Lighting question

[Royal_Python]

Is it ok for ball pythons to be in pitch black overnight? They are nocturnal, but do they require some light for their eyes to function, ie moon light in their natural environment? It gets pitch black in the basement where my BP stays..
Thanks!!

[ogdentrece]

Well I know many people do keep theirs in pitch black, and my does too. I still see my ball moving around the moment the lights come on though. It could be possible that there still is some light I cant pick up, but in your case lets say it really IS pitch black. Snakes still sense their environment in other ways, including through their version of thermal imaging, or so I think. And these are really sensitive, so I believe they still more or less can see what theyre doing.

[Skittles1101]

Mine are in complete darkness at night, I have no additional lighting for any of my snakes. Even "in the wild" there are nights without a moon, and I'm sure they function just fine.

[Royal_Python]

Yeah, I understand that what we perceive as pitch black might not be pitch black to an animal that is designed to roam at night. I just wondered about best practice.. I wish I could find more information about BP biology..or nocturnal snakes in general, so I could better understand how my little BP works. Suggest any good books or online articles?

[kitedemon]

Yes to both

BALL PYTHONS: History, Natural History, Care & Breeding, Barker and Barker
A very good book one of the best the science background is very deep and well written, and it is well referanced.

In terms of night vision and how their vision works it is quite hard for us to relate the information from the heat pits is processed by the optic never (heat being IR radiation) we can see into the near ir ranges but they can see very deep into IR and very accurately as well, what that means is they always have light. A che is just like a light bulb to them as the see heat. So warmed substrate is glowing much like a ir camera sees heat so do Royals. So what is dark to you is not dark to them.

[Simple Man]

You don't need a light. I have fairly heavy curtains that allow a small amount of light in my snake room. The only other time I have a light on at all is if I'm feeding. Otherwise, they get the light that the curtains allow on a natural light cycle and seem perfectly healthy and stress free.

Regards,

B

[Royal_Python]

Yes to both

BALL PYTHONS: History, Natural History, Care & Breeding, Barker and Barker
A very good book one of the best the science background is very deep and well written, and it is well referanced.

Thanks, that is one expensive book! I am going to try and find it cheaper somehow..then I will order it

Thanks for the replies everyone.. you are good people!

[ogdentrece]

Mine are in complete darkness at night, I have no additional lighting for any of my snakes. Even "in the wild" there are nights without a moon, and I'm sure they function just fine.

I think besides just moonless nights, another thing to note is their tendencies to live in burrows of rodents or hunt in them. Which can sometimes be really deep. In these tunnels there would be no light, but they do fine, finding prey or chilling out

[Royal_Python]

I think besides just moonless nights, another thing to note is their tendencies to live in burrows of rodents or hunt in them. Which can sometimes be really deep. In these tunnels there would be no light, but they do fine, finding prey or chilling out

Good point!