Anyone Provide UVB?

[Potatatas]

Wondering if anyone here gives their Ts UVB or have ever tried it? If anyone does, do you see any different behaviours or colourations?

Pm me if you'd rather not say so publicly...

*inb4 ts don't need uvb

Cheers!

 

[cold blood]

Tarantulas do not have any light requirements...but as long as its not throwing off heat, lighting of any kind isn't a problem.

Lighting generally means ts will simply hide more. It wouldn't effect coloration, that's dictated by where a t is in the molt cycle.

 

[Potatatas]

Tarantulas do not have any light requirements

Agreed. But key word is required.

 

[viper69]

Tarantulas do not have any light requirements...but as long as its not throwing off heat, lighting of any kind isn't a problem.

Lighting generally means ts will simply hide more. It wouldn't effect coloration, that's dictated by where a t is in the molt cycle.

UV light used on scorpions in captivity to make them glow has been proven to soften their exoskeletons.

I believe the same would be true for Ts

Not worth the risk

 

[krbshappy71]

I have full spectrum daylight bulbs on timers on mine as they have a plant. But not UV.

 

[Teal]

I don't light my Ts specifically. My Ts get natural sunlight from widows throughout the day and deal with my reading lamp at night.

 

[viper69]

I have full spectrum daylight bulbs on timers on mine as they have a plant. But not UV.

Full spectrum lighting includes UVB (at least in the herp hobby), I'd remove those.

 

[RezonantVoid]

UVB lights are not necessary. Most T's live in darkness underground their whole life anyway, and pretty sure arboreal ones are perfectly fine as long as they have just natural ambient lighting (like indirect sunlight)

 

[Potatatas]

Full spectrum lighting includes UVB (at least in the herp hobby), I'd remove those.

Many plant growth LED lights are sold as "full spectrum" but do not contain UVB. That term seems more of a marketing thing to me.

UVB lights are not necessary. Most T's live in darkness underground their whole life anyway, and pretty sure arboreal ones are perfectly fine as long as they have just natural ambient lighting (like indirect sunlight)

Yeah I get that and am 100% positive they are fine without it. But...
I'm thinking of providing a very small amount in a small spot to give the T a choice of whether it wants to use it or not. In the wild Ts have access to UVB everytime they wander out during the day. Just interested in seeing if there are any behaviour changes. Going down a rabbit hole of "natural" keeping with reptiles and want to try out some of the ideas on my Ts.

 

[Teal]

I'm thinking of providing a very small amount in a small spot to give the T a choice of whether it wants to use it or not.

I can tell you that my AF P. met enjoys "basking" in the sunlight when a corner of her enclosure receives it from the window!

 

[krequiem]

I can tell you that my AF P. met enjoys "basking" in the sunlight when a corner of her enclosure receives it from the window!

Do you think that's a light thing, or a heat thing? I would imagine the sunlight would warm that corner of the tank.

 

[Potatatas]

Do you think that's a light thing, or a heat thing? I would imagine the sunlight would warm that corner of the tank.

I'd say a heat thing if I had to guess. Wikipedia (which is never wrong, ever ) says temps range from 20-41c in summer where P. mets are found so it might appreciate a little higher temps. Probs different again if you look at temps in the forests they live in though.

I made a post a while ago comparing snakes (mainly royals) and the mindset around them to how we currently keep Ts and thought it was kinda dumb to compare the two. But the more I think about it I'm starting to think it's not so dumb afterall. I hear the phrase "not necessary" thrown around whereever exotic pets are involved. But I think it's this mindset that holds us as keepers back in a lot of ways. Let's take dogs for example, they don't need to be taken for a walk to survive. But you definitely should do as it's easy to see the benefits. Now, inverts it's likely impossible to see the benefits of providing these stimuli without medical testing so what should we do? I think the answer is choice. If we give the animals enough space to explore and have access to what they would have in the wild (eg, heat gradients, uvb, humidity changes, different substrates) but also enough space to completely remove themselves from them, then I trust the animal will know it's own needs much better than we do.

Also, I think that adopting this attitude would cut down on the hoarding mentallity as we'd all be too skint after buying all this gear for 5 or 6 Ts! Anyway I have kind of lost where I was going with this so I'll end it there. I'm in no way trying to bash the current "standard" for keeping Ts, I'm just asking rhetorically if there's anything we could improve. I've been questioning a lot of the info lately, especially the source. Are we basing our standards on scientific research, others observations or tradition? Nothing wrong with tradition as it seems to be working well at the moment. But one persons workaround for a problem specific to them can become engrained as something you must do and no one really knows why.

Anyway, ramblings over... You're all welcome to call me an idiot

 

[Teal]

Do you think that's a light thing, or a heat thing? I would imagine the sunlight would warm that corner of the tank.

Could be either. The light doesn't warm that corner to any degree I can notice as different, but surely she can.

Let's take dogs for example, they don't need to be taken for a walk to survive.

Some do. Though "a walk" is far too little for those types... They are high strung, high drive dogs that need a lot of exercise (mentally and physically) each day or they will develop neurotic, often self-harming behaviours like spinning, foot/tail chewing, etc. But, these are definitely not your typical little fluff dog lol

 

[BennyBTamachi]

I don't light my Ts specifically. My Ts get natural sunlight from widows throughout the day and deal with my reading lamp at night.

What do your Ts read?

 

[EtienneN]

I think we have to ask ourselves why the sun is necessary for tarantula survival. Is it solely because they’d freeze to death without it? If yes, full spectrum and all other lights are not needed. If no we need to study tarantulas’ behaviour in relationship to the sun more and maybe get more successful breedings in the future

 

[Teal]

What do your Ts read?

Potato, my AF P. met loves her horror stories. All the Stephen King for her!

The Orange Bob Army like historical fiction, especially westerns.

The B. vagans share my love of mysteries... we're on a coffeehouse cozy mystery kick right now. They are a few books behind me since they share and poor Bayou is a slow reader.

We don't ask Ostrich what she is reading, usually... T. stirmis are into some weird stuff...

Shall I continue?

 

[viper69]

Many plant growth LED lights are sold as "full spectrum" but do not contain UVB. That term seems more of a marketing thing to me.



Yeah I get that and am 100% positive they are fine without it. But...
I'm thinking of providing a very small amount in a small spot to give the T a choice of whether it wants to use it or not. In the wild Ts have access to UVB everytime they wander out during the day. Just interested in seeing if there are any behaviour changes. Going down a rabbit hole of "natural" keeping with reptiles and want to try out some of the ideas on my Ts.

I can't speak for the plant people, only my people the herp owners. When we buy full spectrum lighting, the bulb puts out UV.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I think we have to ask ourselves why the sun is necessary for tarantula survival. Is it solely because they’d freeze to death without it? If yes, full spectrum and all other lights are not needed. If no we need to study tarantulas’ behaviour in relationship to the sun more and maybe get more successful breedings in the future

What tarantulas do in the sunlight is well understood by researchers, naturalists, and everyone else who works and plays where tarantulas occur. They stay out of it.

 

[RezonantVoid]

The only excuse I can think of for UVB is live plants. If your setups aren't getting enough sunlight to grow them properly I can see UVB as justifiable