UVB and UVA Lighting

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

balthazar

Not so new Member
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Location
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
I have been trying to find some things on the difference between UVB lighting and UVA lighting.

i understand that most diurnal (day time) reptiles need UVB lighting witch prevents MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) and increases vitamin d.

But what i do not know is, what UVA is used for?

Please let me know what you know.
 
UVA is sensed by alot of reptiles by the Pineal gland. It regulates their body clock. Some species even see pheromone trails in uva and don't breed successfully without it. Cool hey
 
UVA is sensed by alot of reptiles by the Pineal gland. It regulates their body clock. Some species even see pheromone trails in uva and don't breed successfully without it. Cool hey

Hi Skeptic,
Maybe you could call me skeptic, but could you please enlighten us with your learning on uv/uva/uvb & how it affects the reptiles? You seem to have a lot more information than most of us can gather, so please share.

Cheers
Ian
 
UVA is used by reptile accessory companies to sell you more unnecessary equipment.
 
Exoterra is a leading brand and they have researched a lot into the development of their products. They also spend a lot of money educating the pet industry on their products and how they developed them. I have met their reps before and have sat thru their seminars at my previous place of work and I am very impressed by them and their professional products. I have used many products before and I always go back to them when I can. Anyone who uses their products knows where their money went and the quality in those products. Nothing beats the outdoors and mother nature but if you cannot harness her greatness outdoors for your herps why not try to replicate it as best as possible with products inside? And it's not just reptiles that benefit from UVA UVB, birds do too and they have fluro tubes specifically for Aviaries
 
Two excerpts from peer reviewed journals:

1. The lizard
[/FONT]Iguana iguana when kept in constant ambient temperature displays endogenously generated circadian rhythms of body temperature and locomotor activity. Although surgical removal of the parietal eye has only slight effects on overt circadian rhythmicity, subsequent pinealectomy completely abolishes the rhythm of body temperature. However, the rhythm of locomotor activity is only slightly affected by parietalectomy plus pinealectomy. Our results demonstrate that the pineal complex is centrally involved in the generation and control of the circadian rhythm of body temperature but is only marginally involved in locomotor rhythmicity. Plasma melatonin levels are not significantly reduced by parietalectomy, whereas pinealectomy dramatically lowers the level and completely eliminates the circadian rhythm of melatonin in the circulation. Isolated parietal eye, pineal, and retina all synthesize melatonin with robust circadian rhythmicity when maintained for ≥4 d in culture, although in the intact animal all or almost all of the circulating melatonin comes from the pineal. The circadian system of I. iguana[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Tahoma, sans-serif] is composed of multiple circadian oscillators that reside in different tissues and have specific and different roles.[/FONT]

2. The UVA wavelengths, which reportedly do not penetrate to the level of retinal photo receptors, suppress the ability of the pineal gland to synthesize it's hormonal product. UVA light presented during the dark period changes the physiology of animals so treated in a way suggesting an interruption of circadian melatonin production.[/FONT]
 
Exoterra is a leading brand and they have researched a lot into the development of their products. They also spend a lot of money educating the pet industry on their products and how they developed them. I have met their reps before and have sat thru their seminars at my previous place of work and I am very impressed by them and their professional products. I have used many products before and I always go back to them when I can. Anyone who uses their products knows where their money went and the quality in those products. Nothing beats the outdoors and mother nature but if you cannot harness her greatness outdoors for your herps why not try to replicate it as best as possible with products inside? And it's not just reptiles that benefit from UVA UVB, birds do too and they have fluro tubes specifically for Aviaries

The sales rep got to you didn't he?
Cheers

Two excerpts from peer reviewed journals:

