Advice for Day and Night Bulbs

[TRD]

That page you linked I happen to know... and some articles that UVB radiation promotes vitamin D3 production in snakes I know too. However there's a ton of info available that while they do react (so to say) to UVB, it's a hard time to prove there's an actual significant benefit for it. Snakes seem to get all they need through their diet, at least in captivity. Stable rodent diet... which contains all if not most of the essentials if fresh enough and from a good vendor.

That's where my main question originates from -- would it add anything to the snake's health, even though all it requires is already provided?

I'm pretty interested in the subject, and have long been contemplating it. I have however not found one single source that really pointed out any benefits to using UVB with snakes besides articles that describe it helps with metabolizing D3 and A. Also all UVB lights provide UVA which helps the vision. Now UVA I provide anyway. UVB if required would mean quite a bit of work since you can't place those lights outside the terra as UVB is blocked by glass 95-100%. Drilling extra holes and all into the metal meshes I don't like, and CFL UVB lights are bad to reptile eyes (too bright)... so it would need to be some T5HO or similar and that's a real pain to put inside of glass terra not made to support it.

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by TRD

That page you linked I happen to know... and some articles that UVB radiation promotes vitamin D3 production in snakes I know too. However there's a ton of info available that while they do react (so to say) to UVB, it's a hard time to prove there's an actual significant benefit for it. Snakes seem to get all they need through their diet, at least in captivity. Stable rodent diet... which contains all if not most of the essentials if fresh enough and from a good vendor.

That's where my main question originates from -- would it add anything to the snake's health, even though all it requires is already provided?

I'm pretty interested in the subject, and have long been contemplating it. I have however not found one single source that really pointed out any benefits to using UVB with snakes besides articles that describe it helps with metabolizing D3 and A. Also all UVB lights provide UVA which helps the vision. Now UVA I provide anyway. UVB if required would mean quite a bit of work since you can't place those lights outside the terra as UVB is blocked by glass 95-100%. Drilling extra holes and all into the metal meshes I don't like, and CFL UVB lights are bad to reptile eyes (too bright)... so it would need to be some T5HO or similar and that's a real pain to put inside of glass terra not made to support it.

I'll dig some papers out. For wooden vivs I put the tubes in the viv. For glass with mesh lids I put a higher powered tube outside the viv. Arcadia for example specifically rate their tubes through mesh.

Bear in mind D3 is very important and it is only properly metabolised through the absorbtion of uvb.

Further anecdotally my snakes all actively bask under uv when they generally hid when just provided with normal lighting which suggests they are seeking it out. They are more active and display much more vibrant colours.

With regards to cfl and eyesight. An early experiment did indeed render all the snakes blind however later testing showed that the bulbs used emitted uvc which is what caused the blindness. Fran makes specific reference to this on the site I linked to. These bulbs are no longer manufactured.

In fact it is this old paper that stopped people using uv for snakes for a long time but then scientists considered the fact that many snake species are found basking in sunlight without going blind so there must be an underlying cause in the tests.

Its also the reason that I only use Arcadia bulbs as under testing they produce the spectrum they claim to whereas repti glo get close to emitting more dangerous wavelengths.

I agree to an extent with you that it is still a contentious issue however I think the science is clear it is beneficial (whilst not essential). I factor in the cost of uv in all my vivs now and given that I'll be up to 10 snakes soon and some of those will need larger set ups in the futures it is a considerable expense but I consider it to as important to a stat and proper heating to ensure the well being of my animals.

Even some reptile stores in the UK now fit uv to their store vivs and shops wouldn't go to the expense of this if there were no benefit.