UV light

Hello all,

I have a question about uv lighting. Before anyone goes into the "they dont NEED it" arguement, I know the snakes dont need it, but once our new viv is completed we are considering putting live plants and grass in there. I know there are lots of fake plants on the market that look nice, but we would like to grow real ones. Here in NM the humidity is very low. Usually around 20%. We haven't had any bad shed problems yet and we dont want any. So, live plants look nice, and help with the humidity, but they need more uv than they would probably get naturally.

Is a certain amount of uv lighting during they day bad for the snakes? Obviously, they are exposed to some in nature, besides they will have plenty of hides in the viv. The other thought is to use plants that grow in shady areas and dont need much uv. Maybe they will get enough naturally.?

Thoughts? Info?

Thanks for the advice,

I don't think you will get enough UV out of a grow lite to hurt the snake. You might want to wait before you invest too much money in the light however. I think you will find that the snake will smash the plant and kill it in pretty short order. Then you won't need the light.

yup that hapened to us =) we got a nice lovley plant 4 our kingsnake - 10 mins later: destroyed! he looked, he sniffed, he flattened. he now has a nice rubber catus which he loves to pulverise:twoguns:. so if i were you i'd give it a try with one or two tough (and cheap) plants before investing in some nice ones.

also i've heard that too much uv can make ur snakes go blind - i'd like to know if thats true or not.

If you do this, I am going to give you a bit of advice. This is something that I experienced and I would hate to see someone go through this. If you buy a uvb bulb, make sure it is the tube type and not the coil. At one point I added a coil light to my frillies tank, because they are a little cheaper. It was a well known national brand and I they have equal uv ratings as the tube type.

Well, the light made my dragon, sick. Very Sick!! I almost lost him. It was actually burning the outer layer of his retina, causing him to close his eyes because of the pain. He also stopped eating and drinking and became lethargic. The coil type UV had such a strong beam that it was bordering on UVC, which is what causes sun burns in us, humans and snow blindness when it reflects off of the snow.

Before you go and think I am singing the praises of a tube type UVB bulb for a snake, let me add something. The same thing can or could occur by using a tube type UVB bulb on a snake. They have no eye lids and the intense beam of the bulb would constantly affect their eyes. The same type of damage could occur. That is why I don't care for heat "lamps" for snakes.

I realize that snakes have a mechanism, in their brain, that shuts off the optic nerve so they can sleep. (I can't think of the name of it right now) but the lens and nerve would still be affected by the constant light of the bulb.

A basic growing light will contain both UVA and UVB light to promote plant growth and replicate photosynthesis. That is why I base my information around a UVB bulb.

Here is a link to the information that I just explained. In the end, you will have to decide this for your self. I am just a messenger,

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor-info.htm

Good luck,

Wayne

WOW!! Thats all I need to hear! Thank you for the information.

I guess we will try a few plants that dont require much uv and see if they live without any special lighting. The viv is going to be in the living room, so they will get a little, but not much. If the plants/grass lives cool, if not too bad.

Regardless of whats good for the plants, it is not worth the risk to put any sort of uv lighting in there!

Thanks again,
Jimmy