northwestcorns
New member
This is the light that I had above Jewel for about 2 weeks 24/7.
If you followed the thread "Panicking-Skin Split". You saw the pics of Jewel my beautiful Lavendar ZigZag Female. I had the light on the way I did because we had just moved cross country and there was no heat available for my snakes except lights. I had this long light that was convenient to use over the top of two tanks, decreasing the number of things I had plugged in.
I finally got everything put on timers and the UTH's working. Jewel ended up dry looking and started turning yellow down her back. She shed and still looked dry. The other snake under that light was a striped snow. He got dehydrated looking as well, but after a shed and a couple of feeds with plenty of water he's doing fine. Jewels entire dorsal surface skin came off and we are working through that.
Thinking that this occurred not because of the light, but because it was on 24/7, I ended up using the same light over two other tanks. Since it was on a timer and these snakes were fine, I thought it would be okay. It wasn't. My Blizzard, Dairy Queen, one of the most beautiful snakes I have, started looking wrinkled after only about 10 days under this light, on a timer(10 on/14 off). She had hides and water, but she looked more and more dehydrated. I took that light and threw it into the corner of my shed. I replaced it with a couple of regular aquarium-type light strips. But the damage was already done. Although not as extreme as Jewel, DQ now has a sunburn. I brought her in and put her in a darkened, high-moisture environment, 70-75 degree environment with a small UTH for digestion. I'm spraying her with a moisturizing aloe treatment 3 times a day. She's eating and drinking and I think that after she has a shed or two , she should be fine.
I got this light from a friend who had it over their beardie. It was expensive and he didn't want to throw it away. I use the lights on timers to mimic the day/night cycles because there are no windows or natural light in my snake house. The light has no obvious brands or writing on it and finally I went and pulled it apart. I finally found the Zilla brand and the info about the bulbs faded and almost invisible. If anyone has any doubts about whether or not the type of lighting you have over your snakes matters, take a look at the pictures I have put up of Jewel before and after her skin split. I will also post pics of my Blizzard so folks can see her. Remember, DQ was a SOLID White snake that only showed small bits of a coral pink right after she shed.
Ignorance isn't an excuse, but I had NO idea that these were desert UVB bulbs. As I've stated before, I've been keeping snakes for years and I've never had a problem like this. I just thought this was a normal fluorescent light. I'm hoping that new folks will take this as a warning to check their lights and make sure that they are using lights that are appropriate for their snakes if they need lights at all. I'm tossing this light in the trash.
If you followed the thread "Panicking-Skin Split". You saw the pics of Jewel my beautiful Lavendar ZigZag Female. I had the light on the way I did because we had just moved cross country and there was no heat available for my snakes except lights. I had this long light that was convenient to use over the top of two tanks, decreasing the number of things I had plugged in.
I finally got everything put on timers and the UTH's working. Jewel ended up dry looking and started turning yellow down her back. She shed and still looked dry. The other snake under that light was a striped snow. He got dehydrated looking as well, but after a shed and a couple of feeds with plenty of water he's doing fine. Jewels entire dorsal surface skin came off and we are working through that.
Thinking that this occurred not because of the light, but because it was on 24/7, I ended up using the same light over two other tanks. Since it was on a timer and these snakes were fine, I thought it would be okay. It wasn't. My Blizzard, Dairy Queen, one of the most beautiful snakes I have, started looking wrinkled after only about 10 days under this light, on a timer(10 on/14 off). She had hides and water, but she looked more and more dehydrated. I took that light and threw it into the corner of my shed. I replaced it with a couple of regular aquarium-type light strips. But the damage was already done. Although not as extreme as Jewel, DQ now has a sunburn. I brought her in and put her in a darkened, high-moisture environment, 70-75 degree environment with a small UTH for digestion. I'm spraying her with a moisturizing aloe treatment 3 times a day. She's eating and drinking and I think that after she has a shed or two , she should be fine.
I got this light from a friend who had it over their beardie. It was expensive and he didn't want to throw it away. I use the lights on timers to mimic the day/night cycles because there are no windows or natural light in my snake house. The light has no obvious brands or writing on it and finally I went and pulled it apart. I finally found the Zilla brand and the info about the bulbs faded and almost invisible. If anyone has any doubts about whether or not the type of lighting you have over your snakes matters, take a look at the pictures I have put up of Jewel before and after her skin split. I will also post pics of my Blizzard so folks can see her. Remember, DQ was a SOLID White snake that only showed small bits of a coral pink right after she shed.
Ignorance isn't an excuse, but I had NO idea that these were desert UVB bulbs. As I've stated before, I've been keeping snakes for years and I've never had a problem like this. I just thought this was a normal fluorescent light. I'm hoping that new folks will take this as a warning to check their lights and make sure that they are using lights that are appropriate for their snakes if they need lights at all. I'm tossing this light in the trash.
