Do Snakes Really “NEED” UVB? A Video Essay
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- Do snakes really NEED UVB? Well before you make a decision you first need to understand what UVB does to a snake.
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0:00 Does a Nocturnal snake need UV?
2:39 What Does UVB Do to a Snakes Body
9:20 Snake Studies on UVB
10:53 How do Snakes Avoid Vit D3 Overdose?
11:37 How Do Ball Pythons Use UVB?
16:37 What About Unstudied Snake Species?
17:44 Is it a NEED?
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ABOUT LIAM:
Hello, my name is Liam, I am first and foremost a fanatic reptile enthusiast, I have a bachelor’s degree in animal management, this is where my interest in research stems from. My mission with this channel is to investigate herpetological husbandry with a scientific mindset and champion an evidence-based approach to reptilian husbandry, centred around animal welfare science.
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I wish I could post pictures here but the difference in my ball pythons colours is actually insane. I've had her on proper linear UVB in the correct range for over 2 months now and the difference in her colours and how she acts is actually incredible. I've had her for 9 years and never seen her act the way she does.
glad shes doing so well
Wow, what an informative video! I toughed that I knew almost all there is about reptile care but ever since I came across your channel I have learned so much more. Keep up the great work! You have singlehandedly managed to stop my reptile buying spree in its tracks and made me realize that I should focus on keeping the animals that I have the best way possible instead of growing my collection as fast as I can. I am really grateful for that. If I hadn't stopped buying reptiles now I probably would have had the space and money to give them the lives that I am trying to give them now.
I’m glad all the videos helped, it’s exactly why I started making them back in 2020. This is very heartwarming thank you 😊
The best thing about this hobby is there's always something new to learn
I'm a big advocate, whenever possible, of giving natural lighting to animals, no matter what species. Obviously this isn't always possible, but whenever it is I think anyone keeping animals should do everything in their power to allow access to natural lighting.
Agreed!
Great video! Thank you for sharing!
I am.so grateful to have found your channel. I switched to bioactive a couple of years ago in the hopes of treating my animals as good as possible. More keepers need to value the complexity of their pets. Love your channel and will be sharing it as much as possible.
Another fantastic video! I will, however, have to watch this several times to absorb it. I'll definitely be plugging your channel in my upcoming workshop presentation! Keep up the brilliant content.
Thank you mate, good luck with your presentation
I loved this one! Nice job.
Thanks Lori
This may be one of your BEST videos yet!! 🐍☀️
Wow, thanks!
Hi! You did good research on this topic and explained it well! good job mate!
Thank you
I manage a small ma and pa pet shop. We have a small but excellent selection on reptiles. I am always speaking of the benefits of UVB within the proper index. To share this video will benefit everyone in the hobby.
Thanks for sharing! Best of luck with the shop :)
My female ball python has gone off food, he was born August 2020 so nearly 4, 1500g. Vet trip was told she's overweight but otherwise healthy, but they've recommended uvb. We're going to get that sorted for her, and hope that gets her eating again. But this video has been very interesting, thank you
That was awesome.. thoroughly enjoyed the information..cheers
Glad to hear it!
Absolutely cracking video thank you 🙌🏻
Very welcome :)
Very good point about nocturnal animals. My Brazilian rainbow boa comes out of her hide during the day, but only very occasionally.
Thanks I think it’s a very logical premise when you think about it
Incredibly informative thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow.. This is such a helpful video. Love your work, and would love to use and share the information for the Korean reptile fans out here
Interesting and informative...Thank-you
Our pleasure!
This is so educational Thank you sooooo much!
Im glad it was helpful!
at 15:09 isn´t that heat supposed to be provided through infrared A and B? Since those wavelenghts are the ones that deeply penetrate the skin. If in the study the ball pythons weren't provided any form of true heat or just a heatmat, than wouldn't that compromise the D3 cicle?
