is a black light good for my ball

i have a black light i turn its on at night looks like he likes it but not sure?Is it ok for him to have the black light on him :snake:

I would bet that it's quite annoying for it. It's probably not giving it any necessary nutrients, nor do I think that balls need nutrients from lighting. I am no expert, but it is unnecessary. The only purpose it is serving is to make it look "better," but it has really got to do more bad than good.

Let's see...black lights are mostly soft UV...can age and wrinkle skin and break down vitamin A...considering the fact that Vitamin A deficiency is already a problem for many reptiles I would say turn the thing off. Not to mention the collagen breakdown could lead to shed problems.

Bloodsong

ionly turn it on at night day time i used a heat light

Only at night? For how long? Two to four hours nightly could do a lot of collagen damage making a shed more likely, in my understanding, to break and become "flaky". I would suggest making the black light a once in a while thing and not a nightly thing for the sake of skipping the hassle every shed of having to try to remove retained skin.

Bloodsong

I used a moonlight bulb for a while (just ablue bulb). Is it good for the snake? No. Is if bad for the snake? Probably not.

How can you tell that the snake likes it? Did he tell you? lol (sorry, anthropomorphizing makes me laugh)

Moonlight bulbs are fine. They provide heat along a frequency of the light spectrum that these guys generally don't seem to mind. They also use different filters and paints to tint the glass on the bulb, so the spectrum is not including that soft UV area that can cause the problems I was outlining. Definitely a better idea for night viewing (along with red bulbs which are invisible to reptiles) than your average ravers blacklight (sorry no stereotyping meant by that).

Bloodsong

I have never used a black light and never thought about the UV aspect but you never know. The snake may like the heat the lamp gives off but the amount of visible white light is so low he cant see it so it doesn't bother him. A red bulb may be a better alternative though. Gives off heat. Still has very little white light but you can still watch him crawl around. Jeff

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Originally Posted by Bloodsong

Let's see...black lights are mostly soft UV...can age and wrinkle skin and break down vitamin A...considering the fact that Vitamin A deficiency is already a problem for many reptiles I would say turn the thing off. Not to mention the collagen breakdown could lead to shed problems.

Bloodsong

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"Backlights only Emit UVA light which is completely harmless, UVB and Mainly UVC light is what causes problems. So you should be fine using them in your cages."
Taken from The Serpent Merchant in another thread.

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Originally Posted by FeathersRuff

"Backlights only Emit UVA light which is completely harmless, UVB and Mainly UVC light is what causes problems. So you should be fine using them in your cages."
Taken from The Serpent Merchant in another thread.

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This is exactly right. I've researched the aspects of different lighting both in the past and now again. UVA is completely harmless and that's all blacklights emit. Its not like its a uvb blacklight, its a basic black light bulb. There is also several articles on the web relating to this topic as well.

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meh i wouldn't use it, i don't see a point? not for a ball, now on a scorpz enclosure looks very cool.

long story short, throw the black-light away.

Holy thread necro batman.

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Originally Posted by Meech

long story short, throw the black-light away.

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I would like to know the long story? I've used black lights before with zero I'll effect. Like The Serpent Merchant said along with various resources on the internet black lights only give out uva. In that case people who use zoomed florescents should also throw those away. I know they don't need the light as it has no benefits bc of them hiding most the time but for someone that wants night time viewing without a red bulb taking away humidity and can't afford expensive LEDs what would be wrong with a black light? Yes they make red florescent tubes along with cheap covers but what if you can't find those local?

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so lights don't stress ball pythons out? must of heard wrong then, its unnecessary to stress it out if its not needed.

Having something give off white light 24/7 is what stresses them out as it contains light that they are capable of seeing (orange [maybe], yellows, greens). It seems that snakes cannot detect reds and blues , so I would assume UV lights wouldn't as well since they are on the side of the spectrum that they cannot see.

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To help explain what I just posted, search for the "electromagnetic spectrum".

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Originally Posted by Meech

so lights don't stress ball pythons out? must of heard wrong then, its unnecessary to stress it out if its not needed.

