Lighting a Blood Python Cage

Video Transcript

"Next thing we're going to talk very briefly about is lighting for your blood python. Now, some people are going to tell you that what I'm about to tell you is complete nonsense, but I'd rather play it safe with an animal, especially an animal that is going to cost you somewhere around the hundred and thirty to two hundred dollar range. So, what we're going to discuss here is UVB lighting very quickly. UVB lighting comes from compact fluorescent bulbs, or regular fluorescent bulbs, the large tube ones. Has to be the special ones, they have to say that they are rated for UVB light, okay. And they're also going to tell you a rating, as far as ten point oh, five point oh, two point oh. What they're telling you is the amount of percentage of UVB in the light of the light bulb. This is a desert, well not a desert but a drier climate reptile, so we're looking for something a little bit higher UVB, something around the ten point oh would be preferable. Now these have to be replaced every six months, irregardless of whether or not the light bulb is burnt out because the coating wears off on them. Now, what is the UVB light doing? Well, UVB light promotes what's called vitamin D3 growth in the body of the reptile. Vitamin D3 moves calcium into the bone structure. Without proper amounts of vitamin D3, they can get what's called metabolic bone disease or rubber spongy jaw. They get bone problems; their bones get soft and malleable. Some people are going to tell you that large snakes, like the blood python, don't need this type of lighting; they're ingesting full prey items and don't need that sort of help along. But for me, I like to give all my reptiles UVB light. It's better to be safe than sorry and it's much easier to spend twelve dollars on a light bulb than it is to spend three hundred dollars on a vet bill."