Nocturnality

[c***@gmail.com]

Ok heres the question. I have been reading that moonlight is 1 lux or
lower. Does anyone know what spectrum this light is I.E. more red or
blue? broad or specific? Also how can I know what light my pets
actually prefer? Right now for heat I use a full spectrum 'day glow'
bulb 50w in the day, evening time I switch to 50w red bulb and at
night I use a 75w moonlight bulb. Its a higher wattage because the
shape of the bulb is not triangular so it does not "direct" light
well. My temperatures are fine...... but I have the lagging feeling
like the moonlight bulb and the red light are both too bright and
affect the activity level of my whites treefrogs. I mean the way I
think is this... They are nocturnal so the majority of the time they
are alive and moving and conscious is at night. If they have no light
thats like sentancing them to blindness! So I want them to be as
comfortable as possible. Right now at night time I lay a few magazines
and a white t-shirt over my screen top so the "moonlight" is very
dilute. I know they have ceramic heat emitters but that would be way
way way little ambient light. I guess what I wanna know is are there
any articles that describe nocturnal lighting in a clear direct
serious way for amphibians???
thank you much

[Chris McMartin]

Post by c***@gmail.com
way way little ambient light. I guess what I wanna know is are there
any articles that describe nocturnal lighting in a clear direct
serious way for amphibians???

I haven't heard of any. Many of the "nighttime" lighting setups are for us
humans' benefit (i.e. so we can see our animals moving around even when it's
"dark"). You could probably get by with a human-style night light plugged
into an outlet across the room and the animals would be OK--if all you can
make out is dark blobs moving around in the enclosure that's about right!
:) Too bright (bright enough for us to comfortably observe them) and you
make it look like a full moon night (or brighter), which will actually LIMIT
some species' natural behavior/activity as they tend to not move around as
much on full-moon nights out of fear of being more easily seen by predators.

Now you have me thinking about my banded geckos--maybe I need something
similar for them but I'll have to check the ambient room lighting at night
to see how bright/dark it is.

Chris
http://www.mcmartinville.com


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[Ulrik Smed]

Post by Chris McMartin
Now you have me thinking about my banded geckos--maybe I need
something similar for them but I'll have to check the ambient room
lighting at night to see how bright/dark it is.

How about using a white LED as 'moon'? It can run on a small mains adaptor
and can be dimmed with a simple potentiometer. I even think the warm white
types would give a spectrum quite close to real moonlight.

My guess on the spectrum is that it is close to that of the sun, but a bit
more yellow because the moon has a slightly yellowish color. The light is,
after all, just reflected sunlight.

[Chris McMartin]

Post by Ulrik Smed

Post by Chris McMartin
Now you have me thinking about my banded geckos--maybe I need
something similar for them but I'll have to check the ambient room
lighting at night to see how bright/dark it is.

How about using a white LED as 'moon'? It can run on a small mains adaptor
and can be dimmed with a simple potentiometer. I even think the warm white
types would give a spectrum quite close to real moonlight.
My guess on the spectrum is that it is close to that of the sun, but a bit
more yellow because the moon has a slightly yellowish color. The light is,
after all, just reflected sunlight.

LED might be good--never thought of that. I think the ambient lighting in
the room at night (I leave on the computer/monitor and there's diffused
moonlight coming through the window) is probably sufficient. This may
warrant further study.


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **