Question

[Francesco]

Hello everyBody. Just thinking. Ok they say the you can't have a heat lamp on because it sucks humidity and it's not good for your bp( I don't know if that's true) but anyway, is there anything that you can do to see your snakes at night time. Cuz I like to steer at them at night while I fall asleep

[iCandiBallPythons]

flashlight

[Crazy4Herps]

Some people use incandescent red lights to view snakes at night. Supposedly, the snake's can't see the red light, but to my knowledge there has been no research to back this up.

[Francesco]

I do have a red bulb

[kitedemon]

Snakes can see red bulbs. there is research available it is a bit hard to find and dense when you do look in university libraries under zoological papers. They see heat the heat pits are connected to the optic nerve so heat = light if it gets hot they see it. The range of colours snakes see is roughly the same as 256 colours on a computer it isn't quite as smooth but basically they are all there.

Ok OP so your question. Heat lamps do not suck humidity, they do promote very good circulation and if you live in a dry area that will mean the enclosure will equalize with the room faster. There is nothing wrong with lamps as long as the animal cannot contact the lamp. You can make heat lamps work and work well it is just a matter of balance more balancing than UTHs maybe but just balancing.

Red bulbs are fine personally I like blue LEDs they are cheap and energy efficient and produce no low heat. Snakes are tuned for the near and full infra red end of the spectrum. (dark red to invisible to humans) blue is at the far end away from IR, so if a nightlight was to be a bother to them blue is less so. ( i have never seen any ball react to a dark bulb at night so it is moot really)

[Crazy4Herps]

Snakes can see red bulbs. there is research available it is a bit hard to find and dense when you do look in university libraries under zoological papers. They see heat the heat pits are connected to the optic nerve so heat = light if it gets hot they see it. The range of colours snakes see is roughly the same as 256 colours on a computer it isn't quite as smooth but basically they are all there.

Ok OP so your question. Heat lamps do not suck humidity, they do promote very good circulation and if you live in a dry area that will mean the enclosure will equalize with the room faster. There is nothing wrong with lamps as long as the animal cannot contact the lamp. You can make heat lamps work and work well it is just a matter of balance more balancing than UTHs maybe but just balancing.

Red bulbs are fine personally I like blue LEDs they are cheap and energy efficient and produce no low heat. Snakes are tuned for the near and full infra red end of the spectrum. (dark red to invisible to humans) blue is at the far end away from IR, so if a nightlight was to be a bother to them blue is less so. ( i have never seen any ball react to a dark bulb at night so it is moot really)

If you have any book titles in particular, I would be very interested. I've been meaning to head down to the library soon anyways.

I have read bits and pieces about the visible heat concept, but to my understanding they can still differentiate between light and visible heat to some small degree, and as far as photoperiods go, while they can "see" heat at night, it does not cause the same level of stress that a visible light would cause (for example, while they are definitely aware of a CHE at night, a CHE does not cause the same stress as a halogen bulb would). At least this is my understanding of it, please correct me if I'm wrong.

[ogdentrece]

Snakes can see red bulbs. there is research available it is a bit hard to find and dense when you do look in university libraries under zoological papers. They see heat the heat pits are connected to the optic nerve so heat = light if it gets hot they see it. The range of colours snakes see is roughly the same as 256 colours on a computer it isn't quite as smooth but basically they are all there.

Ok OP so your question. Heat lamps do not suck humidity, they do promote very good circulation and if you live in a dry area that will mean the enclosure will equalize with the room faster. There is nothing wrong with lamps as long as the animal cannot contact the lamp. You can make heat lamps work and work well it is just a matter of balance more balancing than UTHs maybe but just balancing.

Although it does not suck out the moisture of the air as it sounds, it does reduce the humidity of the air. Because the air is heated, its capacity to hold water vapour is increased, thus reducing the relative humidity, which is what our everyday use of the word humidity means. With a lower relative humidity, evaporation and transpiration happens at a faster rate, it has a similar effect of less moisture in air of the same temperature. The snake would still have shedding problems and get dehydrated.

Such as heating air in the winter, where heating indoors always seems to make you excessively thirsty and dry, but step outside and you don't get that same effect. I have tried this, I have air with a humidity of 60-70% all year round, but with the lamp on the humidity reading inside the enclosure can drop by up to 30% lower than this. This cannot be due to the dry air coming into the enclosure, but because of the decrease of relative humidity (even though actual water vapour level is unchanged). Relative humidity is what causes the transpiration, evaporation and dehydration, not the actual moisture levels.

[kitedemon]

I don't think a che is the same as a halogen but perhaps as a red bulb. There is a lot of guess work at a certain point, or at least that is the way it seems to me. Yes we understand about rod and cone density and what that means to vision and colour. We understand the heat pits and operation and the connection of the nerves, but what they see... they seem to be best guesses. I don't know if there will be any certain facts on that one they are so hard to test.

I have a little one eyed snake (birth defect) and she cannot strike accurately with not completely warmed prey. (short tongue too) but with well warmed prey she is dead accurate and is not dependant of which side it is presented to the eye or no eye.

Books, Ball Pythons barker and barker is a great book basic anatomy and a really thorough over view. There is a great video the inside natures giants python one it is a BBC production. The beauty of snakes is also very good also BBC. F.G. Benedict The physiology of large reptiles, and L Isbell The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent: Why We See So Well. Are both good but dense.

I read a lot of journals of zoology there are a number of papers on snake senses over the years. Off hand I'd need to look them up, but they can be a bit dense and hard to get through. I have half a biology degree and still find them a challenge sometimes.