Interesting light issue

[glyconny]

Ok folks, i've used the search function to try and find an answer to this question to no avail. Do leos need ANY light at night? Mine are currently in a room with windows and thus have exposure to subtle evening light. I am, however, transitioning all my herps to a dedicated reptile room in my basement, without a window, and thus, at night totally dark. As the majority of my collection is diurnal, the thought hadn't occured to me until yesterday evening when I spied my leos busy at work/play in the slight moon glow coming from the window. So the question is, although leos are nocturnal, Do they need any light at night, or can they function in pitch black conditions? Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

No they are nocturnal and active at night when its dark, so no lights at night are needed and the darker the better at night.

 

[Grinning Geckos]

I can't say with 100% certainty, but I would think they need at least SOME light. These geckos are nocturnal, not cave-dwelling. If there are no windows at all, I would provide a very dim source of light to simulate at least partial moonlight. I do know of others who have their gecko in rooms with no windows and no light source at night, and their geckos do fine. I suppose in my case, it would be personal preference based on personal theory. :main_rolleyes:

 

[glyconny]

Shanti, i like the distinction you bring up between being nocturnal, and "cave dwelling". In case i didnt make it clear, the reptile room would be completely void of any light at night. Wendy, while i agree that leos like it dark, don't nocturnal animals need a modicum of light in the evening ie. moonlight? How about a night light for my reptile room lol........

 

[Gecko]

If it really were really pitch black (no light) then yes I suppose you might need some light. It depends on how dark it really is though. Nocternal animals can use light levels we think of as pitch black. So it really depends . . .

 

[Stitch]

In case you are worried about them not having enough light to see at night, one of those 40 watt blue lights wouldn't hurt at night.

 

[2.1SRR.YYC]

Interesting subject...

I have my geckos in a room with nothing but the Windows logo bouncing around on the screen saver. This and all the lights on the various other components creates a nice little light show for the geckos during the evenings.

I would imagine that nocturnal animals still need some small amount of light to see?

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Mine had some light at night, basically what I did this

Cham lights on timer for 6am on and 11pm off (opposite side or large room)
I cut on room lights around 8-9am and off at 9pm

so they had some light but total dark from 11pm til 6am. They eat best at dusk when there is still some light.

the thing I noticed was that if I ran late and didn;t fill mealie dishes til say midnight after all lights out, I could hear the leos run and would find them all in their hides just from cutting on a lamp in the corner of the roomw ith a 60 watt bulb that gave them very little light so I don;t know if it was the shock of it cutting on or if they "need" a period of total darkness.

 

[Stitch]

Sorry to thread-jack, but Wendy, why do you leave your cham lights on for 17 hours a day? They should get at most 14 hours a day during the summer months and then drop down to 10-12 hours in the winter. Atleast from what I have read that is what you should do for chameleons.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Well they need on average 14 hours of full light a day I prefer to try to simulate their natural outdoor settings and have mine on timers,

a small 15 watt cuts on at 6am
then a 100 watt cuts on at 8am
then at 9am my Active UVB cuts on and the 15 and 100 cut off
then at 8pm the 15 watt and 100 watt are back on and the active UVb off
then at 9pm the 100 cuts off
then at 11pm the 15 watt cuts off

That more simulates the rising and setting of the sun ithan one full blast light being on for 14 hours.

 

[Stitch]

a small 15 watt cuts on at 6am
then a 100 watt cuts on at 8am
then at 9am my Active UVB cuts on and the 15 and 100 cut off
then at 8pm the 15 watt and 100 watt are back on and the active UVb off
then at 9pm the 100 cuts off
then at 11pm the 15 watt cuts off

That more simulates the rising and setting of the sun ithan one full blast light being on for 14 hours.

WOW, you realy don't exagerate when you say simulating the sun rising and setting. I can understand that, believe me. But I still think that all lights should be out before 11pm.I don't know of anywhere other then Canada that get day light at that time of night.

Does your UVB light produce heat as well? Because otherwise it looks like there is no heat during the day. I would keep the 100 watt on for majority of the day (10am-6pm) and then have that shut off 1-3 hours before all lights are out.

I did mine much simpler, lights on (heat and UVB) at about 6am, then lights out at 8pm. That is for the summer. In the winter they come on at 6:30am and go out at 6pm. But the room he is in has a window so that helps with the gradual sunrise and sunset.

If it works for ya', then more power to you. I just personally feel that you don't have to go to that extreme. It obviously isn't hurting anything.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

well a 15 watt bulb in a room that is 18 x 20 is barely enough light to walk in and not bump into stuff. They were on the far end of that room with the 15 watt lamp on the other end.

Active UVB is heat, light and UVA/B
http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=717