Snakes and Flashes

[Natrix]

I took a photo of the new boy the other day and accidentally left the flash on. When the flash went off it appeared that the little fella was temporarally blinded by the flash. I moved my hand towards him and he did not react until I nearly touched him. I had forgotten about it until I read about a snake that was being photographed that was more interested in the flash. It's got me thinking. Snakes don't have eyelids therefore cannot blink. How much damage are we doing to a snakes retina by using flash photography? I don't let people use flash photography around my birds for the same reason. Any thoughts on this subject?

[guidofatherof5]

Good topic.
I've never seen any problem with using a flash on my snakes.
I would think using a flash on albinos may be more of a concern if it is an issue.

[infernalis]

so that's why my snake all read braille.

[d_virginiana]

As bright as a flash is, as long as you don't do it a million times in a day I don't think it would hurt them. It's not as damaging as being out in the sun. Garters hunt fish pretty regularly in the wild too, so they can even handle light reflecting off of water.
It was probably just the change from somewhat dim to very bright all at once that temporarily blinded yours

[EasternGirl]

If it does bother albinos...it will be difficult for me to ever get another pic of mine considering the little buggers only come out in the dark and I definitely need a flash to get a picture. I have never noticed my albinos reacting to the flash though.

[chris-uk]

I've developed a technique where I mask almost all of the flash with my finger when I'm taking macro shots (so anything closer than 30-50cm). It does two things, first stops the flash wiping out and over-saturating the photo, and second stops the flash disturbing the snake too much.
Whether the flash actually disturbs any of our flock is debatable, once or twice Binky has recoiled as the flash has gone off, but that's probably as much down to the surprise.

[EasternGirl]

That's a good idea, Chris. You just put your finger over most of the flash? I will try that because I notice the flash over-saturating a lot of my photos...but like I said, I wouldn't be able to turn it off and get a decent photo of the albinos in the dark when they come out. I have also noticed Hermes get down off of his plant and go and hide after I have taken several photos of him...but Hermes goes and hides if you stare at him too long...lol...so I just attributed it to him being skiddish, not the flash.

[Natrix]

Well this little fella nearly jumped out of his skin then just froze. just looked really dazed. Also could flash photogaphy induce epilepsy in the snake?

[EasternGirl]

I've never heard of that happening. I suppose if the snake already had seizures it could...sort of like it wouldn't induce a seizure in a person without epilepsy but might do so in a person who has a predisposition toward seizures. But even then I think it takes more than a camera flash to induce a seizure. It sounds to me like the snake was just startled by the flash...I doubt it actually did any harm.

[Light of Dae]

I find that when I use flash with both my snakes they can't get enough of the camera. They try to climb over it and get closer to see what the flash is! As well my camera is used in video mode has a blinking red light, they also seem very intriged by it and try to investagate as well.