Can they see red/infrared light?

[Ivyna J Spyder]

Simple enough. I want to be able to see it at night without bothering it... Or are those blue 'moonlight' bulbs better?

[Mindibun]

Ball pythons can "see" in infrared, though it seems that it's mostly with their labial pits rather than their eyes. They can also see in ultraviolet, and in color during the daytime.

I have been told that no matter what type of bulb you use, a ball python will be able to see it. I kept a small black light on one of my big girls at night, and she knew it was there. When she would come out to explore she would pay a lot of attention to that light - I think trying to figure out what type of animal emitted such a strange heat source.

If you want to see them at night, get a black light, red light, whatever, and put it on a timer. Allow it to come on when it gets dark outside, but before you go to sleep. Once you're in bed, it should turn off again to allow the snake to have complete darkness in which to move about.

Hope that helps.

[Ivyna J Spyder]

Thanks for the info! Right now I sort of have to use a red bulb for heat until I can get a new UTH for under the tank, (old one was bent so I don't wanna risk it) but so far it hasn't appeared to bother him, but once I have the UTH I'll be sure to leave the red light off most of the night just in case.

[FIREball]

I believe so, if I ever use my IR thermometer you can see them "track the light" sometimes

[MasonC2K]

Yes and no. They can't see the light with their eyes but they can see the heat signature.