Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Built a new snake room at one end of the basement. Right now I am in the process of getting it warm enough. I have a nice shop light which will make the room very bright for admiring the beauty of my snakes. There is also a small window that lets in a good amount of light, especially on bright sunny days. I can actually go down there and read the thermometer without turning on any lights. It is somewhat "dim" with no supplemental light, but it will certainly provide a natural light cycle in terms of hours of daylight per day.

So my question is: How bright will light need to be in order to stimulate a snake's reaction to light and light cycles? Anyone know of any specific research on this topic? How about personal experience tinkering with different light levels and noticing how this influenced your snakes? Clearly, I can choose to have the bright lights on every day during the daytime if I wish. But I am wondering if the natural light present would be good enough. What are your thoughts? Duffy

Well, seeing as how many snakes are nocturnal, or crepuscular, lighting may not be as important as it is to lizards in terms of stimulating breeding cycles. However, I would make every attempt were it my set up to light it as brightly as possible in order to better mimic natural day/night cycles versus the considerably more subdued lighting that you'll get from windows. Also, light from windows will be subject to your latitude and as such may not give you the day/night cycle you're needing for some species. For example, some tropical species, especially closer to the equator may have nearly 12-12 hours day/night all year around whereas most places in the lower 48 you'll get much shorter days in the winter versus the summer which might throw things off. For these various reasons I prefer to light each cage individually if possible in order to control these various cycles.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois