So I've now got a chinese water dragon. And I noticed today, that it was very ready to have lights out by the time I turned them off. I'm wondering if I should turn the basking lamp onto a timer, or leave it on all day ( I can't just go in and turn it on/off cause of work). But today I went in and turned it off, and s/he went right to sleep under some leaves, even with the UV light on (so I turned that off too).

It keeps trying to escape, and jumps against the door a lot. Will this desire fade after awhile? Or will I always have to be super careful about opening the enclosure?

Does anyone else get the "awww" feeling when their new herp eats a cricket out of their fingers

I think I'd like to get a Bearded Dragon too (separate enclosure of course!), but man that's a lot of crickets to keep on hand

Oh here:

I would just put the lights on a timer, 12 on 12 off. That's how all of my pets are andit is great. One lessthing to worry about in this hectic reptile spoiling world.

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Agreed. They need to be on a consistent schedule as well and a timer is the perfect way to do it. Water dragons are prone to snout damage due to running into the sides of the tank. You may want to cover the sides and back to help avoid this. If you were stuck in a tank, would you want to escape, lol.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

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Just out of curiosity why would you want to turn the basking lights on and off all day? Or am I misunderstanding your question?
All my lights are on timers. Makes things simple and gives the animals a steady natural routine. The sun doesn't rise and fall at different times

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

One: It would help to humidity to not have the basking light on all day
Two: It would be more natural. Water dragons come from a tropical climate, which has frequent rainstorms, so the sun isn't sitting out hot and pretty all day long, all year long. There is frequent cloud cover.

Understood. However even in the rain it is still pretty bright. And you want the warmth.
Having the cage to go dark sporadically is not good for the animal. Messes up their biological clock.
And you want the UVB light to be on for 12 hours.
You might try using a humidifier to help with the humidity. You could put it on a timer to go off at certain intervals.
If you put in a hide box of some sort (which should be there anyways) the dragon will have a place if it wants to get out of the light.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Just to add to Merlin's comment, there should be a heat gradient as well as a large pool for them to soak in too. That helps keep them hydrated, and gives them a choice as to whether to bask in the heat or cool off in the shade.

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Having your Uva/Uvb lighting on a set schedule helps to simulate/resemble your dragons natural habitat. Water dragons naturaly heat themselves by basking in the sunlight Which is what the UVA lamps are simulating. The Uvb lighting is to provide the natural moonlight setting but also like the uva bulb helps to maintain heating. One thing u can do is also set up your uvb * Night bulb * next to your basking bulb so that your dragon will get its needed uvb rays while he/she is basking. When u have the bulbs on top of the terarrium above a aluminum screen, it will create a warmer area at the top and a cooler bottom half. By doing this your allowing your dragon be able to thermo-regulate, Or in other words, he/she can regulate their body temps by moving from cooler to warmer climates when they want. The Uvb plays a very important role. The Uvb ( Ultraviolet B waves ) but only in a small portion, give off Vitamin D3 in the skin. So in english. what your doing is simulating day and night time temps as well as providing vitamins for your dragon. At the same time your also providing Humidity levels Cooler air temps allow for better humidity and the high temps allow for heating/basking. From my understanding. Night time temps need to range between 65-75 degrees Ferenhiet. and the daytime/basking temps at the top of your terrarium can range between 75-90 degrees. The ideal uvb bulb is one thats made especially for lizards/dragons which give off the right neighborhood of proper lighting for him/her.

Sobe, there are several statements in your post that concern me.
UVB generating bulbs have nothing to do with moonlight. UVB comes from the sun. If you are talking about those bluish moonlight bulbs sold as "night bulbs", they are not UVB bulbs but only a fancy colored incandescent bulb like you use in your home. UVB Bulbs generate a normal appearing light. Any UVB bulb also generates UVA.
You have to be very careful because the packaging on some pet store bulbs would (deliberately) lead you to beleive that you are buying a UVB bulb when you are not.

You mention aluminum screen. If you mean the fine mesh screen like is used on windows, the mesh is too fine and screens out most of the UVB from the bulb. Your screen needs to have a minimum of 1/8 inch openings to be effective.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Some is a fantastic link that explains UV in great detail, it explains the UVA and UVB.

UV Lighting for Reptiles: What is Ultraviolet Light?

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!