"Red" Light Effectiveness With Geckos

[DDALDD]

G'day All,

It's been mentioned many a time to me about how reptiles can't see the red light spectrum so the best way to observe them at night is to have a red light bulb on so they are not disturbed by your presence. I implemented this plan a few months ago and I'm still trying to work out how effective it is.

My snakes are fooled but with my geckos it has had varied results. My Spiny Tailed's are active enough whether any light is on or off, but my Golden Tailed still seems to be quite aware of my presence. I've noticed my Nephrurus are especially not fooled and will go to hide within minutes of the light coming on and will not come out again until the light has been switched off. With other geckos it has varied results.

It should be pointed out that I remain immobile and there are no other sources of light in the room when I try this.

Was just curious as to whether other keepers have had similar experiences or not? Effective or not?

 

[sweetangel]

they are effective for heat and low light and do not effect the day/night cylce in my experiences i have a goldentail gecko. as for being seen it does ad a small amount of light so i would suspect they can easily see you. not to mention they are designed with night time vision not to be beaten

 

[DDALDD]

lol, yup, I'm aware of that. I just would have thought that night time vision would make me a little more difficult to see. There still seems to be a vast difference to the geckos between having the red light on vs no lights on at all.

 

[Radar]

My levis certainly know when the red light is on, they go to hide within a very short time, and will actually stop chasing crickets/woodies when the light is switched on. As soon as its off they come out again. Interestingly, with my standard ceiling lights in my room on and the dimmer turned right down, I can see them quite well and they are happy to remain out, prowling around....

 

[daniel1234]

Just a thought, maybe it is just to tell the difference between night and day. What about the blue lights. My snakes certainly know I am there with the red ones (I use both colours)

 

[masejake]

you are talking about infrared globes?
& try the blue night globes

 

[gex01]

I think you will find levis will not respond lightly to any light as they are burrowing terrestrial geckos.As for the likes of cilaris and a couple of other species which shelter often in some strange places small amounts of light are often visible to them.Eg as a kid i used to find spiny tails in old pieces of rusted tin in rotten logs under loose tree bark etc. Apart from all of this with my experience i dont believe any lights should be placed on geckos as theyre eyes are very sensitive more than alot of people realise and that is one reason they are nocturnal. A light does not benefit this kind of reptile in any way.

 

[DDALDD]

gex01 - the light is not used for heating and as a result is not in close proximity to the geckos at all. I don't particularly have any evidence to back it up as I haven't researched it very deeply but my inclination is the same as yours in regards to light and geckos eyes.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, will look into the blue light. It should also be noted that it's not the end of the world, lol, things are fine as they are, I don't bother the geckos much except for feeding and cleaning. I just thought I'd check to see if anyone has had similar or dissimilar experiences as I do enjoy watching them move around at night.

 

[Radar]

The only reason I use a light at all is to observe the scorps in the tank adjacent (divided tank) when feeding, to ensure they all get fed, the light is actually not for the geckos...

 

[funcouple]

interesting thread for a change. its great to see a real topic related to the keeping of reptiles

 

[geckoman1985]

geckos will come out even when normal light is on just takes a while to get them to do this as for red light my snake light is just a red 75watt party light for heat and thay will come out with it on if you are wanting to viue your geckos at night uv light works as geckos cant see it its believed geckos only see the red and green liight any thing that is blue thay willl not see how ever thay extrimley sensitive to movement and can see some thing move from about 30 meters away

 

[geckoman1985]

this is intersting http://www.jstor.org/pss/4143044

 

[Shadowfoxpika2]

My beardie does that too when the red light is the only thing on he still can see me it odd

 

[AUSGECKO]

I use Purple night globes on my geckoes. When the lights are on or off, they still know im there and run off unless i have food in which case they all sit at the front of the enclosures in ambush position. They are far smarter than people give them credit for and far smarter than alot of people i know :lol: