beared dragons sleep habits

Question
Hi there
We just inherited a bearded dragon and we are still learning about them, we believe he is about 2 years old. Our question is we had read that his lights should be shut off at night for him to sleep. We always shut his UV light off but last night we also shut of his basking light. When we got up this morning we thought he was dead, he did not move at all, usually when he hears us coming he is right at his door ready to eat, instead he was on his hammock, head hanging down, feet dangling, no movement at all. We left him for a few minutes and watched him and still no movement, my husband opened his cage door and started to pet him and he slowly came around and after about 15 minutes he was lively again and ready to eat. Is this how bearded dragons sleep all the time?
Thank you
Leeanne

Answer
Hi Leeanne,

He should have both lights off at night to provide him with a normal day-night photo period.  As you have learned from this, the reptile metabolism is powered by an external heat source so a cool reptile is a slow, sluggish reptile. Their breathing slows and their ability to move is inhibited until they are able to warm up. Luckily there are no predators in captivity to take advantage of this!  This temperature drop at night would be quite normal in his natural environment and gives his metabolism a needed "rest". The general rule of thumb is to provide a night time heat source only if your house is very cool at night but dropping down to the high 60's F should be fine. A night time heat source should be either a red light or ceramic heat emitter that still allows the tank to be quite dim or dark at night.