Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that kings, bulls,etc do not need any specific lighting. My cages get in-direct lighting from the window, but I want to put a small amount of light in the cages. They are 24" deep and it is not very bright.
The cages are by Reptile Basics and I was thinking od either a small halogen attached to the top. Or rope lighting. Or a small flourescent. The halogen I would put on a dimmer becuse of the heat. Anyone ever added lighting to cages?
Thanks

David
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

I hear you. With black plastic cages of that depth it can be hard to see in the back when cleaning, etc. Probably nice for the snakes.

Is the lighting just when you clean or access the cages or all day?

Halogen "puck" lights give off a very pleasing light but get very hot, even dimmed down a bit. Great for when you need to clean the cage. Not great for an all-day light because it will heat the cage (depends on size of cage of course) unless you want heat. Price is right.

Everything else you mentioned will work. Your preference. With fluorescent, stay on the small side. 18" bulb is plenty of light for a 4x2 cage. And get the metal housing.

I may as well mention the battery-powered LED lights one can get now even in grocery stores. You just velcro those on the ceiling of the cage. They are fairly effective. The light given off is very "electronic" looking, but it will do the job if you only need light when cage cleaning. The benefit to you - no wires going into the cage and no heat.
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Mark

hey mark,,thanks for the info.
the halogen are nice,,but do give off heat. i want the lighting for all day. so i am going to look at small flouresent or rope lighting. the rope i could use in both my cages and down the back of my rqck. just gotta see how much heat they produce.

thanks again
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

I saw a pic here a long while back of a stack of (I think Boaphile) plastic cages with rope light weaved in/out the back wall of each cage. That was actually enough to keep the ambient temp in the cages in the low 80s. His room temp was in the mid-high 70s though.

I've been considering trying rope lights for a long time. I have an open-back rack for young'ns that sits in a shed that gets cold in Winter. I heat the rack under the boxes with a very low-watt heat cable. The rope lights would help augment that during the coldest months. This dialogue finally pushed me over. I'll get some too and try them out. So glad you brought up the subject. I love experimenting with setups and getting ideas from others.
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Mark

great,,,,i am going to go get some also,,but will put them on a dimmer because i do not want that much heat,,,,
and i could always use the lights at christmas,,,lol
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

Heh, that was funny to watch you talk yourself right into them. Thanks for sharing!
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

i can usually talk myself into anything,,,which is good,,especially at herp shows....
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

I always bring this up when someone brings up lighting. I am trying this dimmable compact fluorescent that seems to be pretty good. You get a lot of light from this thing, and it’s only 3 watts! It is suppose to last nine years.

I like that the spiral is enclosed and the bulb is smooth. I use a real cheap bulb socket that can fit any regular screw in light bulb.

Halogens will become VERY HOT even with little wattage and dimmed down. There are many LED puck lights that are actually hard wired if you don't want to do the battery thing. They run about $10 ea and put off quite a bit of light. Just look at any hardware/building material store in the lighting section. You could also just get a cheap plastic light fixture for $0.99 and a 9' extension cord and do it yourself for about $2-3 including your light bulb. I've recently done this with all my chondro cages. I use a 25 watt mini-spot and small full-spectrum spiral bulbs. Perfect amount of heat and light and only takes about 2 minutes to install.


Simple, easy, cheap, and safe lighting.

Good luck
Brandon Osborne
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www.brandonosbornereptiles.com

I've got to ask, how big (length & grams) is the chondro in the upper right of your pictures? She looks huge.

Nice post and good to see you contributing here. You really should do a tutorial if you assemble anymore of your melamine cages.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

what about heat coming from those bulbs? i know the spots would give off heat,,what about the spiral bulbs? do not want the snake to burn itself....
thanks
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"