Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am so confused. I have heard both are safe and I have heard a regular blacklight will harm the eyes. What is the truth?

I use a red light, they cant see it.
Ken
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0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)
1.1 Argentine B/W Tegus (Draco and Drucilla)
0.1 Columbian B/W Tegu (Diablo)
1.0 Black Throat Monitor (Razor)
1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)
0.1 Feline (CK)
1.0 Memory of my Redtail Boa (Mo) which passed away after 28 years

same here... works well....50w by the way
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CKA

I'm not a big fan of using artificial lighting - my snakes get what comes in the window and if I'm in the snake room at night they get regular light from the ceiling lighting.

Way back when I first started keeping balls, lights were considered "essential" I used to use the night glow lights they were supposed to be able to see them the simulate moonlight or something to that effect. Living in So. Ca there is little use for heating during the day anyway. Now days I prefer to go with natural lighting and it seems to work fine.

But for what it's worth they spend most of their time in their hides anyway so it's doubtful that they would get much over exposure to any type of light. I've been known to be wrong tho.
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Tosha

"One of these days i am going to wake up..look around...and realize my place looks more like "Ace Venturas"s than my own." Coldthumb

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope John Paul "JP"
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 lizard rescued from vicious feline

Black lights are essentially long wave untraviolet rays, usually in the 345-400nm range. This is a region in what's coined the UV-A range. Occasional exposure to UV-A isn't an issue for humans or animals and is a major component of sunlight, but extended periods of exposure can weaken the human immune system and cause cataract formation. Animals such as some birds, reptiles and bees can see UV light quite well (so I wouldn't advise using it as a nighttime viewing source), but typically cannot see infrared (with the exception being those that have pits). So if you want to take a few pictures of your snakes under a black light, go for it...but it's not advised to maintain snakes under black lights.

Matt

Hey thanks for the great information. I was considering the blacklight for use only when I want to see my snake at night, not to get pictures of him. I was told the blacklight would be less of a disturbance than the red lights and I don't need the extra heat from those either.

i was thinking about putting my 3 tanks on the same wall and putting black lights behind them so i can watch them glow when they move around at night(plus i think my albino cornsnake will look cool under it). do you think they would notice them?