.
However, turning off the bearded dragon’s lights at night is something that many reptile owners forget to do when they are busy, and it’s a common mistake among all bearded dragon owners. If you are here, it is most likely that you also forgot to turn off your beardie’s lights last night, and now you are searching desperately for possible results and solutions.
So, to soothe your nerves, leaving the lights on for a night rarely affects your bearded dragon’s health negatively; however, this should not happen often. Before jumping into details about what happens if you leave your bearded dragon’s light on all night and what you should do, let’s first discuss why it’s necessary to turn bearded dragon’s lights off at night.
Why You Need To Turn Off Bearded Dragon’s Light At Night?
Like humans, bearded dragons are diurnal by nature, which means they are active during the day and sleep at night, so beardies need a calm and dark environment to sleep well. Since bearded dragons are sensitive to light, they may not be able to sleep properly, even in a slight presence of light.
What Happens When You Leave Your Bearded Dragon’s Lights On All Night?
As mentioned earlier, nothing bad will happen to your bearded pet if you rarely leave lights on for a night however your bearded dragon will not act like itself the next day. You may feel that your beardie is bit tired, lethargic, and not interested in eating or in other routine activities. All these behavioral changes are just the result of lack of good sleep. Your bearded dragon will be fine in a day or two.
At this point, you may think you can fix the situation. Help your beardie recuperate by turning the lights off and keeping dark during the day. Refrain from doing that because it will only further interrupt your beardie’s schedule. Irrespective of what happened last night, you should stick to your normal lighting pattern.
However, remember that the above lines are true only if this rarely happens; if you forget to turn the lights off often, it can severely affect your beardie’s schedule and health. At the end of this article, we will also discuss how you can void this situation. So continue reading to learn about possible alternatives.
What To Do If You Left Your Bearded Dragon’s Light On All Night?
Here is a step by step guide.
1st Step: Don’t Panic
Forgetting to turn your beardie’s lights off is not a serious mistake unless it becomes regular occruence. It only causes little behavioral change in your beardie that subsides in a few days. Your bearded dragon behavior will parallel to our reaction to lack of sleep i.e it feels fatigued and sleepy.
2nd Step: Stick To Your Normal Lighting Schedule
Don’t think that keeping dark during the day after you forgot to turn lights off during the night will help your beardie.In fact this will worsen the situation.As we mentioned earlier, reptile experts do not recommend turning the lights off during the day; rather, they advise keeping the light on as per your routine in such a situation.Your bearded friend can sleep (during the day) in hide if he wants to. If you have properly managed the vivarium, you will definitely have hides there.
3rd Step: Turn the Light Off a Little Earlier, Next Night
The next step is to help your bearded dragon turn to a normal sleeping schedule. For this purpose, it is recommended to turn the lights off a few hours earlier than usual, for the next few nights, following the night you left the lights on. Making your bearded friend sleep a bit earlier for a few days will help him recover soon. Once your bearded pet returns to normal daytime activities, you can gradually return to the previous lighting schedule.
4th Step: Contact Your Vet If Necessary
Getting your bearded pet checked by a professional veterinarian is always a good option. Vet may give you useful recommendations to handle the situation and prescribe some medicines if necessary. So if you are nervous or worried and finding it difficult to decide whether your beardie is fine, don’t hesitate to ask your vet.
5th Step: Make A Promise To Yourself (It Will Not Happen Again)
Since owning a pet is a lifelong commitment, make sure to adjust your pets in your daily schedule. Though rarely leaving the lights may not harm your beardie, if it happens often, your beardies health will be badly affected. Once you successfully get out of such a situation, make a promise to yourself that this will not happen again.
How Can This Situation Be Avoided in the Future?
You have promised yourself that this will not happen again and are now wondering how you can manage this. First of all, make your daily schedule in such a way that you are free and at home (or near home) when it’s time to turn the lights off (or on). So if you are not busy at that time, you are less likely to forget. In case you are going too far for some urgent work, and you doubt that you may be unable to return in time, ask some responsible person to take care of your beardie.
However, automation is the best solution to this problem. Different kinds of automatic light timers are available that will turn the lights on and off automatically. So wherever you are, automatic timers will do the job for you. As a result, neither your bearded dragon has to bear a sunny night nor do you have to face any problem.