best light for night viewing BRB in tub?

[purplephilia]

I searched this forum for posts about lighting but didn't find anything that answers my specific question, which is: what is the best light to use for viewing my baby BRB at night? I impatiently bought a blue LED bulb hoping to use it in my Fluker's dimmer lamp, but whoops apparently LEDs are known for not really being dimmable. So I'm thinking this time I should do some research and ask questions before I make my next choice. :rolleyes:

I would only turn the light on when I want to look in on him, it wouldn't be on all night. I have him in an IRIS Weathertight 41 qt tub like the one in this picture.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Kvffwz3WL.jpg

[Azrt]

Use a the light from whatever room he's in.

[purplephilia]

Huh. Well that might work if the room light was a bright daylight type of light (it's not), or maybe if the plastic was perfectly clear.

I can see inside the tub great with the LED I bought, I just don't know if maybe it's too bright for the snake.

[Scubadiver59]

You should be in bed, not looking in on your snake all day and night long...you'll only stress it out. What do you expect to see?

if you have to, set up a security camera and watch it from your computer.

[dannybgoode]

No lights at night in vivs imo. A very dim red bulb if you must that's only on briefly whilst you view but I wouldn't even go that far.

[purplephilia]

I don't want it inside. On top of (in a big lamp that keeps the bulb at a distance) or above the tub. And I don't want it to be a heating bulb.

[purplephilia]

You should be in bed, not looking in on your snake all day and night long...you'll only stress it out. What do you expect to see?

I said "when I want to look in on him" not all night long. I specifically said the light wouldn't be on all night. I happen to really enjoy looking in on him quickly, without opening the tub, just to see what he's up to. I don't always sleep through the entire night and if I wake up I just like to peek in on him. Weird, right?????? Being that he's nocturnal, it just so happens that night time is when I get to see him being active.

[dannybgoode]

You'll be surprised, given the right setup, how visible he'll be in the day. Nocturnal doesn't necessarily mean hidden away and most nocturnal animals are somewhat active during the day (think cats).

Also most snakes (BRB's included) are not truly nocturnal but crespula and putting lights on at night can be very disturbing for the snake.

[purplephilia]

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful response dannybgoode!

Cats are actually crepuscular too. I do look in on my BRB once or twice during the day too (I work from home) and never see him out until about 7:30 at night, and whenever I've looked in on him late at night or the middle of the night I always find him out and about. I just really love watching him, it's really cool. I've also only had him for a week so he's still new and exciting and fascinating to me. I know lights are not the best thing so that's why I was thinking there must be a dim light that is acceptable for just looking in on him periodically, but I guess not. Thank you for your help.

[akane]

Pretty much all my reptiles have an evening light of some kind. Sleep disorder and I really never would see some when if I wanted to collect instead of view I'd just put them in racks. All my geckos right now and several snakes are also in my bedroom. Most of the night/dim lights I don't have timers and I just turn them off when I am unlikely to be entering the room anymore, sometimes rather than waste time in bed not sleeping I clean and work on hobbies for a few hours so I'll end up back in those rooms, or when I'm probably going to sleep for the first time (I sleep in 2-4hr blocks). I do have a cut off where I turn out lights except where I'm using my computer regardless of my own sleep so everything can have enough dark and they have quiet mornings with limited daylight.

If you want led skip the fixture and get a small, low watt rope or just a disc which can even be battery operated if you only want a couple hours in the evening when sunlight is too low. They are low profile and fit flat anywhere with a bit of duct tape or for better looking, less visible but more permanent option some stick on velcro. I also have a few incandescent tinted party bulbs, a tinted red heat lamp, and just a 10w daylight fluorescent in a narrow reflector to aim it mostly at 1/4th of the tank which my desert king seems to actually like coming out in the evening/early night to sit under on purpose. You can get more red tinted fluorescents for plants but they are still going to cover a full spectrum and reptiles can see a wider range of light than us so I worry more about actual watts or lumens I'm using than color but red is considered the least disturbing of night schedules.

