Reptile & Amphibian Forums

as a few of you may know,i recently began experimenting with keeping one of my chondros in a planted vivarium similar to what dartfrog keepers use.now before that,my setup was very similar to what many of you guys use,i was using an acrylic MD custom with similar basic,textbook , type of setup.now with this setup,lighting was not an issue other than for my viewing,since chondros are mainly noctournal and require no special lighting.since switching to a rather heavily planted vivarium,i now require a decent light source to keep my many plants alive an healthy.my current lighting is a bit on the low side since growth was not as much of a concern as just keeping my plants alive but never the less,its still rather bright compared to what i used prior.it consists of 2 full spectrum 15 watt 18"florecent tubes,and one 20 watt esu reptile full spectrum compact florecent(the twist type)now this is just about enough to keep my plants alive without overdoing it,but i have began to wonder about the health of my snake in a brightly lit vivarium.with another sun loving reptile,id say it may not even be enough light,but since we are dealing with a snake that normally doesnt bask,and is usually noctournal,do you guys think the lights will bother or harm him???so far so good and his colors look amazing ever since i began exposing him to full spec light,but im just wondering if you guys think it may be a stress factor.the lights i chose were not picked for uv radiation and dont give off much to consider,but i did select full spectrum lights(Ktemp around 5000 give or take) because his blues really look stunning displayed under them.many of you guys have noticed,especially the sorong owners(and anyone else whos snake has some blue highlights)that when brought outside in natural light,you notice colors on your snake that you didnt even know were there.using full spectrum lighting has the exact effect indoors.so anyway,think bright lights are harmfull or stressful to chondros??? its not overly bright but brighter than i ever used or even thought about.

A lot of keepers light their vivariums, and as a matter of fact, I just put a light in mine. I keep it on a timer and it comes on at 7 am and goes off at 7 pm. It's really bright in there, but she doesn't seem to mind and it does bring out their colors. I just used it for the first time yesterday, and as soon as it went out, she was roaming around the viv, so it couldn't have bothered her much. If your snake shows signs of being stressed, then you might have to address the problem, but otherwise, I wouldn't worry.

-----
1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1.1~Green tree python~Tempest, Whisper
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

You would be a better judge than any of us as to weather your animal was indeed stressed by to much lighting in your enclosure.

If it goes off feed, trys to hide, gets sick or any other outwordly signes of stress, then i would worry.

yea thanks guys,what type of light is that meg???is it full spectrum??on gregs site he says that although not needed,full spectrum florecents bring out the colors but regular(cool white)florecents actually may dull the colors.not all florecents look the same. i have always had lights in my snakes cage but never as much as these.i dont think its much of a problem but to tell you the truth,i wouldnt want to be under them all day.yea julian,i have been keeping an eye out for problems,dont see anything yet but ill keep you guys updated.

It's a flourescent aquarium light that my friend had. It works great for bringing out the colors in fish and GT's.
-----
1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1.1~Green tree python~Tempest, Whisper
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

yea i think the aquarium lights are usuallly full spectrum or at least wide spectrum