Lighting question

[GarterGuy]

Perhaps the nighttime temperature is more of a problem for rain forest species?

Yeh, I'd think that forest floor inhabitants wouldn't really experiance too much of a temp. swing, but stuff in the canopy probably would. I know true chameleons actually do really well with night time temp. drops.

[Rook]

I have thought about it, but no. Rook just has his heat mat at night, that keeps the tank warm enugh for night time, during the day he has his lamps as well. I sometimes worry about how cold it gets at night, but it doesnt seem to bother him any, so I opted to just let it be.

[goatse]

the moonlight bulbs are really not for heat, tho they do put out some, its not very much. they are specially coated to simulate natural moonlight and won't disturb a snake or other reptiles day/night cycle. if you have a nocturnal its really cool because you get to see all the action you usually miss. a red or other colored bulb just makes the cage brighter (as reptiles cant see color for the most part) a 40 watt red bulb might as well be a 40 watt white as far as the snake is concerned. personally i use under-tank heaters with a thermostat, and a ceramic overhead that i can raise or lower depending on what temp i want (day/night/post feed), tank lighting is room ambient or fluorescent during the day, but doesn't really seem to matter to my snakes. again all of mine are nocturnals, i don't have a garter yet (waiting for the right Fla. blue stripe to come along, and knock my socks off).
Mike

[goatse]

oh one more thing, moonlight bulbs look exactly like marijuana grow lights to nosy neighbors and cops. found that out the hard way. and to cops all snakes are venomous.
M

[GarterGuy]

oh one more thing, moonlight bulbs look exactly like marijuana grow lights to nosy neighbors and cops. found that out the hard way. and to cops all snakes are venomous.
M

LOL...had the same issue when I had chameleons in my apartment. My bedroom window faced the parking lot and you could see my big screen cage with all the fluorescent lights overhead. Didn't help that I had an umbrella tree growing inside the cage, so it REALLY looked like I was growing pot.

[Lori P]

LOL!!! When we moved on to our property 12 years ago, we found some very interesting plants gowing in a clearing in the woods. Sadly, my goats also found them and they are no more!! (But the goats had the wicked munchies for a week) LOL