UV Light

[Malum Argenteum]

You're right that a sample size of one isn't reliable data -- it is confirmation bias. Interpreting phototaxis in animals is challenging enough, but interpreting it where there is no control condition, and the experimental condition is unmeasured, really isn't possible. It is very likely that your snake isn't getting enough UV to make a difference one way or the other. Without testing (both by you and many, many more keepers), we'll really never know. The UVB push depends a lot on unreliable anecdote and sloppy data, and that's not a great way to move care in the right direction.

FWIW, I use UVB on about a half dozen enclosures for herps that aren't snakes, but it is metered and used for a discernible goal (not just "benefit"). UVB is a very useful tool, but that doesn't mean that it is appropriate everywhere and just for the heck of it.

[kynar3th]

Alright, thank you very much for your feedback! I think that’s probably why the seller told me it wasn’t strictly necessary and pointed me toward a low-intensity tube.


Of course, my personal experience with just one snake isn’t enough to draw any real conclusions; I do hope that in the future we’ll see more in-depth studies on large cohorts, comparing simple lighting setups or no additional lighting at all.


As I mentioned, here in France we have a lot of catching up to do — some people are considered “experts,” yet they still claim that a ball python can’t live properly in a terrarium with climbing structures, that it might fall and injure itself, and that we should instead be building burrows for them. But to me (and according to the books I’ve read), the ball python doesn’t have the morphology of a fossorial snake.


They base their recommendations on in-situ observations of ball pythons found in termite mounds, and try to replicate that environment strictly — which, in my view, is a limited interpretation.

Thank you for sharing your experience — it’s always valuable to hear from others and learn from different perspectives!

[Malum Argenteum]

Yeah, I don't much buy into the idea of 'experts'. If what someone says has good evidence supporting it, that's a plus. Whether an 'expert' makes the claim or not doesn't mean much either way, except insofar as it might make me less likely to fact check it so thoroughly.

"They base their recommendations on in-situ observations of ball pythons found in termite mounds, and try to replicate that environment strictly — which, in my view, is a limited interpretation."

There's a famous (infamous?) video from Dav Kaufmann on BPs in the wild, and the scenes that stick with me are ones in which he checks the temperature and RH in a couple burrows that BPs are using as daytime hides. One (at 8:20) was 93%RH at 90F (at 28:39) was 80% at 96F. Trying to duplicate that in captivity probably wouldn't lead to success.

My own view on animal care is to base it on what reliably leads to good captive outcomes. The assumption that wild conditions will do that in captivity (given the limitations of captive environments) or even at all (since natural conditions only promote reproductive success, not long lifespan or comfort or overall health) is mostly unwarranted.