Heating and lighting instructions for a bearded dragon need to read like settings, not suggestions, because this species cannot warm himself, digest properly, or absorb calcium from food without the right gradient and UVB. A carer who 'keeps the tank nice and warm' can still leave your dragon too cool to eat or sitting under a dead UVB tube for a week. Write the numbers down, label the plugs, and walk the carer through the checks once in person.
State the gradient in plain numbers
Write the three figures the carer must protect: the basking surface at roughly 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the cool end in the low to mid 80s, and a night-time drop with no light and no heat unless your home falls unusually cold. Explain why both ends matter — your dragon shuttles between them to regulate himself, so a uniformly hot enclosure is as wrong as a cold one. Show the carer where the digital thermometer probe belongs on the basking spot and what a normal reading looks like at midday, and ask for a glance at it on every visit rather than a hand held over the glass, which tells them almost nothing about the surface your dragon actually sits on.
Make the light schedule idiot-proof
Put the basking bulb and the UVB tube on a timer and write its on and off times on the instruction sheet, typically giving 10 to 12 hours of light that mimics his normal day. Label which plug is which, because a carer who unplugs the wrong lead to fit a phone charger can silently kill the UVB while the enclosure still looks brightly lit. Stress the difference between the two lights: the basking bulb provides heat and visible light, while the long UVB tube is the one his bones depend on, and it gives no obvious sign when its useful output fades. Leave the date the tube is due for replacement noted, even if that date falls after your return.
Write the failure plan before it is needed
Tell the carer where the spare basking bulb lives and how to swap it safely once it has cooled, since a failed heat bulb is the most likely emergency of the week. If the basking temperature cannot be restored, the instruction should be to contact you the same day rather than improvise with a hotter bulb from another room, move the enclosure into sun through a window, or place him on a heat source with no control — window sun through glass can overheat a dragon quickly while providing none of the UVB he needs. Include your reptile vet's number and the point at which a heating failure plus a lethargic, dark-bearded dragon becomes a vet call rather than a text to you.
Add the behaviours that signal a heating problem
Describe what correct warmth looks like in your particular dragon: basking flat with his mouth slightly open at the hottest point, moving to the cool end after meals, and eating enthusiastically at his usual time. Then list the warning pattern — sitting dark and hunched in the cool end all day, refusing insects he normally chases, or gaping constantly even away from the basking spot. Those signs let a carer who does not know reptiles well report something useful ('he has not basked today and ignored his food') instead of a vague 'he seems quiet,' and they help you judge from a distance whether the problem is equipment, stress, or health.
Keep food rules tied to the temperatures
Remind the carer never to feed a cold dragon first thing before the lights have warmed him, and not to offer insects in the last couple of hours before lights-out, when falling temperatures leave a meal undigested overnight. Note the water bowl's place at the cool end and that a bath is optional, not a substitute for fixing a temperature fault. Pin the sheet by the enclosure and keep a copy on your phone. KinsLe's Care Pass places those exact temperatures, timer settings, and spare-bulb notes in one temporary handoff your carer can check at the enclosure.