Reptile & Amphibian Forums

went round and round with the local pet shop "expert" today who insisted i needed a "basking" light for heat and proper UVA, (B,C,D or whatever). Now from what i understand bp's spend their days and nights in burrows and are active in morning and evenings. Not exactly prime basking times. Also it is my understanding that bp's don't need UV because they can get all their nutrients from the food they eat. Please correct me if i am wrong. there are a great number of other things this guy (and another "expert" who tag teamed me at the store today told me which i will get into later.
thanks
Mike

You're right, they're wrong . Balls are nocturnal. Sleep in hidey holes all day and search other hidey holes for rodents all night, basically . They don't need overhead light of any kind. Maybe for day/night cycling, but even that isn't necessary. And yes, they utilize the calcium they take in from the rodents they eat.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Do you think the pet store guru had no clue about BP's or was he trying to just sell you some more stuff? That is the question! My guess would be maybe, BOTH.
Link

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a little of both i think, he pointed out all of the stuff i bought that he thought was unnecessary like temp gauges and uth's, but sold me a basking lamp and laughed when i said i wanted a moonlight lamp (probably one of the best purchases i've made so far), my snake loves it, very little heat but simulates natural moonlight, he cant get enough, just lies under it and looks around, and of course i can see him too in all his nocturnal glory. of course tried to sell me the obligatory $35 clip on lamp holders, which sell for $5 at the hardware store down the street.
Mike
loading his staple gun ominously....

Next time you go in there take a BP book with or just pull one off the shelf and have them show you where in there that it says BP's require UV. Basking is another thing though some give their BP's back heat with a heat panel or heat tape on the back of the cage. But most here prefer belly heat. No matter BP's do bask in a way when they thermo regulate.
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Brian n Chrissy

www.cb-reptiles.com/
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

other than uv does a basking lamp provide anything more than a regular light bulb (assuming the same wattage)?

Any time you use a heat lamp of any kind on a bp cage you are burning up humidity and will have to add a mist or 2 daily. If you choose to use a light, a normal household lightbulb will do.

For my bearded dragons (which do require uv) I use a 100 watt hologen flood lamp with a Zoo Med Reptisun (Ten - 10.0) Fluorescent Bulb. But as said BP'S don't need UV.

Hope this helps
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Brian n Chrissy

www.cb-reptiles.com/
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

>>other than uv does a basking lamp provide anything more than a regular light bulb (assuming the same wattage)?

Basking lights do NOT provide UVB, which is the rays that are needed by diurnal (daytime) reptiles. There are a few models out, such as PowerSun, that do also provide UVB, but they are $30 a bulb and only come in 100 watts and up - much too hot for the average ball python cage.
Basking lights provide much more heat compared to a regular light bulb. A light bulb is intended to provide light, not heat, so they are not going to heat up much. If you tinker with wattages with heat lights, you'll notice that the amount of light put out by different watts hardly changes...but the heat output sure does! Different watt levels provide different amounts of heat.

I hope you got the UTH and temp gauge in spite of what the guy at the petstore told you! What possible reason could they have to tell you NOT to know what temperature your reptile was living at?
The moonlight bulbs are awesome for viewing nocturnal reptiles with.

During my short-lived attempt (less than a month) of trying to keep my snakes in a display type setup, I never noticed them come out to bask like, say, my california kingsnake does.
A happy, healthy ball python is one you almost never see during the day.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I think we go to the same place. Told me our ball's prob was...needs this light, vitaspray, let go 5mo w/o eating... talk about "experts" a dime a dozen. After reading these post, no wonder she stays hidden. It's daytime to her. my bad.

BP's don't need UV but mine likes to go under the lamps once in a while.

I have a UTH for my ball, but I also have a 40-watt halogen over her tank to keep it a little warmer in the winter months. She can't reach the light, but it provides a good deal of warmth for the surrounding area and warms up a rock that likes to lay on when not in her hide.

So, I guess for my ball, she really does seem to enjoy basking. She's really not very reclusive unless she's going into shed or has just eaten. I don't worry a great deal about losing some humidity to the light. After all, these are African snakes. Not a lot of humidity on the savannah. I just raise the humidity by misting when she goes into shed, and she sheds in one piece every time.

Whatever you're doing works for her (since she sheds in one piece), but....ball pythons don't really live on the 'savannah' we think of when we hear the word.

Ball pythons live primarily in burrows underground, or in scrub brush areas. The parts of West Africa where balls are usually found is typically known as being a humid, wet area. Togo, Benin, and Ghana (where ball pythons are typically exported from) are all on the southern end of West Africa - closer to the equator, and much more humid.

Whenever you see a picture of a hunter holding a ball python, the hole he dug it up from is also usually pictured.

So, something to consider.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire