Length of daylight/lighting in habitat

[ewarshaw]

Hi,

My son has had a lovely BTS for about three years now, and the skink has been healthy and happy and thriving. We have had his lighting on a 12 hours on, 12 hours off schedule and that has been fine. Recently my son has been getting ready to set up a salt water, reef aquarium in the same room as the skink is housed. Ideally we should cut back the lighting in the room (including the skink's lighting) to a maximum of 10 hours of light. Does anyone know if a cutback to 10 hours of light (and 14 of dark) for the skink could have any adverse effects? It seems to me that the little guy sleeps so much that he would hardly notice the two hour difference, but figure I should check with the experts before adjusting his light timing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Best regards,

Eric

[donkeybuff]

A 10 hour light cycle isn't bad, especially in the winter, when nature's "light cycle" is shorter as well. They do not need to be basking for the full 12 hours anyways. If you find that your skink goes to sleep for the last two hours of his light cycle, try removing that part. See what works best for your skink's schedule.

[ewarshaw]

Thanks for your reply, and the information.

Eric