I will repeat everything does get full dark by a certain point and my lights all come on late with some rooms getting pretty much no daylight so they don't have a long bright morning anyway. They mostly have what light I give them and some are near 100% artificial. I have doves breeding like that so I think I am doing it successfully. If I had a really bright room starting first thing in the morning I'd probably be more hesitant to light in the evening or into the night at all but quite the opposite so viewing the snakes into the am hours does not seem to bother them. The one who has the most feeding and stress issues is the one with no light and only a che in the room everything enters the least so any problems I think are species/individual issues, not lighting or human schedule.

[TRD]

If you enjoy watching your snake so much, then why stuff it away in a plastic box instead of a nicely decorated vivarium in the first place.

[Scubadiver59]

If you enjoy watching your snake so much, then why stuff it away in a plastic box instead of a nicely decorated vivarium in the first place.

This ^^^^^^^^^

[purplephilia]

You have no clue what his tub looks like. He is not "stuffed", he is a BABY and he has PLENTY of room, 3 hides, a large water tub, 2 places to hang out above the floor, two corners with leaves to feel sheltered, branches for climbing, and leafy vines circling the entire tub. As a matter of fact his tub is so nicely decorated that it's actually nearly impossible to spot him through it all from outside the tub--so I probably don't even need to bother with a light anyway. :D All of this while his temperatures remain perfect and his humidity stays steady at 99%. Have you never heard what happens when you ASSume?? Well you guys did that just fine even before you made wrong assumptions.

But thank you very much for taking your time to help me out with a simple question and welcoming a newcomer to this forum. And people wonder why reptile keepers get a bad rap.

[purplephilia]

If you want led skip the fixture and get a small, low watt rope or just a disc which can even be battery operated if you only want a couple hours in the evening when sunlight is too low.
Thank you SO MUCH for being reasonable and adding to a discussion rather than being unhelpful and rude.

The thing is, I didn't even want to leave the light on continually. I only wanted to have one to turn on when I went to check on my baby--turn on, look in on him, watch him for a couple minutes if he's moving, turn off. It's not like I want a big huge 50,000 watt spotlight on him all night. I actually cover his tub with a towel if I'm in the room at night with the room light on because I know they're not fond of light at night and I've seen him poking his head out of his little burrow only to hide it again when the light came on.

But like I said in my last post, last night I looked in on him and realized a light doesn't even help because I have to peer through a bunch of leaves or around his water tub to try to find him lol. So after all this wonderful helpful discussion, I'm probably not even going to bother with a light and I might just keep my infrared camera nearby and see if I can spot him through the screen on the camera.

I do have a "moonlight" heat bulb for my gargoyle gecko but I don't leave that on continually either, I have it on a thermostat so it only comes on when her enclosure needs some warming up.

[Andy_G]

We have a new member looking for insight from the members on this site. There is more than one way to keep these animals correctly, be it in a large vivarium or a private tub (wich may even be BETTER for a somewhat nervous, high humidity species such as a rainbow boa depending on who you ask). It's ok to be opinionated, but please explain as to how you formed your personal opinion so that it may be learned from and recognize that it's just that, a personal opinion. Hopefully previous comments were just read wrong and no harm was meant, but please be mindful of the situation at hand here, folks. I'm watching.

Back to it, ladies and gentlemen. :)

[dannybgoode]

Well said Andy

I think as well though its worth bearing in mind that English is not some people's first language and coupled with the fact some of our European neighbours are very straight talking means messages can come across quite terse when that is not necessarily the intent.

Even as a plain talking Yorkshireman I am sometimes a little take aback by replies I get from my friends on the continent as what may seem rude to us simply isn't meant to be.

[Andy_G]

Of course, Danny. Hence my "possibly read wrong" statement, and also something for the original poster to certainly keep in mind. :)

[akane]

If you do led since it lacks nearly all heat and uses individual little bulbs it's quite easy to alter with a low tech solution of electrical tape over the extra bulbs and it won't melt on so then the leftover sticky is easily removed with most anything stronger than only water. It works on the ropes, multi-led disks, if you have a bulb that does not have the individual leds covered by an extra layer, and some flashlights. Many flexible ropes are also marked to be cut about every 3 bulbs and then you cap the end again or you can splice cuts together with connectors bought separately so they are quite useful to get very specific lighting but you have to watch your ac adapter power when modifying the number of bulbs pulling power.

