Automated bearded dragon lighting for frequent travellers

Travelling regularly while leaving a bearded dragon with a sitter is actually a really sensible reason to get your lighting fully automated — the worst thing that happens in those situations is a well-meaning sitter turning lights on at the wrong time, forgetting to switch them off, or guessing at basking distances. Bad lighting is the single most common husbandry mistake with bearded dragons: incorrect UVB output or basking temperatures cause metabolic bone disease and chronic illness that owners often don't notice until real damage is done. So let's get this sorted properly. What size enclosure does your dragon live in, what UVB and basking bulbs are you currently running — brand and wattage if you know them — and how old is the dragon?

That's actually a really solid setup — Arcadia T5 12% is exactly right for a 4x2x2 with a 2-year-old dragon, and a 100w halogen basking bulb is a good choice. Your concern about the sitter is completely valid; the fix here isn't retraining her, it's removing the decision entirely. What you need is a pair of reliable plug-in timers so both lights come on and go off automatically, every single day, regardless of whether you're home. One quick thing worth confirming: do you have a quality digital thermometer on the basking spot? And is your UVB tube mounted inside the enclosure or on top of a mesh lid?

Perfect — inside mounting at 30cm with a T5 12% is correct, so you don't need to change anything about the bulb setup itself. For the automation, I'd recommend the BN-LINK Mini Mechanical Plug-in Timer. Get two of them — one for the UVB tube and one for the basking bulb. They're mechanical, meaning you set the pins on a dial for on and off times, and that's it: no app, no wifi, nothing to configure remotely, nothing for a sitter to accidentally change. They're robust, cheap, and they just work. Set the UVB to run 13 hours a day (say 7am to 8pm) and the basking bulb on the same schedule. Your sitter's only job becomes feeding and a water refresh. I'd also strongly suggest replacing that dial thermometer with a digital probe or an infrared temperature gun — you want to confirm the basking spot is hitting 40–42°C before you travel, so you know the setup is dialled in and you can leave with confidence.

Two separate timers is the right call, and here's why: your basking bulb will eventually need replacing, and when it does you'll want to be able to swap it or adjust it independently without touching the UVB schedule. It also means if one timer ever fails, only one light is affected rather than both going down at once. The BN-LINK timers are under £10 each, so there's no reason not to run them separately. Set both to the same photoperiod for now — 13 hours in summer, dropping to around 11 in winter to mimic natural light cycles, which supports your dragon's seasonal rhythms and breeding health even if you're not breeding him. Once those are plugged in and set, your sitter literally has nothing to do with the lighting at all.

Yes — keep it to a short one-page sheet: lights should be on from X time to Y time, basking spot should look warm and the dragon should move towards it in the morning, and if both lights are completely off mid-day to check the socket hasn't tripped. That's it. Don't give her instructions on how to adjust anything, because that's how well-intentioned changes happen. If something genuinely fails, the fallback is a photo sent to you — you can diagnose remotely and either order a replacement for next-day delivery or ask her to pick up a cheap backup bulb. With a good automated setup and a clear brief, your dragon will be absolutely fine while you travel.