Ideally the skin would be warmed with infrared, but visible light also warms slightly and so does thigmothermy. The skin just needs to reach a certain temperature to convert as far as I’m aware. It’s possible to get warm enough without infrared A. The corn studies didn’t use infrared A, they merely warmed the ambient of the room I believe
My ball python is adopted, and I've had him for a year in an enriched 4x2x2 with overhead heat and climbing branches after 11 years in a rack drawer on newspaper. In the week he's had UVB, he's become MUCH more outgoing and seeks it out for basking. I was hoping for such a fast turnaround, but man I'm still impressed. I even see him looking at his enclosure decorations like "WHOAH?!?" since I guess it looks different with UV hahah.
Love that you pointed out the methodology flaws in the BP study too. As soon as you said the 'treatment' group was all females and the 'control' group was half-ish I was immediately like hold up, that's not how you control for sources of error lol
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot ! I personnally provide UVB to all my snakes, along with infrared A & B, and although some don't appear to bask under it during the day, like my python curtus and my candoia paulsoni tasmai, my boa imperators and my ball python can be seen out basking almost every single day, and it's just so nice to be able to actually see them. A little added bonus, although I'm not entirely sure if it's the UVB or the jungle LED that does this, but I get to see iridescence on my boas within the enclosure, and who doesn't like a good iridescence. Overall it's a win win, my snakes are slightly healthier, and I get to see them more in all of their splendour.
Absolutely brilliant! 🙌🙏🐍
Thank you 🙌 I’m glad you think so 😀
Thank you so much for this! So informative and a further point for me to add UVB to my snakes' enclosures.
Man that is what i am talking about ,,, inner deep education ,, i really enjoyed this one ,,,, i do love the animal deep science' ,, " Great Job "
Great video as always! next time people ask me for more info about UVB and snakes, I will redirect them here. My ball python is definitely a UVB lover, she basks almost every day and will even spend a few minutes staring directly into the lamp (with her face like 2 cm away from it). Last time I replaced her old UVB tube with a new one, she came out of hiding like one minute after the new light source had been installed and immediately started basking. Clearly, she noticed the difference.
Thank you! Sounds like she values it a lot
Interesting! I really enjoyed the biochem breakdown
I’m so glad! Took me 16 hours to animate everything 😅
@@ReptilesandResearch It really helped cement the importance of UV and Vitamin D3. I know some breeders will feed their female snakes who are laying eggs more food or give calcium supplements but I wonder if, without UV and enough D3, those snakes are able to use that calcium.
Superb video
Thank you so much 😀
Great video! I'd only suggest adding citation of sources :), thanks!
Fantastic video! Uhh, I gotta say I couldn't keep up with All of that talk, but the first couple of points were pretty clear that yeah, they'd highly benefit from UVB. I'll consider it on the final upgrades for my noodles. I just recently added LED lights at Least since my room does not allow light to come in at all, just to let them know when it's day time while i'm away at work...
Im sure they will enjoy it
Absolutely, Thanks for sharing
Glad you like it 😊
Thanks for such an informative video. I would, however, add that uvb should not be used for albinos. My albino Darwin carpet python hates bright light of any sort: when she basks under an incandescent lamp (uvb A), she hides her head under he body unless the light is quite heavily dimmed. I supplement her prey items with Arcadia D3 powder occasionally to compensate for the lack of uvb radiation in her enclosure.
Hello Liam. Excellent job This was missing bit of information I wanted to hear/see summarised or rather commented (UVB for crepuscular/nocturnal snakes). And I like the outcome you made out of the information presented during the episode. For me this (and not only this) topic needs further studies on per species basis and comparisons in presented studies are a proof that UVB should not be generalised as a subject for reptiles. As a keeper of ball python and carpet python (and daily gecko), I observe my animals I'd say more than average keeper and my experience is that preference of both snake species is to stay out of light when preferred temperature is available elsewhere in the shade. Only occasionally I see both species basking when sunshine hits an enclosure. This light has UVB filtered out through several glasses in window and enclosure door. UVB on it's own doesn't attract them in my case. Often I see people claiming this with pics of BPs openly basking but seeing the setup it is clear that they don't provide natural temperatures in hides/burrows because it is technically extremely difficult to reach optimal temps in hide when you limit yourself to only overhead heating and your room is not super hot. Then BP has no other choice than to go out under the lamp or ceiling. And often picture shows BP in very uncomfortable position on some for BP way too slim stick Mine also goes under the ceiling (say sky hide) sometimes but preference is to stay inside burrow (with additional heat pad) when temps are about the same. Similar for carpet pythons(either in heated burrow or next to, not under, DHP&light under the ceiling). I could say they are cryptic basking with head out from burrow relatively often but that usually only happens when there is some activity and they are curious. My Phelsuma is completely different when it comes to light/UVB attraction as she really fine tunes her body position to lighting conditions with obvious pattern throughout the day.
