New viv

[Dannylatics]

I am having a friend build me a 4' x 2' x 2' wooden viv for my boa as it is about to out grow its current glass viv.

In the current glass viv I have a red bulb to heat the tank, and I have the tank facing the window so it has the day/night scale.

For the new viv I want a 5.0 UV bulb to provide a day/night scale as I am moving the viv away from the window. How big should the bulb be for a 4 foot long viv? and what type, of bulb holder is required?

Also what are the advantages of changing to a Ceramic bulb instead of a red bulb? I no some people use the red bulbs and some use the ceramic while some use AHS and heat mats? The onli real options to me are Ceramic and Red bulb as the AHS are a tad expensive and heat mats don;t provide enoguh ambient air temp for me.

Any help would greatly be appreciated

[luker3232]

no idea but i wish i had friends that would build me cages..... LUCKY!

[Dannylatics]

i didn';t mean a 5.0 uv bulb, just a normal light bulb for a day night cycle

[Koda]

I was about to say....seems like too much UV light for a snake. And I'm sure some people have the normal light bulb's for their snakes, but i'm going to tell you what I think about them....I've heard that its bad to use a clear bulb because the light beam can hurt a snakes eyes. I have mine under a red light bulb during the day, and a black light bulb for the night cycle. They still register the night and day cycle very well. Usually 30 min's after sun down, and the black light bulb coming on, she is up and moving around, climbing in the vines and branches.

That however, is just my opinion. Someone else may think differently as I'm not anywhere close to having mine ready to breed so the cycles can be altered. Good luck though, and let me know what you find out about the clear bulbs!!

(If you do go with UV....I wouldn't recommend anything higher than a repti-sun 2.0...)

[TammyJamaica]

Hi! Good luck with your new viv for your boa. I know nothing about heat lamps as I live in Jamaica (the "tropics") and my snakes (boas and pythons) just live in their tanks as it is outside - cool at night and warm in the daytime, and they do just fine.
(Gloat, gloat - lucky me...!)