Cancer by light?

Hope this is in the right tab. (you can skip reading to the part with the ***)

Well i have a small spot in my viv which i though was just made for giving light and not heat. The temperature was always a bit higher but most lights give of somewhat heat so i didn't pay much attention to it. Also the humidity dropped by 10% during the day. My rheostat that controls the UTH is hidden from sight but since the temperature got to 31.5°C i put it where i could see it. By doing this i noticed the UTH didn't turn on all day and only started working when the spot was out. I checked the packaging of the light and it was a small heat lamp after all.


*** So now i want to buy a LED spot. But i remember the lady from the reptile shop saying that the energy saving lights sometimes can cause cancer with the reptiles. Does anybody know if LED spots are safe?

Most people I know that light their snake cages use LED's because they do not give off as much heat. I have never heard of energy saving lights causing cancer in reptiles, or any animal's for that matter... But, I would like to hear someone elses view on this.

LEDs causing cancer? Doesn't sound very likely.
I strongly doubt that you have anything to worry about.

I would think UV light would be more likely to give any animal Cancer rather then an LED. As far as I know an LED puts off no UV or other wide spectrum light. Atleast that Im aware of.

I don't believe that LEDs are the same thing as the energy saving bulbs that are designed to replace the standard incandescent bulbs. Energy saving bulbs are known to contain harmful chemicals - in the UK we're advised to open the windows in a room where one has been broken and not go back in until it has been properly ventilated. We also have special instructions on how to dispose of them when they stop working (some "improvement"....).

I've heard of UV being anecdotally implicated in lighter coloured Corn morphs losing their sight (something about lacking darker pigment that protects the retina), but have never heard anything about any kind of light causing cancer in reptiles.

bitsy said:

I don't believe that LEDs are the same thing as the energy saving bulbs that are designed to replace the standard incandescent bulbs. Energy saving bulbs are known to contain harmful chemicals - in the UK we're advised to open the windows in a room where one has been broken and not go back in until it has been properly ventilated. We also have special instructions on how to dispose of them when they stop working (some "improvement"....).

I've heard of UV being anecdotally implicated in lighter coloured Corn morphs losing their sight (something about lacking darker pigment that protects the retina), but have never heard anything about any kind of light causing cancer in reptiles.

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Okay it's just the energy saving light bulbs that may be harmful.

Now if it just stopped snowing i could get to a store

Okay it's just the energy saving light bulbs that may be harmful.

Click to expand...

Only when broken, releasing the chemicals inside them. They're harmless in normal use as far as I'm aware (otherwise I'd be converting to candles!). Beware that they do seem to give off heat as well though, so I'd still recommend LEDs on those grounds alone.

I think the "energy saving" lights you're talking about are the compact fluorescents. Fluorescents all have mercury in them, which is cancer causing. As to "light" causing cancer, UV can cause cancer.
Keep in mind, UV light is not visible to humans. Some other kinds of "light" that aren't visible to humans that may cause cancer? Radio waves, infrared, x-rays, microwaves, gamma rays. They are all "light"...same thing, different wave length.

I don't imagine that a light bulb is more cancer-causing than a computer or a microwave. Or sunlight. Sun probably has more cancer-causing UV rays than a light bulb.