Is night time lighting needed for a leopard gecko setup? I understand that leopards are nocturnal creatures, however I would think they rely on the moonlight to help them see in the darkness. My question is the area I keep my setup is really dark with very little if any outside night light entering my windows throughout the night, should I use a blue moonlight reptile bulb that does not emit uvb or something similar to help my gecko see for roaming the tank and hunting during the night.
Night time lighting question
- Thread starter Matitude
- Start date
moonlight to help them see.
Exactly, it is not pitch black in their natural habitat. Most homes are very dark at night without lighting. Unless you have the tank right in front of a huge window without blinds or shades? The problem is no one knows exactly what they see. If the enclosure is long, a 15 watt moonlight would not light up the entire tank. If your enclosure is under 36 inches long, it may be best to place a blue LED strip outside the enclosure instead. I read this idea in a post somewhere on this forum.
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
For just a couple hours while you watch low wattage moonlight bulbs are excellent! Leaving a moonlight bulb on all night would disrupt their natural rhythms. Reason is that leos can see all visible light. Even the moon rises and sets. 
Here's a recent suggestion by GU's winterminute for viewing your leo's behavior at night.: "Wyze wireless cams are $25 and great little toys."
Here's a recent suggestion by GU's winterminute for viewing your leo's behavior at night.: "Wyze wireless cams are $25 and great little toys."
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For just a couple hours while you watch low wattage moonlight bulbs are excellent! Leaving a moonlight bulb on all night would disrupt their natural rhythms. Reason is that leos can see all visible light. Even the moon rises and sets.
Here's a recent suggestion by GU's winterminute for viewing your leo's behavior at night.: "Wyze wireless cams are $25 and great little toys."
Im not so much concerned with watching my leopard at night as I am that the room that houses the tank is very dark after I head to bed and Im not sure if there is enough night/moon light coming through the window to aid him in roaming the tank and hunting. I don't know if leopard geckos can see in the dark like a cat can so it wouldn't matter if it was pitch black or it relies on the moonlight to help see at night. If they do rely on the moonlight to forage and roam around at night what are my options.
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
I don't know how much a leo sees in the dark. By watching footage with that camera, one could figure that out.
SpottedDragon
Member
From the little research I have found, mostly on other species - it is probably safe to extrapolate that they can see moment extremely well, but not color - but they seem to see short wave lengths (red and infrared) better or at least with better clarity than long wave lengths (blue and UV). Some of the head-bobbing may be to focus direction and shapes, birds of prey do the same thing before striking. This is an excerpt of one of the papers that I read discussing pupil function for the paper "The pupils and optical systems of gecko eyes" by
Lina S. V. Roth; Linda Lundström; Almut Kelber; Ronald H. H. Kröger; Peter Unsbo.
[Eyes adapted for vision at night, such as the eyes of nocturnal geckos, with a large pupil and a short posterior nodal distance (here also called focal length, f), are especially affected by longitudinal chromatic aberration. As a result, light of short wavelengths is refracted more strongly and thus focused closer to the lens than light of long wavelengths. If this is not corrected for in an eye adapted for nocturnal vision, the retinal image is severely blurred. Multifocal optical systems with distinct concentric zones of different refractive powers have been suggested to correct for some of the defocus on the retina caused by chromatic aberration (Kröger, Campbell, Fernald, & Wagner, 1999). Kröger et al. have shown that the eyes of the nocturnal gecko, Homopholis wahlbergi, have multifocal optical system.
In addition, the light-adapted pupils in nocturnal geckos are different variations of vertical slit pupils. Apart from the effectiveness in shutting out light during the day, the mode of constriction of slit pupils has been suggested to be of advantage in multifocal eyes, since it allows for all refractive zones of the optical system to be functional at all states of pupil constriction (Kröger et al., 1999; Malmström & Kröger, 2006). We investigated the pupil dynamics and the multifocal optical system of helmet geckos to see whether the light-adapted pupil allows for all concentric zones of the optical system to refract incoming light.]
Lina S. V. Roth; Linda Lundström; Almut Kelber; Ronald H. H. Kröger; Peter Unsbo.
[Eyes adapted for vision at night, such as the eyes of nocturnal geckos, with a large pupil and a short posterior nodal distance (here also called focal length, f), are especially affected by longitudinal chromatic aberration. As a result, light of short wavelengths is refracted more strongly and thus focused closer to the lens than light of long wavelengths. If this is not corrected for in an eye adapted for nocturnal vision, the retinal image is severely blurred. Multifocal optical systems with distinct concentric zones of different refractive powers have been suggested to correct for some of the defocus on the retina caused by chromatic aberration (Kröger, Campbell, Fernald, & Wagner, 1999). Kröger et al. have shown that the eyes of the nocturnal gecko, Homopholis wahlbergi, have multifocal optical system.
In addition, the light-adapted pupils in nocturnal geckos are different variations of vertical slit pupils. Apart from the effectiveness in shutting out light during the day, the mode of constriction of slit pupils has been suggested to be of advantage in multifocal eyes, since it allows for all refractive zones of the optical system to be functional at all states of pupil constriction (Kröger et al., 1999; Malmström & Kröger, 2006). We investigated the pupil dynamics and the multifocal optical system of helmet geckos to see whether the light-adapted pupil allows for all concentric zones of the optical system to refract incoming light.]
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Even cats need a bit of light to see. They cannot see in total darkness.
Spotted dragon I remember reading that. It was on the helmet gecko. They also mentioned they can discriminate color in dim moonlight.
What do you guys think about using these outside of the enclosure? I like this idea thanks to the person that shared it on a post on this forum.
https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/1...MIrJG_-7uP4AIVxJ6zCh0gcw_QEAQYBCABEgJy7PD_BwE
Miyukiwynter
New member
I'd say just use a small nightlight in the room itself rather than directly over the cage. They seem to be able to see better in the dark than humans, so I'd just try that if it was that dark. Or even one of those Himalayan salt lamps for an ambient light. I have one for my cats to have a tiny bit of light at night. Most are adjustable and get very dim so you can just barely see.