[purplephilia]

If you do led since it lacks nearly all heat and uses individual little bulbs it's quite easy to alter with a low tech solution of electrical tape over the extra bulbs and it won't melt on so then the leftover sticky is easily removed with most anything stronger than only water. It works on the ropes, multi-led disks, if you have a bulb that does not have the individual leds covered by an extra layer, and some flashlights. Many flexible ropes are also marked to be cut about every 3 bulbs and then you cap the end again or you can splice cuts together with connectors bought separately so they are quite useful to get very specific lighting but you have to watch your ac adapter power when modifying the number of bulbs pulling power.
Thanks for the ideas! Much appreciated. :)

And thank you Andy and Danny for the cool heads. :o

[SerpentineDream]

What about this? It's a small blue LED light bar designed for use in aquariums (which I've used it for) as a night light for fish so that you can view them while allowing your diurnal fish to sleep and your nocturnal fish to venture out. No transformers or linking, it just plugs into the wall. You could drill a hole in the tub for the cord and mount it inside near the rim. Rather than relying on the suction cups in a dry environment I'd probably secure it with strong Velcro tape.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00X84LRCU/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495896321&sr=8-2&keywords=submersible+led+aquarium+lights

FWIW I use dim red or purple/blue moonlight bulbs in my snakes' cages at night. It doesn't appear to disturb them at all. The diurnal snakes still go to sleep and the nocturnal ones still come out. The crepuscular ones still come out in the early evening and turn in later at night.

[akane]

Those are convenient they just cost the equivalent of getting 6' of rope and cutting it where you want it or doing something temporary so you can use it elsewhere later and they tend to be nearly as bright as what some of my crested gecko tanks are running during the day if they don't have plants. Ropes also come with the ac adapter all lights need and plug straight in if you don't get the big rolls and you only need to change it if you splice the to run more lights. That and the ways to apply the very flat profile is why I mentioned them over the bars.

[purplephilia]

What about this? It's a small blue LED light bar designed for use in aquariums (which I've used it for) as a night light for fish so that you can view them while allowing your diurnal fish to sleep and your nocturnal fish to venture out.

That looks promising!! Is this the exact one you've used for your aquarium? Do you think it's dim enough for a snake enclosure?

I've been using a mini incandescent MagLite to look in on Incêndio and it doesn't seem to bother him, but the thing is it's small so I have to move it around to find him. So I was considering a lamp type light (or a strip like this) so I could see the whole enclosure (while peering through all the dang leaves).

I tested the regular blue LED I had gotten and managed to catch my little guy stretch out diagonally from his moist hide to his above-ground burrowing spot and he was staying still, so I turned it off and used my mini Mag and he had started moving and didn't stop when the light came on. So I definitely want a dim bulb or something that works with either a regular dimmer like my Fluker's lamp or an LED dimmer.

My BRB is from Cliff Earle/Living Gems Reptiles and I've asked him about lighting as well. He said a dim bulb is okay as long as it's not to be left on continually, but he wasn't sure about red vs blue, which was part of what I'm trying to find out too. I've read conflicting information about which color is best for snakes. In your experience does it seem like no difference?

P.S. I see in your signature you have CA red-sided garter snakes and I'm kind of jealous because they are so neat but I can't keep any because I live in CA.

[purplephilia]

Those are convenient they just cost the equivalent of getting 6' of rope and cutting it where you want it or doing something temporary so you can use it elsewhere later and they tend to be nearly as bright as what some of my crested gecko tanks are running during the day if they don't have plants. Ropes also come with the ac adapter all lights need and plug straight in if you don't get the big rolls and you only need to change it if you splice the to run more lights. That and the ways to apply the very flat profile is why I mentioned them over the bars.

So the ropes are dimmer? Do you/have you used ropes too?

[purplephilia]

You'll be surprised, given the right setup, how visible he'll be in the day. Nocturnal doesn't necessarily mean hidden away and most nocturnal animals are somewhat active during the day (think cats).

Also most snakes (BRB's included) are not truly nocturnal but crespula and putting lights on at night can be very disturbing for the snake.

