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UV Requirements: |
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Rex Sumner Member Joined: 23 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 7  View other posts by Rex Sumner |
Posted: 05 Aug 2004 There is currently a debate going on as to UVB requirements in snakes as the RSPCA are reportedly about to issue a guideline that all captive snakes must be kept with UV. This is of great concern to many keepers, as we have a number of snakes blinded by being kept with UV lights. As on this forum there are many scientists who have studied snakes in the wild, I was hoping that some of you may be able to offer some relevant information with regard to UV and snakes in the wild. For example, do any basking snakes routinely cover their eyes while basking, exposing their body but not the head. Has anyone doen any research into the use of UV by wild snakes, and the importance of UV in calcium absorption and the development of bones? While temperate snakes clearly bask to adjust their body temperature, what other benefits do they derive? Many thanks in advance for any contributions. Rex |
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-LAF Senior Member Joined: 03 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 317 View other posts by -LAF |
Posted: 05 Aug 2004 All snakes should be kept with UV? And I suppose all fish should kept in fresh water regardless of origin. I hope that they're not really advocating that husbandry requirements for all snake species are equal, because that's just plain stupid. Then I remember who we're dealing with here, Sigh. Out of interest, has anyone heard of the proposed removal of Psammophis from the UK DWA Act? Read it the other day on the DEFRA site. Fun for all the family :) Lee. Lee Fairclough |
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David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 07 Aug 2004 The majority of work with Ca/P ratios, Vitamin D3 and Ultra Violet Light has been carried out on Lizards as it it this taxa which do seem to require a certain amount of Ca, P and Vit,D3 that is not obtained from their diet especially in captivity. Most snakes can obtain their full requirement from the Birds, Fish and especially mammals that they feed on because of the mineral content of the bones and the Vitamin D3 in the blood and kidneys. The insect diet of most lizards is very poor in these compounds which are not found in the structural material of the food animal and are relying on gut contents to pick up the minerals, herbivorous lizards also have problems with dietary Vit.D3. and some minerals if they feed on fruit rather than leaves. I have not seen much on the need for extra Ca and Vit.D3 in snakes except for some of the older husbandry papers that were written on the Green Tree Python which advocated the use of Cod liver oil and minerals for successful breeding but I am sure there were other factors involved that needed to be overcome before breeding became easier. I have only heard of eye cataracts in Lizards when exposed to long time periods of direct ultra-violet light which should never have happened had the keepers thought of how their animals live in the wild and actually knew as much as they thought they did about their animals and had seen lizards in the wild. I always used the specialised ultra-violet lights such as GEC Black lights which do seem to have lost favour to the full spectrum lights which give out visible light as well as U-V. I always has the U-V lights in one part of the cage and partly covered with wood shields so that the whole of the cage was not bathed in U-V light it was interesting to note that the lizards used to go and lie under the U-V tube or even lie on it for short periods of time and then go somewhere else in the cage to lay where there was normal white lighting, this happened all the time so they were never exposed to damaging amounts of U-V and seemed to regulate the amounts they were getting as they would in the wild. I would suggest that if people use these lights for snakes they did this or put the lights on a timer so that 1 or 2 hours was the maximum per day. I would be interested to hear of the regime and lights that were used that caused blindness in snakes as I had not come across this before. A different frequency of U-V light is also used in the intraspecific behaviour of lizards and some of the tropical species such as Iguanids and monitors change their behaviour drastically if put into natural sunlight even for about 10 minutes becoming very "aggressive" to both owner and each other. This has been documented especially in Anoles where displays can be seen very quickly, snakes are more solitary and it is more difficult to recognise changes in behaviour as easily as it is with lizards. Mosaic basking is seen in Smooth Snakes as well as Slow-Worms early in the season in March and April when I do find they bask more than other times of the year, unless they are gravid females. I have seen that much of the head is in cover but they must have some view of the surroundings in case of predators. I have found that tins are not as effective at this early time of the year whereas from the thermoregulation point of view they should be more effective and I have always believed that this is a need for U-V light and basking in sunlight to build up the Vit.D3 in their bodies after hibernation. If you are a BHS member there is a large bibliography of U-V,Vit.D and Ca/P papers on the Yahoo group. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
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Rex Sumner Member Joined: 23 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 7 View other posts by Rex Sumner |
Posted: 09 Aug 2004 Thank you David, that is very useful. Particularly interesting your observations on the use of blacklight. May I post your response on some other sites where discussions have taken place? I would of course include your name. The blind snakes are in the possesion of Maureen Collinson who runs a reptile rescue centre. I do not know the regime that caused it, and I doubt that she does either, but I suspect that shops have sold individuals snakes and told them they needed UV lights for all reptiles. Other people have reported cataracts in lizards. Rex |
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