One of the most important topics to be covered when it comes to keeping a reptile revolves around the lighting you select for your animals enclosure.  There is a lot of misinformation on the internet about what lighting is sufficient and if they need lighting at all. To complicate this many starter kits sold in pet stores often times do not include the correct lighting, or include insufficient lighting for what is likely to be the most important time in the animals growth cycle.

Different Kinds of Light

You can think of a reptiles required lighting in terms of 4 important wave lengths: Ultraviolet B (UVB), Ultraviolet A (UVA), Visible Light, and Infrared. 

Clint at Clin'ts Reptiles is one of the best resources for reptile information on YouTube and consequently has a great episode on the importance of UVB lighting for all reptiles. Below is a great video to help you understand a bit more the importance light plays even for nocturnal animals.

So what should you get?

Now that we've covered the need, lets talk about the different options you have to satisfy those needs. Lets start by going over UVB lighting which should be your first priority.

Mercury Vapor bulbs offer an all in one UVA, UVB, Visible Light and Infrared. Don't confuse this with a spot lamp, they are not even close to the same thing. These bulbs are highly situational, harder to find, very expensive, have a short lifespan, and generate a lot of unregulated heat. They are best suited for large open air type enclosure that make use of a large basking area. They are not suited well for enclosed glass or melamine enclosures as they can turn them into an oven. These provide an intense but focused light source that provides UVB to the most distance of any other light, typically up to 4 feet away. While good heat for basking, I would not run this on a thermostatic controller due to wear and tear and this light does not provide for any heating when there should not be any light so its not a good primary heating source.

Important Notes:

• It's not uncommon to need to replace these lights every 30 days as they tend to burn out.

Florescent bulbs are the most popular lights both due to availability and ease of implementation into just about any enclosure. They provide a source of visible light, UVA, and UVB but not Infrared. They are relatively inexpensive, highly available, and last a long time. However their UVB intensity is limited so the correct size must be purchased relative to the distance to the reptiles basking area. Many manufactures also have options to tailor the visible light to the specific reptiles native environment like rainforest vs desert. Choose accordingly. 

• Compact CFL lights are great for smaller enclosures up to 20 gallons. They generally come in 2 wattages, 13 watts which fit nicely in most small light enclosures and 26 watts which are better suited for deep dome fixtures. 

• Linear T8 and T5 tubes not only provide more light to a broader area but also provide a deeper depth of UVB light. They are the preferred means lighting especially in larger enclosures. It may be hard to package this type of lighting with your other components like a ceramic heat emitter so plan your enclosure carefully if you need to have both. 

      Important Notes:

• While fluorescent lights may provide light long past 6 months, their UVB output begins to diminish greatly after that so make sure you write the date on the light in sharpie when you install the light and replace them every 6 months.

Ceramic Heat Emitter's provide infrared light which penetrates the reptiles tissue to help promote digestion. They do not provide any visible light but do produce a lot of heat. They MUST be plugged into a thermostat so that they do not overheat your enclosure and they must be installed so that your reptile cannot touch them or they will be severely burned. No matter what type of lighting you are running, ceramic heat emitters provide an important heat source at night to make sure your reptiles temperatures do not drop too low.

Halogen Lights:

Halogen lights do not provide any UVB, but they do offer a good source of UVA and Infrared heat needed to properly convert Vitamin D. Halogens can provide the same heat as incandescent spot bulbs at half the wattage and they are dimmable to adjust the basking heat. Make sure to get flood halogens and not spot hallogens as those can create magnifying glass like hot spots that can burn your reptiles skin at a distance.

Other Types of light are often include with cheap starter kits, or marketed toward your impulse buying habits but be aware that these provide very little benefit to your animal by themselves. They are more geared toward you than the animal.