Sand Boa UVB Lighting

"The next thing we're going to talk about very briefly, because some people will tell you it's unnecessary, personally, for me, I recommend it for all reptiles, is your UVB light. Now, UVB light comes in two different forms. It comes in a compact fluorescent like this, which is just like one of those energy saving bulbs that you use at home. All of these use a special coating on them to give off a special type of your light. You can also buy them in the long tube fluorescent bulbs, but those are going to be considerably more expensive. And they take up a lot of space. So I tend to stay away from those myself. Now, why are we talking about UVB light? UVB light is part of the spectrum of light. And what it does is it stimulates certain vitamins inside animals' bodies -- yours, too. Have you ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder? It's because you're not getting enough UVB light. Well, for reptiles, UVB light generates Vitamin D-3 in the bone in the body. That vitamin moves calcium into the bone structure. So, without Vitamin D-3, you can get problems like metabolic bone disease, sometimes called "spongy jaw" or "rubber jaw". So, it's a bone deficiency where their calcium isn't high and they start getting soft and malleable bones and their bones are also more easily broken. So, we want to stay away from that if we can. Again, some people will tell you that this is unnecessary for a snake, because they eat whole prey items, but personally, for me, I use it for all my reptiles. It doesn't hurt to be safe."