Use UV lamp or not

Hi which of you use uv lamps. And why there you can’t use them in a rack. I am curious about the answers.

Like most people, I don’t use UVB for my boas, and they eat, grow and breed just fine. There are some folks who feel snakes can benefit from UVB, and there’s no harm in providing it (as long as it is off at night). However, the vast majority of snakes in captivity do not receive UVB, and if it was vital for their survival, the industry would have collapsed by now. So, it’s basically your choice. Your boas don’t absolutely need it, but may receive some benefit from it.

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I’m with Wes :wink: on this up to a point.

Not providing your snake with uvb doesn’t cause any documented harm and certain species such as royal pythons spending 90% of their lives in burrows and natural hides in the wild, only coming out at night to hunt, don’t receive much uvb in nature.

Boas (not all though, I’m sure) do come out during the day from time to time and will even bask in the sun. So they do receive uvb at a decent rate compared to pythons. But still no proof is there saying they NEED it to survive just as good well. And overall a captive snake is having a better life than a wild one, uvb or not.

But again I’m with @westridge and I think if you have the option to use it then you should but if you can’t for some reason (using a rack system, unavailable in your location) then really don’t worry. There are many many many things that come above having uvb or not.

Maybe in 100-1000 years we might see a deficiency problem in captive snakes but more than likely not.