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Yes white lights can stress out when ran 24/7 but we are talking about blacklight which can not be seen by ball pythons and only emit UVA so where is the harm in that?

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Black lights can't be seen by ball pythons? Data source?

For heat, I would just use a CHE. No light, just nice and warm. If it's an issue of wanting to see your snake in the dark when it's out and about, I think someone here already mentioned using one of those exoterra moonlight bulbs. That said, something with a high white pattern might look crazy cool under a black light :O

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Black lights can't be seen by ball pythons? Data source?

For heat, I would just use a CHE. No light, just nice and warm. If it's an issue of wanting to see your snake in the dark when it's out and about, I think someone here already mentioned using one of those exoterra moonlight bulbs. That said, something with a high white pattern might look crazy cool under a black light :O

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BELs under a black light look awesome. I don't light my snakes at all but I have used a black light to see the "hidden" pattern. Here is an old thread with pictures that someone posted.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Blue-eyed-Lucy

Guys, this thread is 7 years old...

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Black lights can't be seen by ball pythons? Data source?

For heat, I would just use a CHE. No light, just nice and warm. If it's an issue of wanting to see your snake in the dark when it's out and about, I think someone here already mentioned using one of those exoterra moonlight bulbs. That said, something with a high white pattern might look crazy cool under a black light :O

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Visible spectrum anyone can look up on Google. My own Years of use with other reptiles. I only stopped using bc it started to annoy me at night. 2 breeders one 2 hours away 11 years breeding, and the other 3 hours a away from me 7 years breeding use them in personal pet ball python cages. Friend that has been keeping ball pythons for 4 years with black light. All them plus me have zero I'll effect and basic information that anyone can look up on Google. The thing is people assume its bad bc its uncommon and no one wants to put the real effort of research in. Another thing is with moonlight bulbs and red bulbs is they give off way more heat than a florescent tube which kills humidity. I was using low watt light bulbs for day time lights bc my room is dark, as soon as I switched to small florescent tubes it saved me from misting so much.

The reason this thread was brought back up was bc someone wanted night viewing without sacrificing humidity from bulbs and then seen this thread when searching online so reopened it.

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Humans and animals do not detect light wave lengths the same. Yes, you can easily google the visible light spectrum, but without clarification, a novice may not have the ability to sift through the flood of information they get to find accurate answers. Goggle also contains a lot in inaccurate or irrelevant information (such as, talking about a diurnal colubrid light detection when you want a nocturnal python). You get the good as well as the bad. Additionally, just because the animal can't see it, doesn't mean there isn't risk involved with it. See also: humans and UV exposure. I also do not count "I've done it for years" as a very good source, as the same has been said for keeping non-desert animals on sand, cohabiting, and a whole host of other practices that were once standard for the hobby but are now considered questionable. lastly, if you make a statement and present it as a fact claim, it falls on you to back it up, not on the other person to support it. Telling someone to google it is not only flippant, but I would argue antithesis to why this forum is here.

But because I'm that kind of person, here's a couple quick some web articles that talk about reptile lighting and it's effect that I found through a brief google trip: http://www.anapsid.org/blacklight.html and http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Rept...g-Information/

Seems to be that blacklight looks cool, but gives no real benefit, and can have potential to do damage if you pick the wrong kind. The Moonlight bulbs, while gentle to our eyes, can often be detected by our animals and can be irritating. Mostly, the light is for our benefit and not our animals. In that case, unless you absolutely can not resist needing to look at your pet at night, sticking with non-light producing heating such as CHEs RHPs and UTHs is preferred. There's more but I'm at work so I'll have to cut this short lol. Point being, when I ask for a source I want science, not heresay.

Yea, it wouldn't hurt to try I mean my khaloua 10 month old ball python loves it so I keep it on all night lol she even lays on ur tree hide-out that's kinda right underneath it but for some reason she likes the moon light bulb more then the day time (almost hides from it).......?????????.....but ya, what do u have ur critter in anyway? Cause if ur gonna use the moon light (ex. 20 gal) go for a 100w....let me know

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Originally Posted by reptilefreak1989

let me know

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This thread is 9 years old with a brief resurrection almost 2 years ago. Don't hold your breath....