Are we heating our reptiles completely wrong?
I've been doing a lot of research on proper heating for reptiles in preparation for upgrading my ball pythons to bioactive PVC enclosures. In the process I discovered that new research seems to suggest that under tank heaters (UTH), Ceramic heat emitters (CHE), Deep heat projectors (DHP), and radiant heat panels (RHP) are all inadequate as the only heat source. As someone whose been keeping my ball pythons on heat tape (like the majority of ball python keepers) this came as quite a surprise. Below I've included the arguments I've seen for why research seems to suggest we've been doing things wrong. I'm still learning, so if you have any questions or suggestions please let me know!
As reptile keepers we strive to do our best at creating a microclimate for our pets. Since reptiles are ectothermic, they rely on the heat provided by natural sunlight and absorbed by earth for their metabolism to function properly. We already know that reptiles need certain levels of UVB radiation to properly metabolize calcium. Some reptiles need more UVB than others, with diurnal reptiles needing more direct sun exposure than crepuscular reptiles. However, we’re coming to an understanding that UVB is beneficial to all reptiles regardless of their daytime activity. Even leopard geckos and ball pythons get at least some sun exposure during the day, even if they’re more active at night.
In order to understand how reptiles use sunlight we have to break it down to its main components. Visible light, Ultraviolet light (UVB), and infrared radiation.
Typically we’re more concerned with actual temperature of the environment rather than the components of heat. We don’t tend to think of heat as being a component of sunlight. However, heat produced by the sun is composed of three major types of Infrared radiation. Infrared-A, Infrared-B, and Infrared-C, each type is absorbed differently by reptiles.
IR-A also known as ‘near infrared’ (NIR) is the shortest infrared wavelength and is the closest to visible light. It’s high energy and creates deep penetrating heat that is more readily absorbed by reptiles. IR-B has less energy and only partially penetrates into the skin. Finally IR-C is known as ‘far infrared’ (FIR), this is more of an after effect of IR-A and IR-B, like when you press your hand against a rock that’s been warmed by the sun. It’s only really effective as background heat.
A good metaphor I saw for this was the feeling you get when you’re in a heated room. You can be in a room heated to 75F and the warmth is more superficial, just in the air. It doesn’t penetrate into your body very well and it takes longer for you to warm up completely. However, if you go outside and stand in the sun at 75F the heat will warm you up almost instantly. Actual sunlight is more effective at warming you from the outside than just ambient heat. It’s similar for reptiles.
Traditionally we’ve just focused on the temperature of the heat rather than the type of heat when we warm our enclosures. However, this research suggests that heating elements like UTH/CHE/RHP only produce IR-C, which is the most superficial type of infrared radiation. These work well for creating ambient temperatures, but are not effective on their own for basking.
Deep heat projectors (DHP) are a relatively new product that produces a combo of IR-B and IR-C with a minimal amount of IR-A. This is more effective than the other heating elements, but it still doesn’t produce a sufficient amount of IR-A, which makes up the majority of the IR spectrum.
Finally, Tungsten-halogen bulbs produce primarily IR-A as well as a large portion of IR-B and a minimal amount of IR-C.
This makes halogen bulbs infrared composition most similar to that provided by the sun. Making them the best source for basking heat according to this research.
To summarize, it seems that we need to move more toward using halogen basking bulbs for our basking temperatures with UTH/CHE/RHP/DHP being useful as a supplement to raise the ambient heat. The research I have found suggests that providing this and using top down heat primarily is more naturalistic and beneficial for reptiles. The author of the main article I used for this suggested that the reptiles he switched to this system became more energetic and were less susceptible to disease like infections. I’ll include a link to the full PDF here so you can read for yourself.
Moving over to this system seems like it will be most important for diurnal animals. However, this article suggests that crepuscular reptiles like ball pythons and leopard geckos will also benefit tremendously. Link to the full blog post here.
Arcadia reptiles also agrees with this new research. Their deep heat projector seems to be a move in the right direction. Link to their article here.
I personally will be moving all of my reptiles to this system, because it seems to be the best at providing naturalistic heat and may encourage more natural behaviors. Let me know what you all think, I’d love some feedback. I’m by no means an expert, but I wanted to write out what I’ve learned since this all seems very new and interesting.
