Question about lights

[TedBundytheSandBoa]

So, our reptiles are on a day/night light schedule. They have their no heat UVA/UVB lights on during the day time, incandescent low-watt heat lamps, and typically, a low-watt blue/black low-color, low-heat light at night. I'm talking 60 watts at most. Well, both snakes needed new bulbs today.
But I cannot find the night lights anywhere anymore and ended up buying nocturnal infrared bulbs instead.

When I couldn't find our normal night lights, I also couldn't find any low watt CHEs for the dome lamps that I have. Apparently we live in a hole where nothing ever gets restocked or delivered on time anymore. It happens. I'll order some, with extras, online later this week.

All the critters have their own UTH that run on thermostats, but our house gets VERY chilly at night, so we have found that the heat lamps add a little extra warmth in the tanks when the temps in the rooms drop. (it's an old house) My critters have always been on lights and I know some people don't like it, but it's worked for us....None of the lights sit on their screens, they're all lifted by lamp stands, everyone is safe.

Now. I know the light debate is hit or miss with different reptile groups-it's important to have the day/night cycle down but a lot of people think no light is the best light. I can respect people's opinions.

But, the red light debate: I've read a lot about the colored lights and snake vision and all that.... I have seen that certain degrees of infrared heat waves (or whatever) can be good for their skin, it's a color they can see, it's safe for a 24-hour cycle, it doesn't disturb their sleep, I don't know, I've read lots of things.
But I've also read lots of things that are saying red lights are bad bad bad for snakes.

It's what I've got for right now.
So what do we really think? Are infrared lights OK? I'm just looking for some more information from real snake people.

[Bogertophis]

I use both red & black incandescent bulbs (not simultaneously) for supplemental over-head warmth for some of my snakes- frankly, I don't see any problem with either one- mine are dimmed also.
(My snakes all have ambient room lighting from windows for the daylight cycle.)

One reason they may be getting hard to find though is that overall, light manufacturers are going to new technologies (LEDs+) for energy savings. Have you tried buying from reptile suppliers? (like the Bean Farm or Reptile Basics) -or just the local stores? I haven't needed to buy any for a while- & if you do, you might want to stock up a little- either that, or re-work your heating.

[TedBundytheSandBoa]

I’ve been shopping around our local pet stores a bit, places that usually have them. But I def plan on buying a few backups when I order them online. 1 bulb typically lasts us a surprisingly long time. So there’s that.

Since I’ve had the red lights on tonight I’ve decided I like the blue color 100% better but I’ll take what I can for now. The snakes don’t seem to care. The baby just curled up in one of his hides and went back to sleep after doing his nightly cursing so that’s a plus.

[Hugsplox]

To echo Boger, I’ve noticed most of the box stores in my area have reduced their stock of the bulbs and fixtures we’re all probably use to. Even reducing the stock of reptiles that they have. Personal opinion, that’s a great thing, but it does make it hard to find supplies if you’re in a pinch. I haven’t had to buy any bulbs in a while either, but I’ve found the prices online even with the shipping costs are typically better than what you’ll pay in the store.

[Bogertophis]

... The baby just curled up in one of his hides and went back to sleep after doing his nightly cursing so that’s a plus.

You allow your little snake to "CURSE", and every night? But I'm pretty sure you meant "cruising"?

[TedBundytheSandBoa]

HA Cruising, Cursing ....

[TedBundytheSandBoa]

I ordered everything online once upon a time, and will likely just have to get back into doing it that way. I do remember online prices being a bit better, especially around holidays and such.

[Bogertophis]

HA Cruising, Cursing ....

If it's the latter, we need video for sure!

[Caitlin]

I started keeping snakes decades ago, and red and blue lights were the norm. Part of the fun of keeping snakes, though, is keeping up with the changes in husbandry that come about as our understanding of our snakes grows.

In addition to a group devoted to supporting new keepers, I am in a couple of reptile husbandry groups elsewhere that are fairly number-crunchy, science-based, and generally nerdy - which is just pretty much the way I am, lol. One group is focused almost entirely on lighting and reptiles and includes a wonderful veterinarian who has dedicated her entire professional life to studying reptiles' lighting needs. Without going into a big drawn out description, I will just say that I no longer use any colored lights at all, and I don't use any light-emitting heat source at night for my snakes. I use heating elements that emit heat but no light (radiant heat panels or deep heat projectors).

Why? Because for our snakes, a 60W red bulb is over 3,000 times brighter than a full moon and over 3,000,000 (yes, that is 3 million) times brighter than a cloudy night. Even a 50W "moonlight" bulb is over 800 times brighter than a full moon and almost a million times brighter than a cloudy night. Exposing snakes to light 24/7 is pretty stressful for an animal that has no eyelids. There's evidence that exposure to constant light can disrupt their natural night/day cycles, and at least preliminary evidence that lights in the blue/purple color spectrum can contribute to macular degeneration. Many thanks for the graphic below to one of my colleagues in the "New Ball Python Keepers" Facebook group.

Editing to add: I just found a great quote from Dr. Frances Baines, the veterinarian I mentioned above. I hope this information is helpful.

"Red light will NOT cause eye damage and is NOT going to make any animal blind. That is nonsense. (Red LASERS - any laser colour in fact - can blind any animal or human by burning the retina but this is a very different thing from a red lamp or LED.)HOWEVER... yes, animals CAN see red light, and yes, if it is bright enough for a human to see it as a red colour at night, it is FAR brighter than moonlight (which is less than 1 lux) because humans can't see colour under light as dim as moonlight. All nocturnal animals can see any light that is a bright, or brighter, than moonlight - and some lizards can see different colours in very dim moonlight, too. So using red lights at night is going to spoil their colour vision (everything will just be red). But perhaps more important is the effect on behaviour, of "light at night". Even dim moonlight (which is very dim white light, NOT blue!) alters the behaviour of many nocturnal animals. At least one study demonstrated this in snakes.
Having said this, it is also true that blue light is far worse than red light, if for some reason a reptile keeper wants to light his/her animals at night. The blue wavelengths around 480nm (those typically emitted by blue LEDs!) are by far the most effective for disrupting circadian rhythms (sleep-wake cycles and all other daily bodily rhythms). Just a brief exposure will re-set body clocks. These wavelengths are predominent in dawn light (that blue-purple light before sunrise) and signal the start of day; and get stronger and stronger as the sun rises, to reach maximum by mid-day. Using blue light at night is a very bad idea, physiologically. In addition, bright blue light (such as from an LED at close range) can indeed damage the retina, as those wavelengths are the worst for "bleaching" the retinal pigments. It is believed that it is blue light which, over many years, can cause blindness from macular degeneration in elderly humans, and some nasty animal experiments have proven retinal damage in small mammals from strong blue light shone into the eyes.
We worked on using extremely strongly dimmed, warm white LEDs for simulating moonlight in one zoo, with excellent results."

[Caitlin]

The tl;dr for anyone who isn't interested in my long post above about lighting is: don't use red, blue, purple, or black lights for reptiles, especially at night - even if they are supposedly made for reptiles. If you want some sort of lighting to check on or observe your snakes at night, use warm white LED lights, put them on a dimmer, and use maximum dimming when you do use the light.