1. The lizard
[/FONT]Iguana iguana when kept in constant ambient temperature displays endogenously generated circadian rhythms of body temperature and locomotor activity. Although surgical removal of the parietal eye has only slight effects on overt circadian rhythmicity, subsequent pinealectomy completely abolishes the rhythm of body temperature. However, the rhythm of locomotor activity is only slightly affected by parietalectomy plus pinealectomy. Our results demonstrate that the pineal complex is centrally involved in the generation and control of the circadian rhythm of body temperature but is only marginally involved in locomotor rhythmicity. Plasma melatonin levels are not significantly reduced by parietalectomy, whereas pinealectomy dramatically lowers the level and completely eliminates the circadian rhythm of melatonin in the circulation. Isolated parietal eye, pineal, and retina all synthesize melatonin with robust circadian rhythmicity when maintained for ≥4 d in culture, although in the intact animal all or almost all of the circulating melatonin comes from the pineal. The circadian system of I. iguana[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Tahoma, sans-serif] is composed of multiple circadian oscillators that reside in different tissues and have specific and different roles.[/FONT]

2. The UVA wavelengths, which reportedly do not penetrate to the level of retinal photo receptors, suppress the ability of the pineal gland to synthesize it's hormonal product. UVA light presented during the dark period changes the physiology of animals so treated in a way suggesting an interruption of circadian melatonin production.[/FONT]

So in english means bugger all & that we should not give our reptiles bright light at night as it interupts thier life cycle.Yah?
Sorry our lizards still need heat.
Cheers
 
Last edited:
So in english means bugger all & that we should not give our reptiles bright light at night as it interupts thier life cycle.Yah?
Sorry our lizards still need heat.
Cheers

I was just trying to answer a question posted by a member. No need to be ****ty. I wasn't looking for an argument when i posted 'let me google that for you', I was just trying to be funny. Obviously I was mistaken. However, if you failed to get anything meaningful from those excerpts then I doubt I'll be able to explain it to you further anyway.
 
Just a side note folks... debate on wether or not UVA is needed by reptiles aside. I just want to say that UVA is present in almost all man made lighting systems (boxed in a reptile carton or not). UVA is long wave ultraviolet radiation just past the last visible colour (indigo). Any fluorescent lighting will give you UVA as a by product of the phosphorus in them when ignited.

Subsequently any mercury vapour lamp will produce UVB wavelengths as well as a by product of the mercury vapour being burnt by the tungsten filament. Having said that though they coat commercial MVBs with a product that absorbs most of it as it is deemed harmful.
 
Last edited:
Just a side note folks... debate on wether or not UVA is needed by reptiles or not. I just want to say that UVA is present in almost all man made lighting systems (boxed in a reptile carton or not). UVA is long wave ultraviolet radiation just past the last visible colour (indigo). Any fluorescent lighting will give you UVA as a by product of the phosphorus in them when ignited.

Subsequently any mercury vapour lamp will produce UVB wavelengths as well as a by product of the mercury vapour being burnt by the tungsten filament. Having said that though they coat commercial MVBs with a product that absorbs most of it as it is deemed harmful.

Shhhhhhh don't tell everyone that red-ink, the lighting companies won't be able to suck everyone in and rip them off.
 
I sometimes wonder what is actually "needed" and what is just a "scam" when it comes to reptile products. All i know is since i gave my bobtail a MVB, he has becaome so active and (what i assume) happy. He eats really well and is nothing like he was before i gave him the globe. He used to have a ceramic heat lamp for heat and one of those 10.0 UVA/UVB globes. I never sore much of him and he'd go weeks without food. After one day with the MVB, he poked his head out of his hide and is now always out and about getting up to no good :)

So in conclusion - i'm on Team MVB! :D
 
The sales rep got to you didn't he?
Cheers

They weren't selling the products to us, they were educating us about their products. Out of 28 staff only 2 of us kept reptiles. I have been using their products for 10 years now and I cannot fault them.... now if we were talking about URS!!!!!

I have found the tube works better than the compact fluro globes tho but that's just my humble opinion. I'm curious to to know what Mr Ian Davo uses in all his wisdom (or criticism)
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top