If boas and pythons needed UVB the way that diurnal lizards, turtles, and tortoises did, then there would be a lot of people in this forum with sick, deformed, malnourished snakes. Diurnal reptiles need UVB to produce Vitamin D3 and thus absorb calcium into their bones. Snakes however (along with most geckos) have evolved to survive without UVB. I read a few years ago that snakes were found to have scales that were too thick to absorb most UVB rays --in other words, they have their own built-in sun block.

If anything, UVB can be dangerous to albino snakes because they have no melanin in their eyes to protect them from the ultraviolet radiation, causing them to go blind. Especially something as high as 10.0 UVB which is ONLY for use in desert animals.

Regardless of how much UVB a snake can actually absorb through it's scales, I've never heard of any major boa/python breeders using UVB on their snakes (constrictors unlimited, bob clark, pete kahl, etc) and their snakes seem to be doing just fine.


~kasey

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