I have both enclosures lighting on timers, on @ 8 am off at 6pm. Once the lights go off should it be completly dark in the room? If I go in the room and turn on the lights, does it disturb the BP’s? I’ve been using a small light in the room but it’s so dim I have a hard time seeing.
Also, what about a dim soft blue light in cage mimicking moonlight. It looks so good, and love it. Just not sure of day/night cycle. The opinions on a soft night light very greatly.
Thanks
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I think it depends on the placement of the enclosure, if the light you turned on illuminates the snake’s enclosure then yes it could affect it but otherwise if it doesn’t then it’s like if you were trying to sleep in your room and someone turned on the hall light. Ball pythons have been lately discovered as more so dawn and dusk active reptiles, sometimes individuals are awake during the night but otherwise sleeping so I couldn’t see it affecting anything especially if the lights aren’t on for too long.
I wouldn’t say this is absolutely necessary… If you wanted to replicate soft moonlight for the enrichment and fun of it, then I would go with a soft nightlight! Otherwise that just compares to people using red heat lamps (which do nothing because they can still tell that there is some sort of light even if they can’t see the color) and would cost more. Otherwise if you yourself have some sort of lamp or smaller light that you have on during the night then I’m sure that isn’t affecting your BP and is enough of a moon replication. Moon replication really is not going to effect day/night cycle if it is a soft soft light, it’s just like what they deal with in the wild anyway.
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Any color lights are not good and do not help in any way.
Now for the light cycle. In the past having a light cycle was talked about as a must have. Over time, this has been shown not to be effective as they thought. If you pay attention to your snake, you will probably see that is staying in it’s hid most of the day times. And you will probably see it comes out at night, no matter if you have a light cycle or not. There is more to the day cycle then just light. They seem to know this and don’t what they need on their own.
All racks have no way to setup light cycles. Those living in these do great without having it. Unless you have them in a room without a window or other light source (like a closed closet 24/7), you get some natural light already and darkness in the evening.
If you are wondering how healthy they can be without a light cycle, most snakes out there came from breeders that use racks and no light cycle. So your snake and it’s parents and it’s parents and so on, never had this setup. And they are all healthy.
If it bothers you not to have this and you feel better with it, then there is no problem have this setup. But color lights are not needed.
If you want a light cycle and do not want to spend the money or have space for everything, you can get a smart light switch and put it in a timer. Of a lamp and put it on a timer. Direct light for each enclosure would not be needed.
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The night lights are led strips and I can chose any color. You cut them to fit, it’s like a tape. I got them for Christmas to put in my guitar room.
They are for my viewing, not the snake. When they come on, it is just enough to barely see in the cage. I just was looking for input, which I got. Thank you. If they lights for my pleasure actually did more harm than good. I usually have them on for about 2-3 hours after lights go off, so not on all night. They look so dang cool
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Your setup looks nice. You put a lot of time and thought in it.
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They like it. I will have to get a pic. Sometimes I can’t find my female, look around and she is hiding in plants with just her head poking out. It’s funny
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Your enclosure(s) are beautiful! That looks like a great ball python habitat, nice job.
I wouldn’t stress too much about the day/night cycle thing. As others have explained, many (if not most) bps are kept without any enclosure lighting at all and do just fine. If you need to turn on a light in the room so you can see, it’s not going to have any detrimental effect on them. I keep my snakes (not bps, but other species that are crepuscular/nocturnal like bps) in my bedroom, so even though I turn off their enclosure lights around 8pm, there’s still light in the room until i go to bed around 10-10:30, and they’re doing just fine. Definitely not something to stress about.
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