UVB for Snakes. Beneficial, or worthless?

[alittleFREE]

I'm in the process of ordering some custom PVC cages for my BP and King, and I'm going back and forth on whether to order UVB fixtures or LED fixtures with them. I know that traditionally, UVB has been considered totally unnecessary for most snakes (especially nocturnal varieties). However, in the past few years, I've noticed talk about research showing potential benefits of UVB for snakes, as well as a trend in snake keepers starting to incorporate UVB. I wanted to see if anyone had any first-hand experience using UVB with your BPs (or other snakes) and if you felt like it made a difference in your snakes behavior/health?

I'm not married to the idea of it yet... but I'm just exploring the possibility. I don't want to wish I had gotten it later or something so I would rather think it through now. But I also don't want to waste my money. For the record, I keep snakes purely as pets and these will be "display" cages in my living room.

[Bogertophis]

Honestly I wouldn't bother with UVB lights in cages...remember that they are far weaker than real sunshine and also wear out in about 6 mos. (they become
ineffective & need replaced even if they still light up). What I HAVE seen (& can't prove) is that short* doses of REAL sunshine (temperatures permitting) does
improve the appetite of many snakes, all kinds, so presumably it's good for them...or maybe the outdoors just perks up their senses? but it's worth doing IMO.
(*supervised, as in hand-held, and never leave them in a cage as they can die from excess heat that quickly builds up) If you do this with diurnal lizards they
often get noticeably aggressive too.

[Coluber42]

It's not necessary for snakes the way it's necessary for lizards that will get MBD without it. But there's good evidence that it provides modest benefits, and it certainly doesn't hurt as long as it's appropriate amount and the animal is able to choose its exposure level. If nothing else, they most likely can see it (especially crepuscular species), so they might as well have it to look at.

I have UV bulbs in my ball python's cage. I have seen him basking openly under them, but more often I see him "cryptic basking" - where he's mostly in a hide but some part of his body sticks out into the light. Of note is that at one point the bulb burned out and it took me awhile to replace it. While it was out, he'd basically always be completely hidden during the day. When I replaced it, he went back to spending most of the day in the hide that's under the light, and always with some loop of his body sticking out. He'll shift positions from time to time, so it's not always the same part of his body. But he usually has some part sticking out under the light. He doesn't do that if he's elsewhere in the cage. He has five other hiding places/burrows, so it's not like he's forced to hang out where the UV is, but he usually does choose to do so.

In any case, it's really not a big deal to replace a bulb or two every six months for one or two cages. And the light looks nice and helps the plants. It's obviously way less important than good hides and proper temps/humidity, but if it's an easy thing I can do that improves my snake's quality of life a little and also make the cage look nicer, why not?

[Alter-Echo]

I find that for my hognose at least, it improves his appetite, and my kings seem to enjoy a great deal of ambient lighting (no uv for them though). My bps however seem to hate light with a passion like little vampires. Lol

[Coluber42]

When I first added the UVB to my BP's cage, it took him a long time to get used to it enough to seek it out. But he's like that with anything new - if I give him a new hide, it has to be in there for weeks or months before he'll spend any amount of time in it. He'll sniff it and check it out, but won't actually sleep in there until he's really, really sure it doesn't bite. The light was the same. But eventually he did get used to it and it certainly doesn't appear to bother him now.