Basking spot - 105°F (40.5°C) to 115°F (46°C)

Hot zone - 95°F (35°C).

Cool zone - 85°F (29.5°C).

Night temperatures - 65°F (18.3°C) - 70°F (21°C) shouldn't fall below 65°F (18.3°C)

Q: My temperatures are too hot on the basking spot/hot zone

A: Are you using a thermostat? If you are using a regular spotlight a dimming thermostat will help you control the temperatures in the basking zone for your bearded dragon.

A: When using a thermostat, place the probe in the middle of the vivarium as shown here. Set the temperature to approximately 90°F and check the ambient temps in the vivarium. To adjust the temperatures either adjust the thermostat or move the probe towards the basking spot for lower temps or towards the cool area for higher basking temps.

A: Try lowering the wattage of the bulb. It could be that the bulb is too powerful for the size of the vivarium.

A: Does your vivarium have adequate ventilation? Increasing the number of ventilation ports will result in cooler internal temperatures. Also, placement of where the ports are play a significant role... Hot air rises and having ports near the top of the viv will be more efficient than having ports on the bottom.

A: Are you using a basking rock or wood? Using a stone will provide better thermal conduction (act as a radiator when heated from the spot) compared to wood. From experience, having rocks in the basking area can result in higher temperatures in vivariums, especially late afternoon/evening therefore switching to wood may help lower temps. The type of stone has an influence too... lighter coloured limestone are generally cooler than dark coloured slate

A: How far is the bulb from the basking spot? Is the basking spot too close to the bulb? Changing the distance of where your dragons basking rock or wood is compared to the bulb can effect the overall temps.

A: The surrounding environment can play a part. Is the vivarium in the hot/warm room or next to a hot radiator/room heater? Also, vivariums facing direct sunlight from a window can adversely effect the heat in the tank.

Q: My temperatures are too cold on the cool side

A: Try keeping your basking temps to the higher end of the scale 110°F on the basking spot, it will help the ambient temps. This is achieved by changing to a slightly higher wattage bulb or simply changing the setting of the thermostat to allow higher temps

A: Are you using a basking rock or wood? Using a stone will provide better thermal conduction (act as a radiator when heated from the spot) compared to wood. From experience, having rocks in the basking area can result in higher temperature vivariums, especially late afternoon/evening.

A: The seasons in the year, with the winter here in the UK a lot of vivs will struggle to heat the cool area significantly, especially if the house is cold too. This is usually solved by using the point below.

A: Position of the bulb should be taken into consideration, say for example you have the basking spot on the left side of the vivarium, moving the basking bulb/spot slightly further to the right will influence the average temp on the cool side.

A: Decor will also have an influence... too much decor will cause shadows and lower overall ambience (same goes for having temp probe in a shaded corner)

Q: I'm scared the night time temperatures might be too cold?

A: Unless your house gets really cold at night (falls below 18°C) you shouldn't need additional heating. Keep in mind that inside the vivarium the temps will be slightly warmer than room temp by about a degree or two.

A: Additional heating can be provided in the form ceramic heat emitting bulb placed on a separate thermostat to keep the temperatures above the min 18°C. Some people use heatmat, though they are not highly recommend due to beardies sensing heat from above, I wouldn't place one on the base of a vivarium, but would place it on the side wall to act as a radiator. Ceramic heaters which are more efficient for air temperature heating.