Lighting?

My friend Eric finally decided to get himself a baby ball today! We went to a local pet store to pick up all the stuff he needed. When it came to lighting I told him to just to get a 60w bulb and a timer for day/night cycle, but the dude at the pet store said he should also get a black light for the night and to leave that on all night. I always thought that having a light on all the time was a bad thing. My question I guess would be, would it be ok to have a blacklight on all night? I told my friend Eric to just use the incadesent bulb for now, until I got some answers.

It will not hurt to use the black light but it is not needed. As long as your snake has a day cycle (the 60watt light he will be ok) 8-10 hours a day this is all that is needed.

does the black light do anything for the snakes, health wise?

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Originally Posted by carter96281

My friend Eric finally decided to get himself a baby ball today! We went to a local pet store to pick up all the stuff he needed. When it came to lighting I told him to just to get a 60w bulb and a timer for day/night cycle, but the dude at the pet store said he should also get a black light for the night and to leave that on all night. I always thought that having a light on all the time was a bad thing. My question I guess would be, would it be ok to have a blacklight on all night? I told my friend Eric to just use the incadesent bulb for now, until I got some answers.

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Ball pythons need a thermal gradient (82 - 84 on one side of the cage, 92 - 94 on the other) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you're using a normal white light bulb(s) to supply that heat, it must be turned off at night because 24 hours of light a day will disturb your snakes natural balance of day and night and adversely effect it's health. Many people cycle the white light off at night and turn a black/blue/red light on (snakes cannot see black/blue/red light) to provide supplemental night time heat. Alternatively, if you must use light bulbs to heat your animal, you could use the black/blue/red bulbs 24 hours a day to save yourself the trouble of switching them around at night.

-adam

Using a black/blue/red bulb 24 hrs. a day is much easier. It requires no timer and no changing of bulbs or multiple light fixtures. I use black reptile lights to warm my snakes closet. They are run off a t-stat 24/7 and work just great :)

EDIT: oh...and a on/off t-stat is horrible about quickly burning out light bulbs. Just thought I would add that just incase your friend decides to get a t-stat...proportional is much better as far as light bulbs are concerned.

Well, I'm glad that a blacklight on all night wont effect his snake. He had a heat pad so lights aren't his only heat source. I'll have to ask him though if he's got a proper heat gradient.