Infra red bulb or moonlight bulb?

[Keshi]

Hi again,

i just wanted to please ask what your opinion of infra red bulbs and moonlight bulbs is. I chose moonlight purely because the exotics shop told me they emit less light and disturb the snake less at night, however I've read that snakes can't see infra red so surely this is the least disturbing for snake?

[George1994]

IR isn't visible to humans either, it falls just off the red side of our visible spectrum.

The moonlight bulb is trying to emulate the light the moon reflects at night time, not too bright so that it will disturb the snakes day/night pattern.

[Keshi]

Which one do you think is best to be left on 24/7? As I now have correct temps operating, I don't want to adjust the thermostat so I have a bulb running all the time but a moonlight bulb can get pretty bright at night!

[George1994]

Have you looked into getting a Ceramic Heat Emitter? No light given out at all.

[George1994]

A longer answer, the IR light will still give out visible light to humans. The red tint is used to tint all the light closer to the IR end of the spectrum. I don't think it is possible to create a pure IR light emitter using a heated filament, as some of the heat is given off as visible light. Even the most efficient LED IR emitters will still give off some IR light as hear.

I am not sure what a snakes visible light spectrum is, but if it is anything like ours, both of them lights will be bright to them.

[Keshi]

Thanks for that, I thought I was missing out on some benefits from IR light but it seems they'll be both the same. Basically I haven't got ceramic purely for the fact of cost, however it is on my to do list to upgrade.

[George1994]

Ahh fair enough. If a CHE is something that you are thinking of getting soon, then just stick with the moonlight bulb and don't worry about spending any money on the IR one

[Sonny1318]

I use Zoo Med nightlight red bulbs. I have six tanks set up using this as their only heat source. 40w for twenty long tanks. This gives me a hot spot of around 88 to 90. And a ambeint of 82 to 84. I am happy to say I have six very healthy ball pythons, that eat on a regular basis (for ball pythons that is). They all have a healthy sheen. As far as how long they last, is roughly 6 or more months. Hope this helps.

[Keshi]

You think longer term IR would be better for the snake than moonlight? As I'm not sure how long it'll be before I go ceramic.

[George1994]

So long as the moonlight one keeps the temps correct, there is no need to replace it.