Hi. I have a question. I currently have a dual light fixture with a UVB bulb, and an LED bulb, for my live plants. Is it possible for my light to be too bright for my ball python? If so, what is a good wattage to use? I’m using a grow light bulb at the moment.
The LED can absolutely be too bright, remember that ball pythons aren’t usually out and about in daylight in the wild. They like dim spaces.
The other issue is how close and how intense is your UVB, because that can absolutely cause issues and people have burned or blinded animals in the past. If it’s not a low intensity that can be more of an issue than the LED.
I don’t know if grow bulbs have an intensity rating similar to reptile UVBs but anything over 5.0 is too much for a BP and even then, unnecessary aside for potential enrichment or minor health improvements when ill
I have 20 bps and all of mine are in tubs, so no uvb, just natural room light. All are eating growing and thriving.
Other people swear by uvb for everything but as @armiyana said, bps stay hidden during the day in the wild, only venturing out after sundown. I say due to my experience uvb is not necessary for bps and can prove to be harmful in some situations……
Thank you both very much for your input. I value your opinions and experience. I think I’m going to get rid of the dual fixture and get an Arcadia jungle Dawn led bar.
Good choice!
I totally get wanting to offer UVB and having live plants and all. But the consideration of the animal’s habits in nature are definitely something to take into account. There’s sometimes ridiculous price differences for things marked for a specialty like reptile care so it’s easy for people to get swayed into thinking it’s a great deal. (One I saw was a double the price cat toy listed as a reptile enrichment for 3x the price.) UVB or potentially dangerous heat sources are things I won’t mess around with unless I can determine how safe they’ll be for reptiles.
It would be neat to see if someone can devise a diffuser to use for grow bulbs that can still accurately shed what is needed in UVB levels. But I think that still needs time and some hefty priced equipment to accurately measure and test.
@mikelcctx I also use uth because of the fact my animals are in tubs, Uth is another highly debated topic………
I mean BPs have been shown to bask if given the chance, just because they can thrive without it, doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing to give them it, given that it’s done correctly, which means appropriate levels and cover. The bare minimum is totally fine, but the way i see it, the more choices you can give them when it comes to enrichment, the better. I saw a huge change personally in my BPs activity levels and appetite when i changed from a CHE to incandescent, just as an example 
In all my years I’ve ran some enclosures with light and most without, never noticed any difference in the animals. Same with sticks for them to climb on. I found that keeping things simple always worked best. I usually only used the light in the end to see better when cleaning the tank. To answer your question yes, you can definitely over do it with too much light.
Lots going on in this question.
No one can say what a proper wattage is, since we don’t know the size of the enclosure, the effectiveness of the reflector in the light fixture, the efficiency of the light itself, how much cover is in the enclosure, etc. A dimmable LED fixture is by far the best option for visible light, since the illumination level can be adjusted to the situation. Providing an amount of light that is enough to grow the plants and also comfortable for the snake might be challenging (depends on the plant species, at least).
I’m assuming by ‘grow light’ you mean a screw-in (‘edison base’) LED bulb that’s marketed for plant growth, and I assume that the UVB bulb you’re using is a screw in compact fluorescent. The only ‘UVB LED grow lights’ a web search found were for weed growing (and were not screw-in bulbs anyway), and the spectral chart I found contraindicates using them for reptiles (little/no UVA for the D3 degradation feedback loop and possibly for exposure self-regulation in some species). A recent paper by Baines suggests that no current herp-marketed LED UVBs are without serious problems in spectral output.
It isn’t possible to say what % UVB output from a lamp is safe or not for a given herp species, since the distance from the lamp can make any UV lamp either too strong or completely ineffective (and also make the irradiated area too small or too large). UVB irradiation should be measured with a Solarmeter or equivalent meter if used (much like using a thermometer/thermostat for supplemental heat, and much like providing only a certain size prey item, and much like monitoring and adjusting the moisture/RH levels in the enclosure, etc).
Lots of good information. Thank you, everyone.