black lights and bp

[BOWSER11788]

can i use a black light. just for show, he has a UTh, this is the "show tank, for the new boy, I’ve put allot of work in his tank, and was just wondering, if i could put this on him at night to see him, of course not all night, but in the evening

[OhhWatALoser]

from my personal experiments, i don't see any of my snakes responding to the UV light, so shouldn't be any problems. I use black lights for night time viewing also. got 2x 4 foot tubes in the middle of the room. albino looks awesome in it. so does the lesser.

[BOWSER11788]

wahhhh, i want an albino under a black light... thats the moph im saving up for.. thank ya by the way

[Kaorte]

If it is in fact real black light, I wouldn't recommend it, they can be harmful to the snake if over exposed to it. Its not good for humans to be under for long periods of time either.

They make "moonlight" bulbs for reptiles that are safe to use and look a lot like black light. I have one my crested gecko at night and it looks great

[OhhWatALoser]

those full spectrum bulbs are just as harmful as black lights, i would guess even more.

[adam_degel]

they sell those moon bulbs at most reptile stores, so i wouldn't think there too harmful..but, i tried them out once and found them not to be that bright..

[bamf64]

I was going to buy a black night time bulb today for my bp cuz it gets super cold at night, but i rememberd someone telling me they werent good for them. oh and kaorte i ended up not using the UVB light that one night. i thought it might stress her. but shel b happy now cuz i got her a new red night bulb

[Haydenphoto]

This might help


Melissa Kaplan's
Herp Care Collection
Last updated April 19, 2007

Black Lights
©1996 Melissa Kaplan


Just as the meaning of the term "full spectrum lights" has been perverted by lighting manufacturers (using them to refer to both UVB-producing fluorescents as well as non-UV-producing incandescent bulbs), the term "black light" is causing confusion. There are the real black lights (the BL and BLB fluorescents, the former of which is safe for reptile use for providing UVB and A, the latter the so-called "poster lights" which cause eye damage), and the incandescent "black lights" which include poster/Halloween type lights that cause white clothing to glow purple-ish, and the "black phosphor" reptile lights designed for nocturnal reptile heating, and the dark, but not dark enough for nighttime reptile heating, neodymium lights.

BL fluorescents may be used to provide UV for reptiles during the day - but you still need bright white light to promote basking, so you might as well stick to using a Vita-Lite or one of the other white-light-&-UV-producing fluorescents. In the days before the higher UVB lights were made, some herpers who kept lizards who in the wild would get higher UV (tropical, montane and desert fauna), used BL lights in addition to the Vita-Lites to provide higher levels of UV for their lizards. With the new higher UV lights, this is no longer necessary.

Never provide UV at night. Just as the sun doesn't shine at night, so too should we be providing a comparable UV- and light-free periods for our animals, be they nocturnal, diurnal,or crespuscular. If you need to provide heat at night, use the nocturnal reptile incandescent light bulb, a high enough wattage dark red, blue or green light bulb (not the so-called "party lights" that produce bright colored light), or a ceramic heating element. During some parts of the year, a people heating pad in or under the tank may provide sufficient heat in the enclosure for the reptile if heat is prevented from escaping from the top of the enclosure.