So how long do bearded dragons sleep. Lets find out… In most cases your bearded dragon will sleep for between 8-12 hours per night, with most beardies sleeping around 10 hours.
Most beardie owners like to turn the lights on and off at specific times to encourage a good sleeping pattern and replicate a natural day night cycle.
Remember however that some beardies will sleep longer than others and they will have a nap in the day if they need to.
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to find ‘Other related articles you might like’, once you are done reading).
Table of Contents
The Top 10 Reasons Your Bearded Dragon is Oversleeping
1. Your Beardie May be Unwell.
One of the most serious reasons for you pet bearded dragon to be sleeping too much is because of sickness.
Fear not! by checking for these things you can make sure that the worst can be avoided! discoloured or shedding skin, swollen joints, loose excrement, weight loss, weepy eyes, runny nose, or refusing food or water.
If you find that you pet bearded dragon has any of these then you should make an appointment for your bearded dragon to see the vet.
PRO TIP Always remember to wash your hands with warm soapy water. This will help to stop the spread of parasites, viruses, fungi or bacteria from other animals and pets to your bearded dragon.
2. Something is causing them stress.
Having too much going on for your little beardie can cause them to be stressed. This can lead to making your little beardie tired.
It is easy to confuse stress with illness in your little beardie. Thing’s like lethargy and low activity as well as extra smelly excrement.
All of these can happen for a number of reasons. Poor habitat being the most common. Although can include loud noises and being handled too much or too often especially if they are handled more than they would like.
Making sure that your bearded dragon has a nice big tank is the best way to ensure that habitat does not stress you bearded dragon out. An adult bearded dragon will need a 40 gallon tank as long as it is on it’s own.
Finally giving your bearded dragon a relaxing warm bath could help to reduce stress.
3. A change in environment.
Whether you have just got your new beardie from the pet store or you have just moved house with your little beardie.
Your beardie will experience relocation anxiety this will cause them some stress and in turn lead to more sleeping.
Remember that you will be responsible for helping your bearded dragon settle into it’s new surroundings.
This can be done by making sure that you do not handle them too much at first, you should however talk to them in a gentle and calm manner to get them used to your presence.
Also you will want to make sure that they have the correct habitat and that they are comfortable. Remember a minimum 40 gallon tank, of it is an adult and on it’s own.
4. Not eating enough.
When in the wild your little beardie will think that lack of food is a cause of a change in the seasons.
Your bearded dragon will then begin the process of brumation and so will be sleeping a lot more than usual.
To stop your little guy or gal from going into brumation early, you need to make sure that you are feeding them plenty of food.
5. Not enough variety in their diet.
As you may already know, bearded dragons are omnivores.
This means that in a healthy balanced diet they will require bugs, such as crickets and leafy greens.
There are a few greens that you bearded dragon will not find as tasty or as good for them as others. Cabbage spinach and iceberg lettuce should be avoided. Substitute these with red leaf lettuce and mustard greens.
As mentioned above your beardie is partial to a tasty cricket or two. Remember however that the bulk of their diet should be the vegetables. It would be best to feed them those tasty cricket’s about twice a week, as they only require protein about two times a week.
The best ratio for your bearded dragon, once at adulthood is about 20% protein and 80% vegetables.
Your bearded dragon will need lots of calcium in it’s diet so as well as those portions of healthy vegetables it is a good idea to give them a calcium supplement.
6. Environment is too cold.
All reptiles require warmth to ensure optimal bodily function’s, such as digestion and bearded dragons are no different.
When the cooler night’s begin to set in your little beardie will begin to be sleepy. This is because their organs will start to operate at a slower rate.
Ensuring the correct temperature for you beardie’s tank will help combat this. The ambient temperature should be 75 Fahrenheit to 85 Fahrenheit and have a dedicated basking spot that is 110 Fahrenheit in the daytime.
While at night the tank should be cooler, do not allow it to drop below 66 Fahrenheit and ensure that it stays between 70 and 75 Fahrenheit.
7. Longer Night cycles.
One thing that is a bit different about your bearded dragon is that it prefers to sleep at night while most other lizard’s do not. In the winter month’s, or anytime of the year if the weather is bad enough a rainy day and some early darkness can make your little guy or gal extra sleepy.
As much as we want to make our little beardies comfortable in their artificial environment, with even the best UVB or UVA bulb in their tank the great outdoors will still affect them. This is completely fine and nothing to worry about. It is known to affect other animals and pets and you may find yourself felling a little sleepy also.
8. Not having the right sleep cycle.
Like you, your bearded dragon is diurnal meaning that it sleeps at night and is awake in the daytime.
One of the most important thing’s that is needed for your bearded dragon to maintain the correct sleep cycle is having the correct light pattern.
You will want to get as close to the natural day and night cycle as possible. The settings for the tank of your bearded dragon should be between eight and ten hours of darkness in the summer time and between ten to twelve hours in the winter time.
9. It is brumating time for your bearded dragon.
If your little beardie is older than one year of age then it may be preparing to go into brumation.
Brumation is when a cold-blooded animal effectively goes into hibernation.
During this time they will be less active, this is to conserve energy.
When in the wild bearded dragons will be more active in the summer time, when it is a warmer temperature and then begin to lower their activity levels in the autumn. Finally going into brumation in the winter.
In the spring bearded dragons “wake up” with a spring in their step ready to mate.
So what this means is that winter is on the way and your bearded dragon, through it’s natural instinct’s can tell.
“Winter is Coming”
10. Being a Baby bearded dragon.
As we will discuss further in this article sleep is very important to help your bearded dragon grow to it’s full size.
Growth is particularly important in the first 12 month’s of a baby bearded dragon’s life.
Baby bearded dragon’s will be fine with the same amount of sleep as an adult, eight to twelve hours. Offering them the same light cycle as an adult is fine. They will most definitely take naps during the day and this is completely natural and nothing to worry about.
Sleeping for days weeks or months at at time.
Your bearded dragon has been sleeping for way to long and you begin to worry and think something is wrong.
Well fear not as this just means that your beardie has gone into brumation.
What is brumation?, well brumation is essentially hibernation for reptiles and of course occurs at the end of autumn and in the winter.
Breathing very slowly.
You may well be shocked by how much you little beardie’s breathing has slowed by whilst sleeping.
Not to worry as bearded dragons can slow their respiratory and metabolic rate to incredibly low levels.
In fact you may wonder if your bearded dragon is still alive. Make sure to check closely and over time you will become more familiar with your bearded dragon and know when it is ok.
How Much Sleep do Bearded Dragons Need?
As discussed earlier in the article, your bearded dragon will need a minimum of 8 hours and a maximum of 12 hours in most cases.
The correct amount of sleep for your bearded dragon is important for many reasons.
One of the main ones being growth. Your bearded dragon will need sleep to allow it to grow in a healthy and correct way.
Allowing your bearded dragon the same amount of sleep at the same time every night will help to maintain a healthy sleep cycle.
When do Bearded Dragons Sleep?
One thing that you have in common with your pet bearded dragon is that, like you it is diurnal(being awake when the sun is up and asleep when the sun has set). This is great as it means that, for most people that you will be awake when your beardie is!
Do Bearded Dragons Dream?
When your bearded dragon sleeps it does indeed experience dreams. Dreaming occurs when something called REM sleep happens, and scientists have found evidence of this behaviour in bearded dragons.
Studies that have been done by scientists have found that, bearded dragons have a faster sleep cycle than humans and also longer REM cycles.
Bearded dragons having a REM cycle that is longer than your’s may mean that they experience dreams just as vivid as yours.
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