Hi Danny I was thinking about this and I wondered do you have nocturnal snakes? I'm curious as to do you just never look in on them? Or do you just use the room's light?

I mean this with genuine curiosity, no snark or attitude. ;)

[SerpentineDream]

That's the same one I've used only smaller. I found it to be disappointingly dim for a large aquarium but since you want dim that might be a good thing.

The bulbs I use for the snakes are heat bulbs. Some of them like it a little warmer than I keep the ambient temp so I use them for supplemental heat. Blue moonlight burns cooler for those that just need a few extra degrees, red night light burns hotter for the real heat seekers. I haven't noticed a difference in activity between red and blue colored light. Both are designed not to disturb your snake's sleep patterns. I use the lowest wattage that does the trick.

[akane]

So the ropes are dimmer? Do you/have you used ropes too?

I posted my use of ropes for a few situations. I don't use them as much for reptiles yet because I haven't bought a large enough rope for many of my tanks. I did run a full 6' length around the top of a 10g that didn't need heat for a dekay's brown snake which was bright enough to view in daylight but still not that much without lighting into the room any in evening and it was white leds. I don't think I have a pic without flash cause my camera always blurred without flash regardless of light. That's a lot more length of led than a bar. As I said I use 3' (3' covered in electrical tape so I can reuse the 6' again if I want and the length makes it reach the outlet easier with the cord it came with) of white led as a night light for my doves to not spook in the dark and that's in my bedroom.

[dannybgoode]

Don't use blue light at night. Blue light is very disruptive to pretty much all animals at night regardless of whether they are crespula, nocturnal or dinural. If you absolutely must use a light then red or very dim white light.

@purplephilia - nocturnal does not mean hides during the day, simply active at night. There are tons of nocturnal animals that bask during the day and rest out in the open. They then become active at night. I'll dig a link to the post out that I wrote the other day that showed all my snakes, all of which are notionally nocturnal, basking under their uv light.

My boa, carpet and olives in particular are very rarely hidden during the day although they have plenty of options to do so. Having naturalistic vivs helps enormously in triggering natural behaviours and is one of the reasons I spend so much time on it.

At night I leave them completely alone unless feeding or giving them a quick check if I'm late in from work (I have a long commute). The night is their time, their domain and they don't need some human gawping at them. As I say honestly I see them plenty during the day - they are often on show.

One other point is that most snakes are crespula and not true nocturnal; crespula meaning most active during dawn and dusk. By putting a light on at night the snake thinks it's dawn or dusk and is active for linger than it would be.

Finally humans are particularly rigid about being active during the day and sleeping at night. In the wild many animals are somewhat active at all times. Don't forget even the domestic cat is deemed nocturnal and they a) sleep out in the open and b) show some activity in the day also.

[dannybgoode]

Here we are. 'Daytime' and all on view

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/new-forum/114832-need-information-please.html

[akane]

Humans are only rigid about daytime sleep because of imposed artificial schedules. The natural schedule of a human with no obligations who doesn't force themselves to adhere is actually not that rigid at all. Humans are also designed for closer to a 25hr day instead of the 24hr day chosen (which is not entirely accurate either or we wouldn't need leap day). Everyone is attempting to reset their brains every night. Most of the US suffers some level of sleep deprivation from attempted artificial schedule conflicting with preferred physical schedules.

[Shauna0522]

You have no clue what his tub looks like. He is not "stuffed", he is a BABY and he has PLENTY of room, 3 hides, a large water tub, 2 places to hang out above the floor, two corners with leaves to feel sheltered, branches for climbing, and leafy vines circling the entire tub. As a matter of fact his tub is so nicely decorated that it's actually nearly impossible to spot him through it all from outside the tub--so I probably don't even need to bother with a light anyway. :D All of this while his temperatures remain perfect and his humidity stays steady at 99%. Have you never heard what happens when you ASSume?? Well you guys did that just fine even before you made wrong assumptions.

But thank you very much for taking your time to help me out with a simple question and welcoming a newcomer to this forum. And people wonder why reptile keepers get a bad rap.
I use a black light to view mine at night but I'm not sure if that would work through the plastic. It sounds like you have a nice setup to bad you can't see through it. 😃