I hope that there will be some follow up of this episode possible one day with material from natural habitats data about basking say for BP as my feeling is this has not been documented in 24hr cycle and different seasons in mind yet and adjust the way I keep them to that.
One note, I kind of think that even if different species can manage vitamin D3 drastically differently within reptile species range, other health benefits of UVB you mentioned at the begining can be more generalized. I will surely keep my UVB tubes installed :-)
It would be great to have this episode in a text form too as sometimes it is difficult to follow the information stream 🙂 Also I didn't catch whether the note about vision in UV spectrum for BP was general UV or whether it included UVB specifically too?
Thanks for this episode a bunch!
Definitely worth diving into on a per species basis however; I keep fat tails and observe them more than most as well, I even have cameras on them so as not to make bias observations about how they spend their time. I currently have halogen bulbs and uvb, but when they were on regulated heat mats they would still partially and cryptically bask despite have the set-up to avoid it if they wished. Another thing worth mentioning is that the addition of UVB is the only thing that cleared up a chronic eye issue with one of my males, when no other husbandry or exotic veterinary care could cure the issue long term. I had the same response when adding a halogen in combination with the heat mat and uvb, they continued to bask regardless of having the option to just use the heat mat.
We will be starting a website and putting this out there in article form too. In terms of your experiences, its hard to know without seeing and playing with the set up.
Mindblowing. I offer UVB for years, but just because it´s an option in their habitats. I see benefits like for my extreme nocturnal Boiga cyanea. I never saw the male out of the hide at daytime, the female was active during day maybe 1-2 a Month. When I offered UVB these extreme nocturnal individuals was actively basking at the day. The female at least once a day, if she´s not in nthe shed. The male at least 3-4 times a week. So I knew they benefit from UVB, but I didn´t go that deep into it. But it´s really interisting. Thank you for showing the papers and also discussing them with us!
I am now curious to know the current levels of my snakes.
I'm slowly upgrading from Ceramic heat emitters to a deep heat projector's and a halogen combo.
Now I will have to add UV after that's done 😊😁
An interesting look at the differences between surviving and thriving. I offer UVB to all my snakes. My MBK and Children's python absolutely utilize it but I have never observed either of my ball pythons either backing or cryptic basking. I still like to give them the option though, we should strive to reach as close to a natural environment for our reptiles as we can and that definitely includes UVB.
It is very interesting, id like to do a study on male python regius bloods too, just require funds to do so
Another great video Liam. I offer my snakes, a python regius and a boa imperator, UVB. They have both been very healthy, and my ball python has never missed a meal. Now, do I attribute that 100% to UVB, no -- but do I think it has benefited both of them? Yes, I do.
Thanks Chris 😊
I think they are probably the healthiest versions of themselves with it for sure
Do you know any breeders that would ship to Ireland. I’m looking for a cornsnake but no one in my location sells them
My children’s python spends all his time basking now that I’ve given him a UV light. I didn’t anticipate him using it so much and I’m glad I’m getting my money’s worth.
I've always given my garter snakes uvb. Figured it couldn't hurt since they get it in the wild.
great!
I understand why the video is titled this, and why the question was asked- because it reaches a wider audience. However, my feelings toward do they "need UVB" are the same as Animals' at Home's recent episode comparing reptile racks to puppy mills. It's asking the wrong question. Many of the conditions in puppy mills are perfectly legal. The only thing that separates puppy mills from legal breeding facilities is cleanliness. So the question stands- do snakes need UVB? No. Will a betta fish eat and build a nest in an unheated, unfiltered bowl? Yes. Will a parrot breed and eat if kept in a cage so small that it will never be able to fly? Yes. It's the wrong question. Should we keep animals in subpar standards when we /know/ we should be doing better? Absolutely not.
You are right! Its simple a needs be in terms of what is being searched for and it reaching as many keepers as possible. I feel the video when watched covers what you are covering. I share your frustration that we are asking a question as if there is still debate on the subject, but needs must.
I think you have to be moderate with UV because high intensity exposure can lead to cataracts and blindness, is that right?
If its way higher than is biologically needed for a certain species then yes. That depends on the species.
With ball python eggs being laid underground would they receive much vit d3 for hatchening?
Its transfered from the female when shes developing the eggs
So many snake species, some species do need it and some don't. If your snake species isn't out during the day time in the wild then you don't.
But basically all snakes come out during the day a bit to my knowledge. Does a species come to your mind that never comes out during the day?
Extremely interesting! What's your opinion of providing snakes oral Vitamin D3?
I think this is in the video if i remember right. Oral Vit D3 does enough but doesnt give the extra stuff that uvb does
What do you mean by "cryptically" in this context?
What are your thoughts on halogen for ball pythons? It's another topic i seem to get mixed results on in terms of being beneficial, uselessness or potentially a nuisance. Seems like more people are using them and seeing positive results but it also seems like a lot of people say it is against what their primary habits are in the wild. Or is it potentially a sales thing that companies are using to market to a broader audience?
I use it, there’s studies on collagen levels increasing in ball pythons skin under infrared A
Awesome, thanks!
I have tried doin research without much of an anwser I have an albino Kingsnake which does not seem to like to bask whatsoever and stray away from any light would a very low UVB light be good for her ? Or will she still be healthy without it
Drop down a Ferguson zone from what they would normally be ☺️
@@ReptilesandResearch May I ask what should I do for a snake that's already in the lowest Furgoson Zone I, like an albino cornsnake?
I was researching about adding UVB but I found almost no information for albino snakes. And there are colloquial description of UVB related eye damage in albino snakes, which made me hesitate about what to do.
Also, I really appreciate your channel. I just discovered your channel through this video. Your channel is really unique in information density and evident seeking. Thank you for making all that high quality info easy to access for everyone.
Top effort sir, Always stated to clients the least a keeper can do is provide an environment comparable to its natural environment.
As always, great information, thank for breaking down the studies so we don't have to slog thru and decipher all the information provided. I cannot justify keeping an animal with cones in it's eyes to see UV and not providing UV in some shape or form. It just isn't right. If we are going to keep these creatures captive, they should be provided the best of what we can, closest to what allows them to act on their natural behaviors and live content lives. It's the kindest choice and if one can't find it in themselves to be kind to the animals they keep, why even have them?
One thing I'm curious about, if you could explain the scientific cause for this, my snakes' colors become more intense and deeper when regularly exposed to UV light. Their iridescence becomes more intense too, so my Cinnamon ball python, isn't a brown snake, she's a purple/ultramarine blue snake. I'm not really clear if every human has the same vision regarding range of color, but I definitely see it (no I don't see UV light. LOL) and I imagine what I'm seeing is probably a lot more intense to the snakes themselves. I have parrots and know this to be true of them also, their feathers become more intense and the colors deepen with regular exposure to UV light. They also are able to see UV light. There must be a scientific reason and explanation of what's happening?
A lot of what we have regarding this raises more questions than answers and its a lot of "maybe its for this"
Does albino need uv or is it dangerous for its skin and eyes
Just drop down a Ferguson zone
@@ReptilesandResearch how do i drop down a ferguson zone, minimal basking time?
Do you know any breeders that would ship to Ireland. I’m looking for a cornsnake but no one in my location sells them
You have breeders in Ireland, you also have shops. Reptile Haven (shop) in Dublin will be able to help you